VegMed is known for bringing together internationally renowned speakers presenting the very best and most up-to-date research.
We were delighted to welcome an international and exquisite line-up of speakers to VegMed Web 2021. Specialists in their field, the speakers shared with you their latest findings.
Discussion: The role of medical students in advancing medical education and public health
Discussion: The role of medical students in advancing medical education and public health
A short introduction to “Wissenshunger”
Discussion: The role of medical students in advancing medical education and public health
Planetary health in the medical curriculum
The Physicians Association for Nutrition: Let's transform healthcare! The 2021 agenda and beyond
Shifting towards sustainable diets in the UK: a focus on international trade and food system resilience
The Physicians Association for Nutrition: Let's transform healthcare! The 2021 agenda and beyond
Nutrition in medical education: What's going on in Europe?
Nutrition in medical education: What's going on in Europe?
Evidence-based weight loss
Workshop: A guide for plant-based food in hospitals and health institutions and how to implement it
Immune modulation via food – on the way towards a better understanding of opportunities and risks
Food as a source of resistant bacteria for humans
The UK’s 1st online plant-based healthcare service: from concept to clinical practice
Discussion: Demanding political change: How can health professionals support sound public health policies?
Healthy lifestyle communities: Chances and challenges using the example of "Gemeinsam Gesund"
Panel discussion: Nutritional medicine in medical practice, hospitals and health care systems: Reality and opportunities
Discussion: Resilient food systems: What do they look like and how can health professionals support their implementation?
Discussion: Resilient food systems: What do they look like and how can health professionals support their implementation?
Discussion: Nutritional medicine in medical practice, hospitals and health care systems: Reality and opportunities
Discussion: Demanding political change: How can health professionals support sound public health policies?
Nourish: Plant-Based Diets for Children
Discussion: Demanding political change: How can health professionals support sound public health policies?
Panel discussion: Nutritional medicine in medical practice, hospitals and health care systems: Reality and opportunities
Motivational Interviewing in medical practice: An introduction
Living the change: As if transforming our diet were easy...
Plant-based iron: Much more valuable than previously thought
On the edge of the Anthropocene: Plant-based diets as a key for solving climate and multiple crises [sponsored talk]
Discussion: Plant-based nutrition in daily medical practice: Perspectives from Great Britain and Germany
Discussion: Demanding political change: How can health professionals support sound public health policies?
Plant-based meats: How alternative meat might transform global nutrition and public health
Workshop: From general practice to public health: How to implement lifestyle medicine in your community
Workshop: A guide for plant-based food in hospitals and health institutions and how to implement it
Discussion: How do we, as health professionals, implement the findings around nutrition, climate change and health effectively in everyday practice?
Workshop: A guide for plant-based food in hospitals and health institutions and how to implement it
Public health nutrition in the EU
Animal experimentation in science and research – overview and link to health and nutrition
Learning from pioneers: plant-based nutrition on hospital menus
Learning from pioneers: plant-based nutrition on hospital menus
Nourish: Plant-Based Diets for Children
Vegan nutrition and irritable bowel syndrome [sponsored talk]
Vegan nutrition and irritable bowel syndrome [sponsored talk]
To supplement or not to supplement? Survey results from a medical congress on plant-based nutrition
Omega-3 fatty acids: myths and reality. Time for scientific facts on supply and vegan nutrition. [sponsored talk]
The role of nutrition in cancer prevention and treatment
An introduction to public health nutrition
The Physicians Association for Nutrition: Let’s transform healthcare! The 2021 agenda and beyond
Change of paradigms: treating the metabolic syndrome with optimised plant-based nutrition
Which role does our food system play in the emergence of zoonotic diseases and subsequent pandemics?
Food system resilience
Panel discussion: Plant based nutrition during childhood – between hype, hysteria and households
Panel discussion: Plant-based nutrition during childhood – between hype, hysteria and households
Protein in plant-based diets: classical and emerging topics
Panel discussion: Plant-based nutrition during childhood - between hype, hysteria and households
Talk: The latest findings on vegan and vegetarian nutrition
Discussion: Plant-based nutrition in daily medical practice: perspectives from Great Britain and Germany
Medical emergency climate crisis – climate change as a health hazard
Plant-based nutrition and heart failure
Live an Unforgettable Life: How to Avoid Alzheimer's and Build a Better Brain
Mechanisms of nutrition in the development, prevention, and reversal of chronic disease.
Workshop: Plant-based nutrition, research – and you: a practical approach to your scientific career
Diet in life-course and its impact on epigenetics
Panel discussion: Plant-based nutrition during childhood – between hype, hysteria and households
Panel discussion: Plant-based nutrition during childhood – between hype, hysteria and households
Food as medicine
Mediterranean plant-based diet and cognitive decline
Orthorexia – restrictive eating behaviour or healthy pleasure?
Evaluating the role of vitamin B12 in lung cancer using multiple sources of evidence
Workshop: Finding nutritional therapy in the jungle of the German healthcare system
Eating with children – education and relationship
IFMSA Liaison Officer for Public Health Issues
Omnia El Omrani is a final-year MB BCh medical student from Egypt. She is currently serving as the Liaison Officer for Public Health Issues for the International Federation of Medical Students’ Association, representing the voice of more than 1.3 million medical students from 134 countries worldwide.
She is leading IFMSA’s external work in the areas of Non-Communicable Diseases and Climate Change by collaborating with the UN, WHO NCDs/GCM and Climate Change Unit. She is also a Commissioner at the Lancet-Chatham House Commission on Improving Population Health Post-COVID and an associate at Women Leaders for Planetary Health.
She is currently a member of the United Nations Children’s Fund Youth Leaders Program and the Global Youth Coalition for Road Safety. She has led 15 panels of students formulating a diversity of evidence-based policy-documents, modules for medical curriculum, and research publications. She has co-led the IFMSA COVID-19 Response efforts since March 2020.
Vice President of External Affairs at European Medical Students’ Association (EMSA)
Alexandra Archodoulakis is a fifth-year medical student, studying at the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and currently active as the European Medical Students’ Association’s (EMSA’s) Vice President of External Affairs.
EMSA is a non-profit, non-governmental organisation representing medical students from all across Europe, recognised by the European Commission, the European Parliament and the World Health Organisation and collaborating with the Standing Committee of European Doctors (CPME) as the only organisation representing students within the European Medical Organisations (EMOs).
Medical student
Huong Giang Doan is a medical student at the Georg August University of Göttingen. She worked as a guide for national and international kitchen at the World of Kitchen Museum in Hanover and is currently the project leader of „Wissenshunger“.
Wissenshunger is a student public health project of the bvmd (Bundesvertretung der Medizinstudierenden in Deutschland e.V., Association of the German medical students), which is active in the field of nutrition education and primary prevention at >10 university locations in Germany. Wissenshunger was founded in 2016 at the university of Heidelberg and has been a national bvmd project since 2018.
Medical student
Leonard is 25 years old and since 2016 he has been going to Medical School in Gießen. During that time, he has developed an increasing interest in the topics of climate change, healthy food choices and, of cause, health from a personal as well as a global perspective.
Connecting those topics, one might notice that the path to the best outcome is the same for all of them. This reflects the main motivation for his actions in the health for future movement towards a sustainable health sector.
Vice-chair KLUG (German Climate Change and Health Alliance)
Sylvia Hartmann is a medical doctor. She is a founding member and the vice-chair of the German Climate Change and Health Alliance and project leader of the Planetary Health Academy, an educational online format. Early during her studies she got interested in the larger influences on human health. Her engagement at the intersection between climate change and health started at the German Medical Students’ Association.
As a delegate of the International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations she participated twice at the UN Climate Change Conference in 2017 and 2018.
Head of PAN South Africa
Dr Yesheen Singh, MBChB MBA, is a plant-based physician based in Cape Town, South Africa and is a founding member of PAN South Africa.
He has extensive experience in private and public health systems in SA and the UK and has additional post-graduate education and training in Functional Medicine, Public Health and Health System Engineering. Dr Singh’s personal passion is empowering communities through education on the role of nutrition and lifestyle change in changing the impact of disease on individuals, families and communities.
Assistant Professor in Nutritional and Environmental Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Pauline Scheelbeek is an Assistant Professor in nutritional and environmental epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. Pauline’s research focuses on studying the links between climate change, agriculture, food availability and quality, and nutritional health. She aims to develop and evaluate food system solutions that support population health in an environmentally sustainable way.
Currently, Pauline leads the “Food system Adaptations in Changing Environments in Africa” (FACE-Africa) project in the Gambia and is the health lead for the multi-country “Sustainable and Health Food Systems” (SHEFS) project looking at food system solution in the UK, South Africa and India. Pauline is an active STEM ambassador and frequently organises public engagement activities for school-aged children in the UK and sub-Saharan Africa focussing on environment, nutrition and health issues.
Head of PAN Israel | RD and M.Sc. Nutritional Science
Ronnie Hasson M.Sc. RD is CEO of the Isreali branch of the Physicians Association for Nutrition. She’s a registered dietician and nutritional scientist with years of experience leading national and community health promotion projects for various target audiences: professionals from various fields, parents, teens and children. Ronnie collaborates with various organizations and governmental bodies in Israel such as the Nutrition Department at the Ministry of Health, The Israeli Dieticians Organization, The Israeli Forum for Sustainable Nutrition and the School of Nutrition Sciences at the Hebrew University.
Co-founder of Nutritank
Nutrition in medical education: What’s going on in Europe?
Co-founders Ally & Iain will talk about their success in the U.K. with campaigning for greater nutrition education within medical training. They will explain the status of nutrition education in medical training within the U.K. and talk you through their innovative approach to making change to create progress.
Co-founder of Nutritank
Ally Jaffee is a final year medical student at University of Bristol, about to graduate as a doctor. Ally is the co-founder of Nutritank, an award-winning innovative information hub for food, nutrition & lifestyle medicine. Nutritank started 4 years ago with a mission is to increase nutrition education within medical training. Since then, Nutritank has branches in 2/3 of U.K. Medical schools, the founders won the 2019 BBC Food & Farming New Talent award, have worked with Jamie Oliver and key policy stakeholders, have put on hundreds of educational events including hosting events in collaboration with Royal Society of Medicine (RSM) and have produced key nutrition research articles in prestigious journals like the BMJ and The Lancet. Ally also hosts Nutritank’s podcast, ‘Nutritank: Nourish your Mind’.
Ally and her co-founder Dr Iain Broadley have just been accepted on the NHS Clinical Entrepreneurship Programme, which will allow them to up-scale and grow Nutritank further.
Ally also has a BSc from Imperial College London in Medical Humanities, Philosophy & Creative Arts. She is passionate about mental health, specifically for young people and is fascinated by the research around The Arts and Mental Health, as well as around ‘Food and Mood’. Ally hopes to pursue a career as a Child & Adolescent Psychiatrist and integrate nutrition and holistic practice into her work.
You can follow Ally and Nutritank’s work:
Instagram: @allyjaffee @nutritank_official
Twitter: nutritank_info
Linkedin: Ally Jaffee & Nutritank
Podcast: ‘Nutritank: Nourish your Mind’ (available on Spotify, Apple & Soundcloud).
General Practitioner | Founder, director and nutrition lead, British Society of Lifestyle Medicine
Dr Kenneally is a GP, bariatric physician and nutrition specialist, having degrees in both medicine (London, 1995) and nutrition (Surrey, 2017). Her special interest is weight management, and the role of plant based diets in that area in particular. She is on the advisory board of Plant Based Health Professionals UK, the weight management and behaviour change lead for the Royal College of Practitioners, a board member of the Welsh Obesity Society, and a network lead for the Association for the Study of Obesity.
She is a director of the British Society of Lifestyle Medicine where she jointly leads the Nutrition Interface Group and represents the society at speaking engagements, and is involved in developing teaching programmes promoting lifestyle medicine in medical education.
Product Manager at Klüh Catering
Robin Christian Krielke has been active in the community food service industry for over 20 years and completed a two-year management traineeship at Charité Berlin in the field of patient catering. Currently, Mr. Krielke works as a product manager at the largest hospital caterer in Germany – Klüh Catering GmbH.
Amongst other activities, Krielke and his team have developed a plant-based product line for hospitals together with ProVeg International, an international food awareness organisation.
Professor for Cellular Immunology at the Medical Faculty of Heidelberg University, Heidelberg (GER)
Yvonne Samstag holds the Professorship for Cellular Immunology at the Medical Faculty of Heidelberg University. She is an internationally recognized expert in research on the molecular mechanisms that control the function of human immune cells and how they are influenced by the microenvironment. Thereby, her focus is on cancer and chronic inflammatory diseases.
Prof. Yvonne Samstag is the initiator and spokeswoman of the research consortium “AZKIM” (Academic center for complementary and integrative medicine, since 2016) and spokeswoman of the recently established research and practice initiative “KIG BaWü” (Complementary and integrative health care provision for Baden-Württemberg, since 2020), both funded by the Ministry of Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
Furthermore, she is the initiator and spokeswoman of the interdisciplinary research training group “train4CIM” (Elucidation of molecular mechanisms as foundation for an evidence-based complementary and integrative medicine, since 2017) at Heidelberg University. In addition, she is a board member and project leader of the Collaborative Research Center “SFB TR 156” (The skin as sensor and effector orchestrating local and systemic immunity), financed by the German Research Foundation.
Head of unit 'Epidemiology, Zoonoses and Antimicrobial Resistance', Department Biological Safety, German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR)
PD Dr. Bernd-Alois Tenhagen is head of the unit ‘Epidemiology, Zoonoses and Antimicrobial Resistance’ in the Department Biological Safety of the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR). He is a veterinarian with a background in epidemiology and dairy herd health management.
He graduated from Tierärztliche Hochschule Hannover (University of Veterinary Medicine), Germany, and obtained a doctor of veterinary medicine in 1994 working on vaccination against Porcine Herpesvirus 1. After spending a year as a veterinary practitioner in mixed practice in Northrhine Westphalia, he was engaged in teaching and research in the Herd Health Management Group of the Clinic for Animal Reproduction of Freie Universität Berlin also providing extension service to large dairy farms.
Since 2007 he has been a senior researcher at his current unit. His main interest is in monitoring and mitigating antimicrobial resistance in the food chain from farm to fork, and in characterizing its importance for public health in a ‘one health’ approach.
GP, Certified Lifestyle Medicine Physician & Medical Director of Plant Based Health Online
Dr Laura Freeman MBChB, MRCGP, DROCG, CCFP, Dip IBLM/BSLM
GP, Certified Lifestyle Medicine Physician & Medical Director of Plant Based Health Online
Dr Laura Freeman obtained her Medical Degree from the University of Edinburgh in 2006. She completed her vocational training in General Practice in 2011. Between May 2012 and May 2019, after attaining full accreditation from the Medical Council of Canada, Dr Freeman ran her own Family Medicine practice in midtown Toronto, taught medical students at the University of Toronto and worked with the Medical Council of Canada as an examiner for International Medical Graduates.
Both within and outside of her General Practice, Dr Freeman has developed a strong interest for plant based nutrition and optimising health through lifestyle choices. In 2019, Dr Freeman became a diplomat of the International Board for Lifestyle Medicine and a certified CHIP (Complete Health Improvement Program) practitioner.
Dr Laura Freeman is co-founder and medical director of Plant Based Health Online, the UK’s first CQC registered, online, plant-based lifestyle medicine healthcare service. She was also one of the first GPs in the UK to bring ‘Walk with a Doc’ walking groups to her community.
Member of the European Parliament
Francisco Guerreiro is a MEP for the Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance (Greens/EFA) in the European Parliament since 2019.
In Brussels, he is first vice-chair of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, and also takes part in the Committees on Budgets and on Fisheries.
He is also a member of the Committee of Inquiry on the Protection of Animals during Transport, as well as of the delegations for relations with the Korean Peninsula and Japan.
Furthermore, he’s vice-president of the Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals and a member of the Intergroup on LGBTI Rights, two causes that are dear to him. He also participates in the Alliance Against Hunger and Malnutrition (AAHM) of the FAO of the United Nations in the European Parliament.
Nutrition Scientist at Department of Food, Nutrition, Facilities, Münster (GER)
• After completing her professional training as a physiotherapist, she studied Nutrition Science the Technical University Munich-Weihenstephan and the University of Gießen
• Doctorate at the University Hospital Gießen in internal medicine / medical polyclinic
• Master`s Degree in Public Health at the Ludwig Maximilians University Munich
• Post Doc at UIC Rockford, USA
• Scientific researcher at the Institute for Social Medicine, Epidemiology and Health Economics at Charité – UniverstiätsmedizinBerlin
• Since 2006 Professor for Nutritional Medicine, Consulting/Coaching and Public Health Nutrition at the FH Münster University of Applied Sciences with a research focus on Healthy Lifestyle Communities
Vice president and president-elect, German Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism (DGEM) Former General Secretary, European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism (ESPEN) MD at the Imperial Oak Outpatient Clinic (Kaisereiche) Endocrinology, Gastroenterology, Clinical Nutrition in Berlin (GER)
Occupation
Since 2017 Imperial Oak Outpatient Clinic, Berlin, Germany
2009-2017 Head of department, Internal Medicine, Elisabeth Protestant Hospital Berlin, Teaching Hospital of the Charité
2003-2009 Consultant, Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Endocrinology, University Hospital Charité, Berlin
1996-2003 Resident, Department of Internal Medicine, University Hospital Charité, Berlin Germany
1994-1996 Intern and Resident, Department of Anesthesiology, Hannover Medical School, Germany
Scientific positions / activities
Since 2020 Vice president and president-elect, German Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism (DGEM)
2016-2020 General Secretary, European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism (ESPEN)
2013 Chairman, Local Educational Committee, 35th ESPEN congress, Leipzig, Germany
2009-2013 ESPEN Educational and Clinical Practice Committee
2010 Associate professor at the Charité, University Medicine Berlin
2005 PhD thesis on „Influence of disease-related malnutriton body composition and prognosis“
2000-2002 Research fellowship, Else-Kröner-Fresenius-Foundation: Neuroscience Research Center, University Hospital Charité
1994 Doctoral thesis: „Impact of hepatic and non-hepatic factors for insulin resistance in liver cirrhosis”, Hannover Medical School
Education/Training
2008 Board certificate Gastroenterology
2006 Board certificate Endocrinology
2002 Board certificate Internal Medicine
1993 Marshfield Clinic, University of Wisconsin Medical School, USA
1986-1993 Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany
Research fields
Pathohysiology, clinical impact and treatment of disease related malnutrition. Clinical effects of ONS. Gut barrier function and catabolism. Body composition in cancer and disease. Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis.
Publications
More than 100 scientific papers and guidelines, mainly in the field of Clinical Nutrition, in international and national journals, more than 30 book chapters
Member of KLUG – German Alliance Climate Change and Health Guest scientist at the Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science in Berlin (GER)
Dr. Kim Gruetzmacher is currently a guest scientist at the Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science in Berlin. Previously, she worked as a Program Manager for the Health Program of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). She graduated from Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich with a veterinary degree in 2009.
Before vet school she was a science intern on Dr. Roger Payne’s research vessel Odyssey, where she assisted with research, investigating the levels of persistent organic pollutants in sperm whales. Her passion for wildlife (terrestrial and marine) led her to gain work experience in conservation medicine in many countries around the world, including Australia, Cambodia, Canada, Indonesia, Mexico, South Africa and Tanzania. She worked as a veterinarian at Hanover Zoo before enrolling in a PhD program in Biomedical Sciences at the Free University Berlin, conducting her research at the Robert Koch Institute’s Project Group P3 (in collaboration with the Max-Planck-Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology) with fieldwork in the Central African Republic, where she set up a field laboratory for wildlife health monitoring, to perform on-site and real-time investigations of human and wildlife disease outbreaks.
In her PhD, she focused on anthropogenic respiratory disease in habituated wild great apes in Sub-Saharan Africa. Alongside her PhD training Kim obtained a certificate from the University of Saskatchewan’s ITraP (Integrated Training Program in Infectious Disease, Food Safety and Public Policy – One Health), in 2014. In 2016 she was awarded the Rudolf Ippen Young Scientist Award.
At WCS Kim provided technical guidance on wildlife health and health management issues as they arose for WCS site and species-focused conservation projects, within a One Health framework. She is particularly interested in anthropogenic drivers of disease emergence and pathogen dynamics at the human/wildlife/livestock interface, along gradients of land use change and ecosystem disturbance, traditional ecological knowledge, behavioral and social aspects of disease transmission/prevention, and holistic approaches to global health challenges, such as One Health and Planetary Health.
Senior Fellow, Coordinator Land Use Policy and Coordinator Food Systems at Ecologic Institute Berlin (GER)
Stephanie Wunder works at the Ecologic Institute in Berlin as Senior Fellow and Coordinator Food Systems. The Ecologic Institute is an independent Think Tank for applied environmental research and policy consultancy.
She works on the science-policy interface to develop approaches that support the transformation to sustainable food systems. Her work covers a wide range of topics including healthy and sustainable diets, food waste reduction, city region food systems and sustainable land use. Clients include e.g. the EU Commission, the German Ministry for Environment and the German Ministry for Agriculture. She is part of the EU Commissions expert group that starts its work in March 2021 that will reflect on proposals for a legislative to implement the EU Farm to Fork Strategy.
Director of Science & Research, British Society of Lifestyle Medicine Academic Lead, Shared Medical Appointments UK
Consultant & Senior Lecturer in Rheumatology with Northumbria
Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer at Newcastle University, Visiting, Academic Lead of Shared Medical Appointments UK and Director of Science & Research for the British Society of Lifestyle Medicine. Editor-in-Chief of the new Wiley open access international journal ‘Lifestyle Medicine’, the official journal of the Australasian Society of Lifestyle Medicine, British Society of Lifestyle Medicine (now >1400 members), European Lifestyle Medicine Council & Korean College of Lifestyle Medicine.
Clinician, educator & researcher with PhD, Diploma of Clinical Education and the highest UK educational recognition, Principal Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy. My research interests are clinical, translational and educational, including osteoarthritis, healthy ageing, epidemiology, biomarkers, group consultations and lifestyle medicine.
Winner of British Society for Rheumatology Young Investigator & Innovation in Development awards, plus Arthritis Research UK Epidemiology Training Fellowship, as well the Royal College of Physicians Excellence in Patient Care Awards Lancet Research Award (shortlist) for work on group consultations in primary & secondary care.
First UK clinician to establish the group consultation model in routine clinical practice with over a decade of experience, now published in Rheumatology Advances in Practice. Now helping others to understand and share the benefits for patients and staff, securing funding from Sir Jules Thorn Trust to establish a virtual training and evaluation hub at Newcastle University, train 1000 general practice and 500 hospital teams, supporting best practice and wider spread across the UK. Instigator of international webinar series supporting the community to develop and share best practice for virtual group consultations during the pandemic (https://bslm.org.uk/vgc).
Grant funding also from NIHR HTA, BRC for Ageing, CRN, plus MRC/Versus Arthritis Centre for Integrated research into Musculoskeletal Ageing and an industry partnership with HTG Molecular.
Consultant for politics and communication, DANK German Alliance against Non-communicable Diseases
Heike Dierbach is a qualified psychologist, master of public health and a trained journalist. After starting out at the Berlin newspaper “taz” and working as a Greenpeace press spokesperson, since 2003 she’s been a freelance science journalist, press consultant and lecturer for press and public health advocacy, including projects for Berlin Charité. Since 2018 she’s been responsible for press and politics at the German Alliance Against Noncommunicable Diseases (DANK).
Board Certified Pediatrician, Nairobi (Kenya)
Reshma Shah, MD, MPH, is a board-certified pediatrician and co-author of NOURISH: The Definitive Plant-Based Nutrition Guide for Families. She received her undergraduate and graduate degrees from Johns Hopkins University and her medical degree from Drexel University College of Medicine.
She lives in the Bay Area with her husband and two children. Most Sundays, you can find her at the California Avenue Farmers Market in Palo Alto where she finds inspiration for weekly family meals.
Representative of The European Federation of the Associations of Dietitians (EFAD)
Global Strategic Lead for Regional Networks
Global Innovation Panel Executive Member
Faculty and Mentors Panel Member at NNEdPro Global Centre for Nutrition and Health (Portugal)
Portuguese registered dietitian and nutritionist (3882N)
Appointed member of the Young Nutritionists Committee of the Nutritionist’s Portuguese National Order
MSc in Consumption Science and Nutrition, University of Porto
BSc (Hons) in Nutritional Sciences, University of Porto
Global Strategic Lead for Network Engagement, Quality and Impact at NNEdPro Global Centre for Nutrition and Health
Visiting Research Associate & Execute Member of the Global Innovation Panel at NNEdPro Global Centre for Nutrition and Health
Lecturer in nutrition in medical education, Brighton and Sussex Medical School (UK)
Elaine Macaninch teaches nutrition in medical education at Brighton and Sussex Medical School and UCL Medical school. She maintains a clinical role as a Registered Dietitian, specialising in diabetes in pregnancy and is co-founder of the ERimNN (Education and research in Medical Nutrition Network). In addition, she is an executive member of NNedPro Global Centre for Nutrition and the patient and public liaison officer for the COVID-19 Nutrition Taskforce.
She is also the nutrition lead and a director for Culinary Medicine UK. She is currently researching gaps in nutrition education from the perspective of medical students and junior doctors and more recently is researching Nutrition inequalities and COVID-19.
Psychological Psychotherapist (VT), Director of Treatment Services (v. Bodelschwinghsche Stiftungen Bethel) and member of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT)
Ralf Demmel joined the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers in 1999. Since then, he has trained practitioners from a wide range of settings, e.g., behavioral medicine, primary care, and psychotherapy. He has co-facilitated several international train-the-trainer workshops in Europe and the United States.
From 2001 to 2003, he had been Editor of the Motivational Interviewing Newsletter. He has published more than 50 peer-reviewed papers, journal articles, and book chapters. In 2019, he was elected president of the German-language association of trainers in motivational interviewing. Currently, he is Director of Treatment Services (v. Bodelschwinghsche Stiftungen Bethel) supervising the implementation of evidence-based treatment programs.
Health educator and Mind-body therapist at Day Clinic for Integrative Medicine at Immanuel Krankenhaus Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Nina Effenberg has been working with patients in life-changing situations at the Immanuel Hospital, Berlin, Germany for many years. She has been actively involved in the integrative oncological day clinic of the Immanuel Hospital for 8 years. Here she accompanies attending patients in the mind-body-medicine-program with 12 whole-day-appointments over at least 12 weeks, dealing with the themes of suitable diets and eating habits, relaxation and meditation as well as body-work.
Professor of food chemistry at the Institute of Nutrition and Food Sciences of the University of Bonn
The biochemist Dr. Klaus Günther is a professor of food chemistry at the Institute of Nutrition and Food Sciences of the University of Bonn and works at the Institute of Bio- and Geosciences of the Research Centre Jülich, a member of the Helmholtz Association, Germany’s largest scientific organization.
For many years, his research activities have focused on the availability of minerals, trace elements and endocrine-disrupting contaminants in foods and their importance for human nutrition. He is the author of numerous scientific publications in international, high-ranking journals and has served as a member of various expert committees at federal authorities, as well as a reviewer for the German Research Foundation and various scientific journals. He supervised and reviewed a large number of bachelor and master theses, dissertations and habilitation theses during his scientific career.
He held chairs at the Universities of Duisburg-Essen and Bonn and was appointed honorary professor at Technical University of Graz, Austria and also at the Chinese State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, Nanchang University, P.R. of China.
He is the author of the books „Cure iron deficiency by natural foods“ (Springer Nature 2019) and „Nutrition for iron deficiency“ (Springer Nature 2021).
Nutrition Ecologist at University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, BOKU, Vienna (Austria)
Mag. Martin Schlatzer is a scientific researcher at the University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU) since 2011 and at the Institute for Organic Research (FiBL Austria). On behalf of the BOKU he works for the Center for Global Change and Sustainability.
He studied nutrition sciences at the University of Vienna and his main research focus is on sustainable and vegetarian diets, nutrition ecology, climate impact assessments and agro meteorology. Martin Schlatzer is lead and contributing Author of the APCC (Austrian Panel on Climate Change) and in 2021, the third edition of his book about animal production and climate change – the influence of nutrition on environment and climate, will be published.
He is invited as a guest speaker at various universities and institutes to talk about the influence of agriculture and nutrition on climate change, the environment and food security.
Interventional cardiologist
Dr. Florian Sauer works as an interventional cardiologist in his own practice in Landshut (GER). He gained working experience at hospitals in different countries (Germany, UK, Italy) and incorporates guidance to dietary change for his patients into his standard care.
Founder and managing director of Nutrition Hub
Dr. Simone K. Frey is the founder of Nutrition Hub, Europe’s largest community for nutrition experts. Previously, Simone led food investor Atlantic Food Labs and lab tech start-up BioAnalyt.
Simone’s mission is to place nutrition experts at the core of science and innovation in health and nutrition. She studied ‘Ökotrophologie’ at the Universities in Giessen and Vienna, holds a PhD in Nutrition Science from the University of Potsdam and Columbia University as well as a general management degree from ESMT. She is advisor to Farm & Food 4.0 and to the EIT-Food accelerator Rising Food Stars.
Doctoral Researcher in Public Health Nutrition, Queen Mary University of London (UK)
Roberta Alessandrini is a researcher interested in improving population health through healthy, sustainable, and more compassionate diets. She trained as a dietitian at the University of Naples (Italy) and then as global health nutritionist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. In 2018, she joined the Action on Salt & Sugar research group based at Queen Mary University of London to work on her PhD project looking at health impacts of saturated fat reformulation. At the moment, Roberta is working on a project considering the nutritional quality of plant-based meat.
General Practitioner Lifestyle Medicine Physician
Jonneke Brouwers is a general practitioner in Bakkeveen in the Netherlands. She has her own practice together with her husband Steven. They also run a small pharmacy. She is a mother of 3 children (age 15, 13 and 9).
In 2018 she followed the Lifestyle Medicine course from the International Board of Lifestyle Medicine. She took the exam in Indianapolis, USA successfully. She started this course because during her work as a GP she noticed that a large part of the problems that the patients consulted her with was lifestyle-related. In 2017 she started a project in her town where she held lectures to convince the people of the town to start living a healthier life. Inspired by the Blue Zones and Positive Health she noticed that there was a support base among the inhabitants of Bakkeveen for her ideas. The project has been growing since.
Just practicing Lifestyle Medicine in your practice is not enough for real change. We also have to change the obese environment where the people live in. Awareness is a keyword in this process. Teaching people about how healthy nature is, what foods are best for them, the importance of exercise, de-stressing, having an ikagai. It has been a great journey so far. Taking it one step at a time.
Founder and managing director at a’verdis
Rainer Roehl is founder and managing director of the consulting company a’verdis and lecturer at FH Münster University of Applied Sciences for the course „Sustainable Foodservice Services“.
For 30 years he has been working in the foodservice industry and the organic sector. During this time he has advised and coached more than 1,000 restaurants, hotels and canteens in their transformation to healthy, environmentally sound and economically feasible sustainable foodservice operations.
Additionally, he has run more than 500 food and nutrition seminars for chefs, consumers and medical doctors, and supported several score producers and traders in their conception, development and marketing of an organic product range for professional kitchens.
Senior Policy Advisor, Coordinator Sustainable Health Care Program, Ministry of Public Health and Sports, The Hague (NL)
Esther Putman BSc MSc PhD (biology/toxicology) started her career at the Medicines Evaluation Board in preclinical safety assessments and guideline development. Subsequently, she worked at the Ministry of Labour and Social affairs on worker safety regarding plant protection products and biological agents.
In 2012 started at the Ministry of Health Welfare and Sport in the public health department as a crisis coordinator. Transferred to the policy area of the healthy living environment and is currently working as a coordinator in the Sustainable Healthcare Team.
Head of Health Promotion at BKK ProVita
After studying medicine, Michael Blasius devoted himself in a national and international context to the treatment and avoidance of lifestyle-related, chronic diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.
His current focus as head of health promotion at BKK ProVita is in the fields of nutrition, physical exercise and stress reduction.
Policy Coordinator on Food Systems & NCD Prevention at European Public Health Alliance (EPHA), Brussels (Belgium)
Nikolai Pushkarev is policy coordinator at the European Public Health Alliance (Epha), a leading European civil society network advocating for policies to improve health and well-being. Nikolai leads EPHA’s work on Food Systems & NCD Prevention, promoting policies to tackle the common risk factors for non-communicable diseases (NCDs), and to advance a transition towards resilient, sustainable food systems with health-enabling food environments.
Previous experiences include human rights, environment, energy, as well as work in the cultural and private sectors. He gained an MA in European Law from Maastricht University and a postgraduate degree in agricultural economics through the School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London).
Occupational physician and research associate at IFANE
Dr. Eva Katharina Kühner is a medical doctor for occupational medicine and works as a physician in the management of a large company. Additionally, she is working as a research associate at the Institute for Alternative and Sustainable Food (IFANE) in the field of nutrition and the environment.
Dedicated to promoting animal welfare, she is also active as a research associate for Physicians Against Animal Experiments e.V.
Commercial Director at LWL hospitals in Münster and Lengerich
Thomas Voß (*1958), graduate in administration, has held management positions in hospitals for more than 30 years. Since 2019, he has been Commercial Director of the LWL hospitals in Münster and Lengerich, two large psychiatric specialist hospitals with associated care centers as well as residential facilities for mentally handicapped people.
As environmental management representative, he is also responsible for the EMAS environmental management system (Eco-Management and Audit Scheme, the European Union’s environmental management system) of both hospitals. The LWL hospital Münster was the first psychiatric hospital in Germany to be validated according to EMAS back in 1999, and has since implemented 100 environmental goals since then. The LWL hospital Lengerich has been validated in 2011 and has already implemented around 60 environmental goals.
In an honorary capacity, he is involved in the Environmental Verification Committee (UGA), a multi-stakeholder forum that advises the German Federal Ministry for Environment, and in the BioMentors network, whose members are dedicated to promoting the use of sustainable catering practices. In 2019, he was appointed CSR Ambassador Münsterland by NRW Economics Minister Prof. Dr. Pinkwart.
Researcher at Bern University of Applied Sciences
Sonja Schönberg, born and raised in Berlin, wrote her master’s thesis at the University of Newcastle, Priority Research Center in Physical Activity and Nutrition (Australia). Before completing her MSc in Food, Nutrition & Health (Switzerland), she completed her BSc in Nutrition and Dietetics (Switzerland).
Following her work as a nutritionist, she now teaches and conducts research at the Bern University of Applied Sciences, Department of Health (Switzerland), focusing on Sustainable Nutrition and Planetary Health.
She chairs the Sustainable Diets section of the Swiss Association of Dietitians, SVDE and is a member of various expert committees in the field of health and agriculture.
Registered Dietitian & Best-selling Author, Kelowna BC (Canada)
Brenda Davis, registered dietitian, is a pioneer in plant-based nutrition and an internationally acclaimed speaker.
As a prolific nutrition and health writer, she has authored/co-authored 12 books with nearly a million copies in print in 15 languages. Her most recent works include ‘Nourish: The Definitive Plant-based Nutrition Guide for Families’ (2020), ‘Kick Diabetes Essentials’ (2019), and ‘The Kick Diabetes Cookbook’ (2018). Brenda is the lead clinical nutrition specialist for the diabetes intervention research project in the Marshall Islands. She lives with her husband Paul in Calgary Alberta, Canada.
Lead of the Nutrition Support Team at Krankenhaus Waldfriede, Berlin (GER)
Amelie Kahl is a registered dietitian with B.Sc. in dietetics. Since 2016 she is the lead of the Nutrition Support Team and the „Zentrum für Ernährungstherapie und Prävention“ since 2019 at Waldfriede Hospital in Berlin Zehlendorf.
The therapeutic focus of the clinical dietitian is the nutritional therapy for patients with disease-related malnutrition as well as gastrointestinal diseases such as irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease.
Chief physician of internal medicine at Krankenhaus Waldfriede, Berlin (GER)
Prof. Büning is internist and gastroenterologist. He completed his training at the Charité Hospital in Berlin, where he worked until 2014 – most recently as deputy clinic director. Since July 2014, he is the chief physician of internal medicine at Krankenhaus Waldfriede. His clinical and scientific focus is primarily inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), where he has authored a number of original articles and review papers.
Postdoc at Department of Complementary and Integrative Medicine at Charité Berlin (Germany)
Nico Steckhan currently works at the department of Clinical Naturopathy (Institute for Social Medicine, Epidemiology and Health Economics, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin). Recently he is also working at the Chair for Connected Healthcare which is part of the Digital Health Center (Hasso Plattner Institute – Faculty of Digital Engineering). Before, he has been working at Max Planck Institute for human cognitive and brain sciences (Leipzig, Germany), Research Group Neurocognition of Music (Prof. Dr. S. Kölsch), as well as in the Medical Faculty Carl Gustav Carus, TU-Dresden, Dresden, Germany (group of Prof. Dr. R. Funk, focus on electromagnetic fields in tissue regeneration).
Nico does research in Integrative Medicine and Lifestyle Medicine. His focus lies on clinical research, especially in integrative medicine / lifestyle medicine, including fasting therapy / calorie restriction, nutrition (including Ayurveda), as well as mind and body therapy (yoga and meditation). Nico is also interested in Bioinformatics (Microbiota–gut–brain axis, Integrative data analysis and latent feature identification) and systems thinking.
Overview on academic career:
Former Head of Preventive Cardiology at the Ludwig Maximilians-University, Munich // CEO of Omegametrix®
Prof. Dr. med. Clemens von Schacky, FESC, (65, board-certified internist / cardiologist / angiologist) has been leading the unit of Preventive Cardiology at the Ludwig Maximilians-University of Munich until October 2020. Since 2007 he has been CEO of the fatty acid laboratory Omegametrix® in Martinsried. His research is focussing on aspects of cardiovascular prevention, such as omega-3 fatty acids, aspirin, ACE-inhibitors, diabetes and others (149 peer-reviewed publications in medline).
Together with a collaborator, he invented and defined the Omega-3 Index, a standardized method for erythrocyte fatty acid analysis, now brand-marked “HS-Omega-3 Index®”, substantiated by >300 publications in international journals, and more than 50 ongoing research projects. His work has been recognized by numerous awards, the latest one being the award of the Global Organization for EPA and DHA (GOED) for global leadership in omega-3’s in 2016.
Founder Plant-Based Health Professionals UK // Consultant Haematologist and Honorary Senior Lecturer at King’s College Hospital, London (UK)
Dr Shireen Kassam is a Consultant Haematologist and Honorary Senior Lecturer at King’s College Hospital, London with a specialist interest in the treatment of lymphoma. She is also a Visiting-Professor at Winchester University, Hampshire, where she has developed and facilitates the UK’s first University-based course on plant-based nutrition.
Shireen is passionate about promoting plant-based nutrition for the prevention and reversal of chronic disease and for maintaining optimal health after treatment for cancer. In 2019 she became certified as a Lifestyle Medicine Physician and is also a CHIP facilitator.
Shireen founded Plant-Based Health Professionals UK in 2017, a non-profit, membership organisation whose mission is to provide evidence-based education on whole food plant-based nutrition. In January 2021, she co-founded and launched the UK’s first regulated, plant-based, lifestyle medicine healthcare service Plant Based Health Online.
Shireen qualified as a doctor in 2000. During her training, she completed a PhD, which investigated the role of selenium in sensitising cancer cells to chemotherapy. Shireen has published a number of peer-reviewed papers in the field of lymphoma.
Chair for Public Health and Health Services Research, Institute for Medical Information Processing, Biometry and Epidemiology (IBE), Ludwig-Maximilians University, Munich (GER)
Dr Peter von Philipsborn is a medical doctor and a public health researcher at LMU Munich, Germany. He has studied medicine and politics, economics and law in Freiburg, Buenos Aires, London and Munich. He works at the crossroads of clinical practice, research and policy, striving to do research that is valuable to society and makes a difference in peoples’ lives by informing policy and practice. He works in public health nutrition, with a particular focus on policy and systems approaches for healthy and sustainable diets.
Pediatrician // Medical Director at Physicians Association for Nutrition (PAN)
Niklas Oppenrieder is a german physician who discovered the huge impact of diet on the prevention and treatment of various diseases during his pediatric training at different german hospitals. In 2018 he paused his pediatric career to establish the Physicians Association for Nutrition (PAN; www.pan-int.org) together with colleagues in the fields of medicine and nutrition science.
PAN is an international non-profit health organization, raising awareness among health professionals, the general public, and policymakers about the role of whole food, plant-based nutrition in promoting good health and preventing and treating disease. PAN is, among others, part of the organization committee of the VegMed Conference.
Since it’s foundation, Niklas served as PAN’s Medical Director, being responsible for the scientific content as well as PAN’s strategy and worldwide development. Together with his wife and two daughters, he lives near Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
Senior researcher and consultant physician, Immanuel Hospital, Berlin (GER)
PD Dr. med. Christian S. Keßler, M.A. is a senior physician at the Department of Complementary and Integrative Medicine at Immanuel Hospital Berlin. He is responsible for research coordination, project management and outpatient clinic management.
Keßler conducts clinical research at the Institute of Social Medicine, Epidemiology and Health Economics at Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin with a focus on Traditional Medicine, Mind-Body Medicine and Nutritional Medicine.
He finds the work with Integrative Medicine meaningful since in such treatment contexts preventive and health-promoting strategies, as well as self-effectiveness aspects, play key roles.
The aim of his work is to contribute to the evidence-based development of Integrative Medicine in Germany through clinical practice and research. In his view, this essentially includes a plant-based wholefood diet.
Together with Sebastian Joy, PD Dr. Christian Keßler originally launched the VegMed project.
CEO & Medical Director at medicum Hamburg (GER)
Matthias Riedl worked as a journalist for several newspapers during his medical studies at Hamburg University. Already in the early stages of his studies, he focussed on the specialization in diabetes and nutritional medicine. Meanwhile, he had been asked to organize the privatization of the Diabetes Centrum Hamburg in 1999 and expand it by a nutritional practice. Successively the foundation of the medicum Hamburg MVZ GmbH in 2007 followed which has developed Europe´s largest and most renowned practice for diabetes, nutritional medicine, and adjacent areas of expertise. Riedl argues that many diseases can be cured or at least relieved by proper nutrition – especially diabetes type 2. In 2021, Riedl still runs the medicum Hamburg as medical director/CEO and belongs to Germany´s most renowned diabetologists and nutritional medicine doctors. He was rewarded Top doctor by Focus magazine since 2013 and officially represents the board of “Association of Nutritional Doctors” (BDEM) as spokesman. Since 2015 he has been well recognised as TV doctor in “Die Ernährungsdocs” and well known as a bestselling author, publisher and lecturer. His latest publications include several books concerning healthy nutrition e.g. “20:80 Prinzip”.
Senior Scientist at the Greenpeace Research Laboratory in the University of Exeter (UK)
Dr. Reyes Tirado is a Senior Scientist at the Greenpeace Research Laboratory in the University of Exeter (UK). Earlier, she worked as a researcher at Stanford and Berkeley Universities in California (USA). She works on issues interlinking food, land use and climate change, focusing on the solutions that must take us to a green and peaceful future. Reyes believes in science as one of the drivers in the transformations our society needs. She is the lead author of the report Less is More: Reducing meat and dairy for a healthier life and planet — the Greenpeace vision of the meat and dairy system towards 2050. The food we eat and how we produce it is key to determining what kind of future our children will have. Reyes is currently working remotely from a farm in the South of Spain, grounding her scientific work into the realities of rural life.
Professor of International Food Economics at the University of Göttingen (GER)
Matin Qaim is Professor of International Food Economics at the University of Göttingen in Germany. Before, he had research and teaching positions at the Universities of Hohenheim, Bonn, Kiel, and California at Berkeley. Qaim holds a PhD in agricultural and development economics from the University of Bonn. His main research areas relate to sustainable agriculture, food systems, malnutrition, and rural development. He has experience in numerous countries of Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas. Qaim has over 200 publications, mostly in top international academic journals. He is elected member of the German National Academy of Sciences (Leopoldina) and Fellow of the American Agricultural & Applied Economics Association.
Head of the European Department for Integrative Pediatric Oncology, Witten/Herdecke (GER)
Prof. Dr. Alfred Längler is the senior consultant of the department for pediatrics at the Hospital Herdecke. He is a professor for integrative medicine in pediatrics at the medical faculty of the Univeristy Witten/Herdecke. The focus of his scientific work lies on complementary medicine in pediatrics and on the evaluation of plant-based nutrition during infancy and childhood. He is the autor and editor of several books and scientific articles in the respective research areas.
Paediatrician, Specialized Physician for Paediatric Oncology and Haematology, Charité, Berlin (GER)
Prof. Dr. Georg Seifert is a professor for integrative medicine in paediatric medicine at the Charité Univerity Medicine Berlin, where he serves as well as a senior physician in the department for paediatric oncology. At the University of Sao Paulo, he researches the field of Brasilian integrative and traditional medicine. He is the author of numerous articles on the topic of pediatric integrative medicine, and the author of several books on children’s health and naturopathy.
Professor of Nutrition in the Human Biology and Nutrition Department at AgroParisTech, Paris (France)
Prof. François Mariotti, MEng, PhD, is Professor of Nutrition in the Human Biology and Nutrition Department at AgroParisTech, the Paris Institute of Technology for Life, Food and Environmental Sciences (Paris, France). He currently heads the ‘PROSPECT’ research group that studies the relations between dietary protein intake, nutritional security and cardiometabolic health, combining metabolism and physiology in clinical trials and the analysis of dietary intake of populations (at UMR PNCA, AgroParisTech, INRAe, Université Paris-Saclay, Paris, France).
The main focus is on nutritional transition and plant vs animal protein sources. François Mariotti’s team has developed and implemented multiple, multidisciplinary nutritional approaches, including the study of the nutritional adequacy of diets using simulation and optimization tools on dietary survey data. Prof. Mariotti is also the chairman of the standing committee on Nutrition at the French Agency (Anses) since 2012, where he has been closely involved in the coordination of the revision of the French food-based dietary guidelines for various populations (2012-2019).
He has published >100 international publications and he is the editor of a reference book (900 pages) on vegetarian and plant-based diets in health and disease prevention.
CEO & Nutrition Scientist at Research Institute for Plant-Based Nutrition, Biebertal (GER)
Markus Keller, born in 1966, studied nutritional science at the Justus Liebig University in Gießen, where he also received his doctorate. In 2010, he established the institute for alternative and sustainable nutrition (IFANE) in Gießen. Since 2016 he is the director of the bachelor’s degree program “Vegan Food Management” at the University of applied sciences, “Fachhochschule des Mittelstands (FHM)”. In April 2018, he was appointed there as the world’s first professor for vegan nutrition.
His main research areas are: Ecological and health aspects of vegetarian and vegan nutrition, alternative dietary patterns, sustainable nutrition.
Together with Prof. Dr. Claus Leitzmann, he is the author of the reference book (for the German-speaking area) “Vegetarian and vegan nutrition” (Ulmer 2020, 4th Ed.). Together with Edith Gätjen, he also wrote the books “Vegan Nutrition. Pregnancy, lactation and complementary food ”(Ulmer 2017) and“ Vegan Child nutrition ”(Ulmer 2020).
His numerous research projects include the VeChi Diet study, the VeChi Youth study and the Preggie study.
Medical Practice Senior Partner // Advisory Board Member of Plant-Based Health Professionals UK // Author
Dr. Gemma Newman has worked in medicine for 16 years and is the Senior Partner at a family medical practice where she has worked for 12 years. She studied at the University of Wales College of Medicine and has worked in many specialties as a doctor including elderly care, endocrinology, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, psychiatry, general surgery, urology, vascular surgery, rehabilitation medicine and General Practice. She gained additional qualifications in gynecology and family planning. She is a graduate of the AFMCP course, and is a member of BSLM.
Dr. Newman is an advisory board member of Plant Based Health Professionals UK and has contributed content on the topic of Diabetes for the Winchester University Plant Based Nutrition Course. She has also created content on the topic of Mental Health and Nutrition for The Diploma of Culinary Medicine by The Medicinal Chef. She gives holistic health, nutrition and lifestyle advice to her patients, who have gained tremendous results using the power of their plate. She is regularly invited to teach other doctors and the general public via training programmes, podcasts and conferences about the benefits of plant-based nutrition.
Initiator and spokesman of German Alliance for Climate Change and Health (KLUG), Munich (GER)
The initiator and spokesman of KLUG (German Alliance for Climate Change and Health) has promoted professional change processes for many years. Originally a medical doctor and psychotherapist, Martin Herrmann soon switched to advising companies and NGOs, designed new methods for organizational development and now teaches at international business schools and universities. He is particularly fond of complexity research, philosophy, especially Hannah Arendt.
Founder & CSO at Phytaphix // Co-founder of Plant-Based Doctors Ireland and Plant-Based Sustainability Group of the Irish Nutrition and Dietetics Institute, Dublin (IR)
A diagnosis of MS at age 15 led Conor to become interested in nutrition. He went to Trinity College and studied human nutrition and dietetics, and subsequently earned his PhD from the School of Medicine at University College, Dublin. Conor’s research has been published in more than 20 peer-reviewed publications, and has been recognised with national and international awards.
Conor’s main research and clinical interests are autoimmune diseases and cardiovascular diseases, particularly heart failure. He has published comprehensive reviews on nutrition and the heart as well as a randomised, controlled trials. Conor is an active member of the Irish Nutrition and Dietetics Institute as well as the Blood Pressure Council. Conor is also a founding member of both Plant-Based Doctors Ireland and the Plant-Based and Sustainability Group of the Irish Nutrition and Dietetics Institute, and maintains a traditional media and social media presence.
Dean Sherzai, MD, PhD and Ayesha Sherzai, MD
A unique husband and wife team on the cutting edge of brain science, Dr. Dean and Dr. Ayesha Sherzai are dedicated to educating people on the simple steps to long-term health and wellness through their work as Directors of the Alzheimer’s Prevention Program at Loma Linda University Medical Center, with patients, as well as through online writing, videos, and books.
There is a tsunami of diseases of the brain such as Alzheimer’s, stroke and Parkinson’s disease permeating our culture. In our own communities and families, we all have known at least one person suffering from these illnesses and in many cases seen the fallout first-hand. There is no treatment for these diseases, and the emotional, financial and social burden is immense. These diseases are thieves, stealing time, money and ravaging the minds of our loved ones. The Sherzais see scientists and physicians working furiously to find a cure or these diseases, and in this frantic race against time somehow, the big picture is usually lost among the molecules and chemicals related to the diseases.
As Co-Directors of the Alzheimer’s Prevention Program at Loma Linda University Medical Center, the Sherzais, through research and their extensive collective medical backgrounds, work to demystify the steps to achieving long-term brain health and the prevention of devastating diseases such as Alzheimer’s and dementia.
Dean Sherzai, MD, PhD, is co-director of the Alzheimer’s Prevention Program at Loma Linda University. Dean trained in Neurology at Georgetown University School of Medicine, and completed fellowships in neurodegenerative diseases and dementia at the National Institutes of Health and UC San Diego. He also holds a PhD in Healthcare Leadership with a focus on community health from Andrews University.
Ayesha Sherzai, MD is a neurologist and co-director of the Alzheimer’s Prevention Program at Loma Linda University, where she leads the Lifestyle Program for the Prevention of Neurological Diseases. She completed a dual training in Preventative Medicine and Neurology at Loma Linda University, and a fellowship in Vascular Neurology and Epidemiology at Columbia University. She is also a trained plant-based culinary artist.
Associate Professor at University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville, Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson (US)
Jennifer L. Trilk, PhD, FACSM, FAGLN is an Associate Professor at University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville and Director of the Lifestyle Medicine Core Curriculum and Lifestyle Medicine Distinction Track (e.g. medical student training in nutrition, physical activity/exercise, behavior change, student/patient self-care, and resiliency to prevent and treat the nation’s top chronic diseases such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and various forms of cancer). She also founded and directs Exercise is Medicine Greenville®, a comprehensive 12-week medically-based exercise and lifestyle program for adults with chronic health conditions, for which she received the 2019 Exercise is Medicine Global Leadership Award from the American College of Sports Medicine.
Dr. Trilk also co-founded and co-directs the Lifestyle Medicine Education Collaborative (LMEd), which provides leadership, guidance and resources in Lifestyle Medicine to medical schools across the globe. In 2017 she was showcased internationally as an invited adjunct professor at the Università degli Studi del Piemonte Orientale (UPO) medical school in Novara, Italy, and at American College of Preventive Medicine’s Lifestyle Medicine congressional briefing on Capitol Hill. In 2013, she spoke by invitation at the Bipartisan Policy Center: “Teaching Nutrition and Physical Activity in Medical School: Training Doctors for Prevention-Oriented Care.”
Dr. Trilk has received national recognition by the Association of American Medical Colleges (Press Release 2017; Press Release 2018), U.S. News and World Report, Chicago Tribune, and CNN, and twice has received the U.S. President’s Council on Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition Community Leadership Award (years 2019 and 2014).
Dr. Trilk completed her post-doctoral fellowship at the University of South Carolina Arnold School of Public Health and earned her PhD in exercise physiology from the University of Georgia. She is a Fellow of the third class of the Aspen Global Leadership Network’s Health Innovators Fellowship Program and also is a Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine.
Founding Member VESNA, MD at Czech National Institute of Public Health, Prague (CR)
Eliška Selinger, freshly graduated medical doctor and Ph.D. student, works at the Center for Research Nutrition, Metabolism and Diabetes (3rd Faculty of Medicine CUNI, Faculty Hospital Kralovske Vinohrady). She is currently running her own project focusing on the nutritional status of Czech vegans and epigenetic differences in vegan blood. She started to work in research by the end of her second year of medical studies, ending with 4 years of experience in (cancer) immunoepigenetics, and more than 2 years of involvement in vegan and nutrition-oriented research, including two nutritional research internships abroad.
She is one of the founding members of a new European research network connecting researchers interested in a vegan diet (VESNA). Since winning the Famelab 2016 competition, she is active in science communication in Czechia and abroad. She is also a member of Aspen Young Leaders network, and the recipient of a new grant for talented graduates at the 3rd Faculty of medicine.
Nutritionist and Epidemiologist, Department of Epidemiology at the Medical Centre of Erasmus University Rotterdam and Wageningen University (Netherlands)
Dr.Ir. Trudy Voortman is a nutritionist and epidemiologist. She works in the Department of Epidemiology at the Medical Centre of Erasmus University Rotterdam and Wageningen University, where she heads the Nutrition and Lifestyle Working Group. Her scientific work focuses on the role of nutrition and lifestyles throughout life. She is involved in several large cohort studies, such as the Rotterdam or Generation R study.
Director and Professor at the Max Rubner-Institut, Federal Research Institute for Nutrition and Food, Karlsruhe (GER) // Head of the Institute of Physiology and Biochemistry of Nutrition
Prof. Dr oec.troph.habil. Bernhard Watzl is Director and a professor at the Max Rubner Institute (Federal Research Institute for Nutrition and Food, Karlsruhe, Germany) and Head of the Institute for Physiology and Biochemistry of Nutrition. Since 2009 he is a professor at the Institute for Technology (KIT) in Karlsruhe. He has published more than 160 scientific articles, and in 2017 was awarded as a “highly-cited researcher” (clarivate.com/hcr).
Since 2007 he is a member – and currently the Vice President – of the presidium of the German Association for Nutrition (DGE). His work includes nutritional immunology with a focus on probiotics and prebiotics, secondary phytochemicals, and the gut-associated immune system, as well as the preventive effect of food on human health.
Specialist in Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine // Co-Founder and 1st Chairman of the Physicians Association for Nutrition (PAN)
Carolin Wiedmann is a specialist in paediatric and adolescent medicine and works in a paediatric practice near Munich. She has the certification “Paediatric Nutrition Medicine (DGKJ)” and advises families on fully vegetable-based nutrition of children, pregnant women and nursing mothers. She is co-founder and chairperson of the Physicians Association for Nutrition (PAN).
Director and Physician-in-Chief, Chair for Complementary and Integrative Medicine at Charité University Medical Center Berlin Immanuel Hospital, Berlin (GER)
Prof. Dr. Michalsen is Director and Physician-in-Chief for Complementary and Integrative Medicine, Immanuel Hospital Berlin, Department for Internal and Integrative Medicine, as well as the owner of the endowed Chair for Complementary and Integrative Medicine at the Institute for Social Medicine, Epidemiology and Health Economics of Charité Medical University, Berlin. As an internist, he did his PhD in cardiology, followed by further medical trainings in the fields of emergency and first-aid medicine as well as naturopathy. His areas of expertise include nutritional medicine, mind-body medicine and lifestyle modification. In 2017 his bestseller “Heilen mit der Kraft der Natur” was published, followed by “Mit Ernährung heilen” in 2019.
Associate Professor of Nutrition and Eating Behaviour in the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics of Harokopio University, Athens (GR)
Dr. Mary Yannakoulia, born and raised in Athens, studied Nutrition and Dietetics in Greece and the UK and is now Associate Professor of Nutrition and Eating Behaviour in the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics at Harokopio University, Athens. Her research focuses on eating behaviour, nutrition and lifestyle interventions, and nutrition in old age. In 2009, she received the Fulbright Scholarship to examine the influence of the Mediterranean diet on inflammatory markers.
Senior Physician at the Acute Psychosomatic Department, Seeparkklinik Bad Bodenteich (GER)
Dr. Bianca Schwennen works as a senior physician in the acute psychosomatic department of the eating disorders unit of the Medical Clinic Bad Bodenteich.
After completing her medical studies, she qualified as a specialist in general medicine and psychosomatic medicine, as well as an additional qualification in nutritional and micronutrient medicine; she also studied Ayurvedic medicine.
Member of nutritional (medical) associations and highly committed to eating disorder-specific networks and professional associations, as well as participation in corresponding studies on the prevention and early treatment of patients with eating disorder symptoms.
Dr. Schwennen is very committed to the holistic treatment of her patients.
Cancer Epidemiologist at Genetic Epidemiology Group, International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC/WHO), Lyon (France)
Dr. Virani’s research interests lie in the fundamental understanding of the global inequality of cancer incidence and survival. Her current work deals with the interaction between germline genetics and somatic change as well as the influence of environmental factors on them. In order to explore the genetic contribution in the development of diseases, she examines different cancers and integrates information about different populations in her work. Part of this work focuses on the use of techniques based on Mendelian distribution to analyse the causality of risk factors.
Dr. Virani is an active partner in the HEADSpAcE project, an EU-funded initiative to investigate head and neck cancer genomics and the reasons for delays in diagnosis.
Dietitian and Graduate Pedagogue // President of the Association of Dietitians – German Federal Association e.V. (VDD), Wiesbaden (GER)
Uta Koepcke is a registered dietitian in Germany and has also a University degree in pedagogics. She has worked in clinical dietetics, as practitioner in a private praxis as well as a trainer in companies dealing with food and nutrition. Due to her experience in different settings her focus is on implementation and accessibility of nutritional advice in all settings.
On the European level she has ten years of experience as an active member of EFAD, the European Association of Dietitians. Together with colleagues from all over Europe she develops tools for education and CPD. Since 2017 she is the honorary president of the German Association of Dietitians. The focus of her work is to improve the awareness of politicians and health care professionals to the benefits of nutritional advice for patients and health system in order to develop the structural anchoring of nutritional advice in clinics, primary care and public health in Germany.
Director at Association for Independent Health Counselling (Verband für unabhängige Gesundheitsberatung, UGB), Wettenberg/Gießen (GER)
Edith Gätjen, ecotrophologist, systemic couple and family therapist, author, lecturer at the University of Health in Bochum, training, further education and training of midwives, nurses, doctors and educators in nutrition, especially in the vegetarian / vegan area. Lecturer at the UGB (Verband für unabhängige Gesundheitsberatung) and FBZ Bensberg and trainer of the Sarah-Wiener-Stiftung in the field of practical nutrition education. Numerous publications in specialist journals and lectures at scientific conferences. In addition to continuing education as a teacher, she is particularly interested in working with parents and their children, from where they can come up with ideas for new topics.
Medical student
A short introduction to “Wissenshunger”
„Wissenshunger“ – Presenting a medical student-delivered health promotion and primary prevention intervention for children
The worldwide prevalence of obesity has increased in the last years. Overweight and obesity are often accompanied by multitude of symptoms and interrelated non-communicable diseases (NCD).
Childhood obesity is the most consistent predictor of adult obesity and its accompanying NCDs. Children start to become aware of their nutrition, as they are increasingly influenced by peer groups instead of parents, and nowadays widely exposed to food trends on social media platforms.
Huong Giang Doan, as a project leader of “Wissenshunger“, is presenting a medical student-delivered health promotion and primary prevention intervention targeting youth and adolescent dietary behavior in order to lower the burden of nutrition-related diseases.
Vice-chair KLUG (German Climate Change and Health Alliance)
Planetary health in the medical curriculum
The Planetary Health Academy had been launched in the spring of 2020 and had since then reached over 4000 people with planetary health. Educational content for this field had lacked until then. The Planetary Health Academy is one of the essential pillars of promoting a holistic health definition in medical curricula.
Assistant Professor in Nutritional and Environmental Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Shifting towards sustainable diets in the UK: a focus on international trade and food system resilience
A global shift towards predominantly plant-based diets is an essential step in our efforts to reach the Paris Agreements. Evidence that these predominantly plant-based diets substantially reduce dietary carbon footprints, while at the same time improving population health, has accumulated rapidly over the past years. However, there are also some important trade-offs.
Using the example of the UK, Dr Scheelbeek will discuss the challenges and opportunities for food system resilience that would result from a nationwide shift towards predominantly plant-based diets and cover the importance of international trade in this matter.
Co-founder of Nutritank
Dr Iain Broadley is a medical doctor, published scientist, 2019 BBC Food and Farming award winner and co-founder of Nutritank – an award-winning information and innovation hub for food, nutrition and lifestyle medicine. On a mission to fill the medical curricula gap with greater nutrition and lifestyle medicine training.
During his medical studies at Bristol University, Iain co-founded Nutritank, having found that nutrition and lifestyle medicine education, within the medical curricula, was not adequate to combat the rising level of lifestyle-related chronic disease. Nutritank now has 25 medical student-led Nutritank branches across the U.K, where students coordinate, organise and execute educational workshops within this space.
Iain is also a regular speaker at medical innovation conferences and has raised the issue on multiple major media publications, such as BBC Radio 4s’, “The Food Programme”, BBC News online and cooking alongside Jamie Oliver on his show “Jamie and Jimmys Friday Night Feast” (December 28th 2018).
Following the show, Iain and his team helped Jamie’s campaign team to organise the “#nutrition4medics” media campaign. This was successful in adding a clause to the NHS Long Term Plan introducing a commitment to increase nutrition education for medical professionals.
Iain has recently graduated as a foundation year one doctor, and volunteered to enter the NHS early to help out during the COVID-19 pandemic. He currently lives in Brighton.
Co-founder of Nutritank
Nutrition in medical education: What’s going on in Europe?
Co-founders Ally & Iain will talk about their success in the U.K. with campaigning for greater nutrition education within medical training. They will explain the status of nutrition education in medical training within the U.K. and talk you through their innovative approach to making change to create progress.
General Practitioner | Founder, director and nutrition lead, British Society of Lifestyle Medicine
Evidence-based weight loss
Plant-based diets are effective for weight regulation. There is increasing evidence that people following a plant-based diet are more likely than others to be a healthy weight, and also that changing from an omnivorous or vegetarian eating pattern to a strict plant-based diet can be an effective weight loss strategy. This is because of the typical nutrient composition of a plant-based diet compared with other diets, but also because of effects on the microbiome, epigenetics, appetite regulation and more.
This way of eating is also acceptable to patients as they have no need to count calories or macronutrients, and can eat to satiety as needed; there is never a need to feel hungry. This is evident from the existing medical literature, but also from a study of the participants of the Happy Shape Club; evidence from the first ever assessment of this weight loss programme is presented for the first time in public here.
Professor for Cellular Immunology at the Medical Faculty of Heidelberg University, Heidelberg (GER)
Immune modulation via food – on the way towards a better understanding of opportunities and risks
Numerous diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, arteriosclerosis or obesity are characterized by chronic inflammation. Immunomodulatory substances can either stimulate or suppress the innate and/or adaptive immune system in order to restore immune homeostasis. Since the immunomodulators currently in clinical use sometimes have serious side effects, medicinal plants and food components constitute a promising addition to conventional therapies.
Our goal is to elucidate the immunomodulatory potential of medicinal plants and food components. Through functional and molecular characterization – using the most modern immunological research methods – these studies will enable a detailed assessment of the effects of complementary medicine methods on the immune system.
Our studies focus on the immunoregulatory properties of pro- and anti-oxidative substances contained in food components. The gained knowledge can help to improve treatment strategies for immunerelated diseases such as chronic inflammation. In this context, herbal medicines or dietary supplements could be selected that counteract inflammation and help restore the disturbed immune balance.
Head of unit 'Epidemiology, Zoonoses and Antimicrobial Resistance', Department Biological Safety, German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR)
Food as a source of resistant bacteria for humans
The role of food as a source of resistant bacteria is frequently discussed. In case of bacterial infections, food animals are exposed to the same groups of antimicrobials as human beings are. Therefore resistance to these antimicrobials can develop and be spread in animal associated microorganisms. These bacteria in turn can be transmitted to food during food harvest, i.e. slaughter or milking. Foodborne infections such as Salmonellosis or Campylobacteriosis are evidence of the transmission of bacteria from animals to humans through food.
The role of food for the spread of resistant bacteria is, however, complex and differs between the different types of bacteria. For bacteria causing foodborne infections such as Salmonella or Campylobacter, resistance acquired on-farm is directly important to humans once the bacteria have been ingested. For other bacteria, the major risk is the transmission of resistance mechanisms to other bacteria in the human gut, as the bacteria themselves are not necessarily harmful to humans.
Other less frequently discussed aspects are the potential role of food of plant origin as a source of these bacteria due to environmental contamination and trade of food between continents and the associated risk of importing resistant bacteria to Europe from areas that have different, frequently worse situations with respect to antimicrobial resistance.
The presence of resistant bacteria in food is routinely monitored in Germany. Results give evidence of the complexity of the challenge and underline that kitchen hygiene, in any case, is key to food safety in the private sector despite all efforts taken on the production level to avoid contamination of food with resistant bacteria.
GP, Certified Lifestyle Medicine Physician & Medical Director of Plant Based Health Online
The UK’s 1st online plant-based healthcare service: from concept to clinical practice
Gain insight into the recent development and creation of Plant Based Health Online, the UK’s first online lifestyle medicine healthcare service. Lessons learnt from building the platform, engaging a multidisciplinary team and planning the service will be shared in detail. Early progress reports showcasing patient success stories will also be presented which highlight the power of virtual lifestyle medicine.
Nutrition Scientist at Department of Food, Nutrition, Facilities, Münster (GER)
Healthy lifestyle communities: Chances and challenges using the example of “Gemeinsam Gesund”
Today, chronic diseases (e.g. type 2 diabetes) are a major public health problem worldwide, they currently account for almost 60% of all deaths and 43% of the global burden of disease. There is strong scientific evidence that a healthy lifestyle is an important part of the solution not only to many of those health problems but also to other global problems (e.g. climate change).
However, making lifestyle changes is complex. When developing lifestyle interventions one must consider how evidence-based knowledge can be optimally transferred and communicated to society and citizens. Therefore we have also to carve out transfer-promoters and transfer-inhibitors. Our community-based lifestyle intervention programme “Gemeinsam Gesund” for middle-aged and elderly citizens from the general population combined a behavioural approach on the individual level with an infrastructural approach on the community level, with the aim of improving participants’ health literacy, creating a supportive community and in the long term inspiring a more salutogenic municipality. The intervention focused on plant-based nutrition, physical activity, stress management, and community support and offered citizens the opportunity to self-reliantly improve their health while being able to rely on support from others. When preparing and executing our community lifestyle intervention programme some important transfer-promoters and transfer-inhibitors emerged.
Board Certified Pediatrician, Nairobi (Kenya)
Nourish: Plant-Based Diets for Children
Reshma Shah, MD, and Brenda Davis, RD will provide an overview of the benefits of plant-based diets, the safety and adequacy of plant-based diets for children, nutrition through the growing years, and how to avoid potential nutrition shortfalls.
Psychological Psychotherapist (VT), Director of Treatment Services (v. Bodelschwinghsche Stiftungen Bethel) and member of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT)
Motivational Interviewing in medical practice: An introduction
Motivational interviewing is a client-centered and goal-oriented counseling approach (Miller & Rollnick, 2013). Clients are encouraged to initiate a change talk reflecting the desire for change, perceived self-efficacy and other facets of intrinsic motivation. To resolve ambivalence and to evoke motivation for change, practitioners use easy-to-administer instruments such as the readiness ruler. Moreover, the exploration of core personal values is considered crucial for the initiation of behavior change. Hence, the value card sort is one of the most popular interventions in motivational interviewing. Practitioners avoid confrontation and labeling in response to resistance. Therefore, individuals reluctant to change seem to benefit most from treatment in accordance with the principles of motivational interviewing. The theory of behavior change is based on psycholinguistic models of communication and psychological theories of motivation, e.g., self-determination theory. Various meta-analyses and systematic reviews prove the effectiveness of interventions adopted from motivational interviewing (for a review, see Demmel, 2020).
The presentation provides an overview of treatment processes, communication skills, and interventions.
References:
Demmel, R. (2020). Motivational Interviewing. In J. Bengel & O. Mittag (Hrsg.), Psychologie in der medizinischen Rehabilitation: Ein Lehr- und Praxishandbuch (pp. 125-135). Berlin: Springer.
Miller, W. R. & Rollnick, S. (2013). Motivational interviewing: Helping people change. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
Health educator and Mind-body therapist at Day Clinic for Integrative Medicine at Immanuel Krankenhaus Berlin, Berlin, Germany
The (medical) recommendation for a dietary change is often plausible, however it is usually not an effective means to motivate sufficiently and lastingly for a behavioural change.
A high level of motivation itself is the basic prerequisite for a change in behavior – but no guarantee that it will be successful.
Dietary change needs more!
Health psychology research shows that people who change their behaviour – this includes a change in diet – go through various phases/stages. Each of these stages comprises very different motivational, intentional and behavioural aspects.
Interventions adapted to each stage support the process and ensure an economic use of your counselling resources.
On the other hand a well-intentioned intervention at the wrong time can hinder/impair the process and waste resources.
Knowledge about these aspects enables us to provide tailored support and to use our resources economically.
Sometimes it is about giving information adapted to the level of knowledge without appeals, other times it is about accompanying the conscious consideration of the advantages and disadvantages of a change in diet. The personal freedom of choice and the personal responsibility of the person we counsel should have top priority: We are “only” accompaniment. The responsibility to take the necessary steps lies with the person themselves.
In the spirit of Albert Einstein, who said, “Learning is experience. Everything else is simply information.” Feel free to bring a pen and paper. You are invited to experience a stage model of behaviour change motivation in a manageable form based on your own example*, in order to utilise individual aspects from it for yourself and also for your own consulting work.
* Since this is a universally applicable model, your example can be from the area of nutrition, but also from other lifestyle areas such as exercise or relaxation.
Professor of food chemistry at the Institute of Nutrition and Food Sciences of the University of Bonn
Plant-based iron: Much more valuable than previously thought
Iron in plant foods, especially in legumes, is much more bioavailable to the organism than previously thought. Recent studies show that phyto-ferritin can be absorbed directly by the body, similar to haem iron from animal foods.
About a quarter of the world’s population is severely iron deficient. This is over 1.5 billion people. A deficit of iron is the most significant deficiency worldwide and thus a major issue in the context of activities to improve world nutrition, also with political dimensions.
Two main pathways have been discussed for the absorption of iron in enterocytes. The food iron that is not bound as haem is introduced into the cell via the divalent metal transporter after reduction to Fe2+ and can then be utilised there. In the second mechanism, the haem-bound iron from animal foods is transported via the haem carrier protein into the interior of the intestinal cell and the organic porphyrin skeleton of the haem is enzymatically degraded there. According to recent studies, however, a third, independent pathway exists in which ferritin can be absorbed directly by enterocytes through endocytosis.
Ferritin is a high-molecular iron complex in which 24 proteins spherically surround an iron core that consists of approx. 4000 Fe-(III)-ions and also contains oxygen and phosphate. It is known to serve as an iron store in the human body and is also found in plant foods. Especially in legumes such as green and yellow peas, kidney beans, pinto beans, chickpeas, soybeans and lentils, iron is present to a very large extent as ferritin and can therefore be absorbed directly by the organism via the ferritin port.
In addition, the bioavailability of non-ferritin-bound iron in plant foods can be increased through well-known methods such as the addition of vitamin C to the meal.
Iron from plant foods is therefore much more valuable than previously thought. This is good news for all of us and especially for vegetarians and vegans. The most important thing is to make sure that you choose foods that contain enough iron in an easily bioavailable form. In the vegetable sector, pulses offer a great advantage here. In lentils, for example, 70 % of the iron is in the form of ferritin iron and can therefore directly supply the body with iron via the ferritin port.
References
Günther K. Eisenmangel beheben mit natürlichen Lebensmitteln, Springer Nature 2019 (Cure iron deficiency by natural foods)
Günther K. Ernährung bei Eisenmangel, Springer Nature 2021 (Nutrition for iron deficiency)
Nutrition Ecologist at University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, BOKU, Vienna (Austria)
On the edge of the Anthropocene: Plant-based diets as a key for solving climate and multiple crises [sponsored talk]
Humankind faces multiple crises, surpassing planetary boundaries and often leaving the safe operating space. The food system has a major impact on human health, however also significantly affects climate change, resource use, biodiversity, as well soil and water quality on a large scale. Current nutrition habits in high-income countries cause particularly high greenhouse gas emissions and several further negative environmental effects. The talk will therefore give an overview of the impact and contribution of plant-based diets such as vegetarian and vegan diets to current crises, with a strong focus on the climate crises.
Doctoral Researcher in Public Health Nutrition, Queen Mary University of London (UK)
Plant-based meats: How alternative meat might transform global nutrition and public health
An increasing number of consumers is choosing plant-based meat in place of animal meat. But how healthy is plant-based meat? And how these products compare to animal meat? In her talk, Roberta Alessandrini will share her research findings looking at the nutritional quality of a large sample of UK plant-based meat products. She will also provide practical tips about how to choose healthier plant-based alternatives.
General Practitioner Lifestyle Medicine Physician
From general practice to public health: How to implement lifestyle medicine in your community
As a GP I have been interested in lifestyle medicine for a long time.
During my consultations, I noticed that what I was taught in medical school, ‘for every ill a pill’, was not suitable for all my patients. I started to get interested in the patient as a whole and learned about lifestyle medicine, the role of nutrition (WFBP) and the Blue Zones. The past years I have been developing a two year program for my patients in which they can follow a lifestyle medicine approach. I also initiated a project in my town called Blue Zone Bakkeveen in which I make the people more aware of what a healthy lifestyle can bring them. During my workshop I will concentrate on nutrition especially and how to do a proper anamnesis on nutrition, exercise, stress and sleep.
Head of Health Promotion at BKK ProVita
A rethinking of a health-conscious, balanced, plant-based diet has been apparent for several years. The interest in sustainable and healthy nutrition is growing steadily in the population. Healthcare facilities play a special role as they take care of the health of their patients and provide food to millions of people every day.
The German public health insurer BKK ProVita, the German Hospital Institute and the consulting firm a’verdis developed a guideline for implementing a plant-based diet in hospitals and other healthcare facilities. It is designed as a handy working document for implementation in community catering settings considering the principles of structural and behavioral prevention. The focus is on everyday practicability. At the same time, the guide also serves as an argumentation and convincing aid and is directed at the hospital and kitchen management as well as at all other decision-makers.
A guide for plant-based food in hospitals and health institutions and how to implement it
The guideline brings together what is needed for a hospital’s practical implementation: background and practical knowledge, examples of good practice, examples of creative food planning, recipes that focus on taste experience, and it answers questions on profitability, promotion and internal and external communication. In addition, detailed information is available summarized in digressions and checklists for practical use.
Based on a holistic model the guideline defines three phases with different objectives and target groups:
Phase 1: Background knowledge and added value for hospitals and healthcare facilities
Phase 2: Inventory and target definition
Phase 3: Implementation in five steps
Step 1: strategy purpose
Step 2: recipes and menu planning
Step 3: food quality, purchasing and processing
Step 4: economics and calculation
Step 5: internal and external communication
In the long term, the guideline is directed to enable every hospital in Germany to on-board on the journey to a healthy plant-based nutrition for staff and patients.
Policy Coordinator on Food Systems & NCD Prevention at European Public Health Alliance (EPHA), Brussels (Belgium)
Public health nutrition in the EU
Food systems are high on the political agenda. At the European level, the “Farm to Fork strategy for a fair, healthy and environmentally-friendly food system” provides an unprecedented framework for policy action and an opportunity for health actors to mobilise. This presentation will outline the key features of the strategy, its potentials as well as gaps, and offer insights on the politics of making change happen.
Occupational physician and research associate at IFANE
Animal experimentation in science and research – overview and link to health and nutrition
For years and years, animal experimentation has been a crucial part of science and research. In the past, only a few people have asked questions about the level of evidence or the meaningfulness of the results of such experimentation. Since the 1970’s this way of scientific research gets questioned more and more as far as there is very little progress compared to the enormous financial effort and the time that is required.
It is a fact that animal experimentation is a relict from earlier times which has nothing in common with evidence-based medicine and research. The talk will focus on the prooving facts that animal experimentation is not science but resource wastage. The bad and misleading results which are produced by animal experiments are presented and the ways to stop the wrong turn research has taken will be an important theme.
Nutrition is a major factor to stay healthy and prevent lots of diseases and health complaints. In that way it can help to avoid animal experiments and bring forward reliable and good scientific methods to turn biomedical research and research in general into the right direction.
Commercial Director at LWL hospitals in Münster and Lengerich
Learning from pioneers: plant-based nutrition on hospital menus
The LWL hospitals in Münster and Lengerich have been pursuing a strategy for the sustainable approach of their food services since 2004. This includes the successful introduction of products from organic farming, attention to the produce being in season and from close-by regions, as well as the reduction of meat offerings, the promotion of vegetarian-vegan product lines and, last but not least, the consistent reduction of food waste.
The LWL hopsitals in Münster and Lengerich have received many awards, including the Internorga Future Prize for their innovative and sustainable catering management. The presentation of their first-hand experience provides an overview of what has been achieved so far, and an outlook on the next goals the clinics have set.
Researcher at Bern University of Applied Sciences
Learning from pioneers: plant-based nutrition on hospital menus
In Germany, Austria and Switzerland the healthcare sector is responsible for 5.2-6.7% of the total national ecological footprint. As a result, Germany, Austria and Switzerland are amongst the largest greenhouse gas emitters in the national per capita comparison (Health Care’s Climate Footprint Report 2019).
After nutrition, mobility and housing, the health care sector is the fourth most important sector for greenhouse gas emissions in Switzerland. Food service is one of the most resource-intensive areas of hospitals (Stucki & Meyer 2019). Reducing the supply of animal protein suppliers in the hospital environment would significantly reduce its environmental footprint, and make an important contribution to a more health-promoting catering offer. However, the great potential of kitchens in hospital operations is limited by a tension between competition, economic efficiency, as well as patient well-being and goodwill.
Registered Dietitian & Best-selling Author, Kelowna BC (Canada)
Nourish: Plant-Based Diets for Children.
Reshma Shah, MD, and Brenda Davis, RD will provide an overview of the benefits of plant-based diets, the safety and adequacy of plant-based diets for children, nutrition through the growing years, and how to avoid potential nutrition shortfalls.
Lead of the Nutrition Support Team at Krankenhaus Waldfriede, Berlin (GER)
Vegan nutrition and irritable bowel syndrome [sponsored talk]
Irritable bowel syndrome is the most common gastrointestinal disease, but the exact mechanisms of disease development are still unknown. Usually, the drug therapy is symptom-oriented and often frustrating as it does not lead to sufficient improvement in the quality of life.
A change of dietary patterns can help to improve the symptoms of IBS. In this regard, in controlled studies the so-called low-FODMAP diet has been shown to be effective.
However many foods vegans should consume on a daily basis are often high FODMAP. This can complicate a therapy of a vegan nourishing irritable intestine patient and also cause symptoms after starting a vegan diet.
How can the low-FODMAP diet be successfully implemented and gastrointestinal complaints reduced even under a vegan diet? This lecture will focus on the scientific data, the mechanism of action of FODMAPs and the practical implementation in clinical routine.
Chief physician of internal medicine at Krankenhaus Waldfriede, Berlin (GER)
Vegan nutrition and irritable bowel syndrome [sponsored talk]
Irritable bowel syndrome is the most common gastrointestinal disease, but the exact mechanisms of disease development are still unknown. Usually, the drug therapy is symptom-oriented and often frustrating as it does not lead to sufficient improvement in the quality of life.
A change of dietary patterns can help to improve the symptoms of IBS. In this regard, in controlled studies the so-called low-FODMAP diet has been shown to be effective.
However many foods vegans should consume on a daily basis are often high FODMAP. This can complicate a therapy of a vegan nourishing irritable intestine patient and also cause symptoms after starting a vegan diet.
How can the low-FODMAP diet be successfully implemented and gastrointestinal complaints reduced even under a vegan diet? This lecture will focus on the scientific data, the mechanism of action of FODMAPs and the practical implementation in clinical routine.
Postdoc at Department of Complementary and Integrative Medicine at Charité Berlin (Germany)
To supplement or not to supplement? Survey results from a medical congress on plant-based nutrition
Introduction:
The importance of vegan nutrition in society and medicine is steadily increasing. Although vegan diets are beneficial to health in terms of reducing cardiovascular and other health risks, they are also linked to potential deficiencies of vitamins (B12, D), micro-nutrients (iron, iodine, selenium, zinc, calcium), essential amino acids and fatty acids. For this reason, the German Nutrition Society (DGE) recommends the supplementation of critical nutrients along with regular blood monitoring of patients´ nutrient status. Particularly, a B12 deprivation may lead to irreversible health consequences. Vegans need to be well aware of potential health risks.
Objectives:
To date, no current quantitative research has focused on vegan medical professionals´ adherence to supplementation nor their knowledge of of critical nutrients. Therefore, this project should be seen as a pilot exploration.
Methods:
Participants of the medical congress on plant-based nutrition VegMed 2018, Berlin, Germany, which was open for medical professionals, were given a paper-pencil questionnaire (n = 902). In addition to the questions related to supplementation adherence, it included a section with self-developed questions. To determine the number of strict vegans (n=213) among all participants, filter questions were used. Initially, the statistical association between two characteristics was tested using nominal independence tests inside R 3.5. Upon recognition, a pairwise comparison between the characteristics was carried out, allowing subsequent interpretation using descriptive statistics.
Results:
A response rate of over 50% was achieved, n=475 questionnaires were integrated into the statistical data analysis. 98% of the strictly vegan group took dietary supplements, 100% took B12 supplements. 11%, however, considered supplements other than B12 to be most relevant. 49% attended regular blood tests to check their nutrient status every year while 23% did so less frequently than every 2 years or even never.
The adherence with which vegan health experts (n=213) took their supplements was found to be “medium” on average. Here it can be assumed that they supplement with a high level of conscientiousness, regularity and consistency appropriate to the problem. On the other hand, 63% indicate a “medium” adherence and 2% a low adherence.
Compared to non-vegan participants at the conference, vegans were best-informed about the dietary recommendations of the German Nutrition Society and the U.S. Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (p=0.04, adjusted contingency coefficients = 0.33). Participants aged 18-24 were least informed about such guidelines (p=0.04, adjusted contingency coefficients = 0.33). Vegans considered the risk of B12 deficiency and the need to supplement B12 to be highest compared to vegetarians and omnivores. Vegans rated the expertise of nutrition societies as satisfactory, far worse than vegetarian or omnivorous participants at the conference (p< 0.001). In the opinion of vegan participants, vegan nutrition in sensitive stages of life (pregnancy and childhood) would more suitable than a non-vegan nutrition (p<0.001, adjusted contingency coefficients = 0.7).
Conclusion:
Overall the need to supplement B12 was considered necessary by all experts on average, while vegan experts considered it more necessary than omnivores. In spite of a high awareness of potential risk of B12 deficiency with regard to a strict vegan nutrition and extensive understanding of institutional dietary recommendations, adherence to dietary supplements by vegan nutritionists as well as regular laboratory checks is only moderate. Considering the necessity of supplementing critical nutrients accurately to avoid nutrient deficiencies, further scientific discourses should be facilitated.
Former Head of Preventive Cardiology at the Ludwig Maximilians-University, Munich // CEO of Omegametrix®
Omega-3 Fatty Acids: Myth and Reality. Time for Scientific Facts on Supply and Vegan Nutrition [sponsored talk]
From plant-derived alpha-linolenic acid, humans form eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) in small amounts and are almost unable to form docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) from EPA. Since DHA is needed, e.g., as a structural fatty acid of the brain and the eye, but cannot be formed endogenously, humans depend on intake of DHA. EPA and DHA are found in fish and other food sources not usually ingested by vegans or vegetarians.
However, intake of EPA and DHA is less relevant than levels of EPA and DHA measured in red blood cells, expressed as a percentage of all fatty acids measured (Omega-3 Index). On a standardized analytical method (HS-Omega-3 Index®), >300 scientific publications are based, as are some 50 ongoing research projects, providing the largest scientific database of any fatty acid analytical method. Using this method, it has been demonstrated that, in comparison to a low HS-Omega-3 Index (e.g., <4%), an optimal HS-Omega-3 Index (8-11%) is associated with lower total mortality, a lower rate of fatal and non-fatal myocardial infarctions, strokes and other vascular health issues. Other health issues less prevalent with an optimal HS-Omega-3 Index are cognitive impairment, dementia, psychiatric diseases, and many other important health issues, like premature birth and perinatal mortality.
Many intervention trials compared intake of EPA and DHA with no intake, and neither respected baseline Omega-3 Index nor evaluated clinical events from the perspective of levels of EPA and DHA reached during or after the trial. Those who did found substantial improvements in all health issues mentioned, like reductions in total mortality by 40% or stroke by 50% in the REDUCE-It trial.
As measured by the HS-Omega-3 Index method, Vegans and Vegetarians have exceptionally low levels of EPA and DHA, in keeping with the absent intake. Especially for Vegans and Vegetarians, algae, i.e., plant-derived sources of EPA and DHA have been made available which have already been demonstrated to increase the HS-Omega-3 Index.
Founder Plant-Based Health Professionals UK // Consultant Haematologist and Honorary Senior Lecturer at King’s College Hospital, London (UK)
The role of nutrition in cancer prevention and treatment
This talk will summarize data on the role of diet and nutrition for cancer prevention and treatment. In addition to summarizing international recommendations, the talk will highlight recent studies and evidence, which lend further support for predominantly plant-based diets and provide data on novel mechanisms by which diet can impact all aspects of cancer development.
Chair for Public Health and Health Services Research, Institute for Medical Information Processing, Biometry and Epidemiology (IBE), Ludwig-Maximilians University, Munich (GER)
An introduction to public health nutrition
The global food system, including food production and consumption, has important direct and indirect implications for human health, environmental sustainability, and animal welfare. Dietary intake strongly influences human health and well-being both in the short and long term. At the same time, food production is a key driver behind global environmental change, including climate change, land degradation, biodiversity and habitat loss, and deforestation, which in turn have relevant implications for human health. Moreover, food production directly impacts the welfare of billions of farmed and wild animals. Over the past decade, a number of major international political and scientific initiatives have attempted to take a broad perspective on the global food system, and to address relevant interdependencies, synergies and trade-offs between human health, environmental sustainability, and animal welfare. This talk will critically review these initiatives, including the underlying evidence and key political and scientific controversies. Moreover, it will discuss implications and policy recommendations for a variety of actors, including international organizations, national governments, local initiatives and the scientific community.
CEO & Medical Director at medicum Hamburg (GER)
Change of paradigms: treating the metabolic syndrome with optimised plant-based nutrition
Optimized plant-based nutrition has multiple effects: It acts against the facets of the metabolic syndrome, reduces weight and organ adiposity while simultaneously enabling remission rates of diabetes up to 86%. In combination with modern antidiabetic medication, effective alternatives to bariatric operations unfold which were previously not sufficiently taken advantage of. The precondition to make this alternative work is the early start of nutrition therapy as well as an individually suited change management. At medicum Hamburg, a centre for diabetology, nutrition medicine and all adjacent areas of expertise, this concept has been successfully applied for over 20 years.
Senior Scientist at the Greenpeace Research Laboratory in the University of Exeter (UK)
Which role does our food system play in the emergence of zoonotic diseases and subsequent pandemics?
What does our food system have to do with pandemics? A lot. Due to two main reasons: 1) our food system is the biggest user of land on the planet, taking about half of the global ice-free land surface; and 2) most of our food is produced through industrial practices that are very destructive for nature.
When we transform land and nature with such destruction, microbes, which had been distant from us in their natural reservoirs for a long time, find it much easier to infect us. Destroying nature through deforestation, intensifying agriculture production, increasing animal farming with very large densities and urbanising land, all contribute to increasing the risk of emerging infectious diseases finding targets in humans.
Science shows us that the leading driver of emerging diseases is land use change, and animals are the main route to humans: 75% of new and emerging human infectious diseases have, like Covid-19, come from animals. I will further explore how transforming animal farming might be an opportunity for addressing the joint crisis of nature and health we are currently living through.
Professor of International Food Economics at the University of Göttingen (GER)
Food system resilience
COVID-19 was first detected as a human disease in late-2019 and then spread very quickly to all parts of the world, rich and poor. The number of people infected globally and the death toll skyrocketed during 2020 and continues to rise. In addition to the people directly affected by the disease, many more are affected indirectly through the lockdown measures implemented in many countries, the resulting economic downturn, and associated losses of jobs and income-earning opportunities. Especially in poor countries, where social safety nets hardly exist, poverty and food insecurity are on the rise, reversing the positive development trends observed during the last few decades. Preliminary projections based on global economic outlooks suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic may add around 100 million people to the ranks of the undernourished in the short and medium run, making achievement of the zero hunger goal by 2030 rather unlikely. This lecture will review projected global trends in hunger and undernutrition and analyze the main reasons for people’s worsened access to nutritious foods and healthy diets during the COVID-19 pandemic. Case-study examples from various countries will be presented. Furthermore, important lessons to be learned on how to make local and global foods systems more resilient and be better prepared for possible future pandemics will be discussed. It will be shown that popular calls – such as focusing on regional production and reducing international food trade – may actually be counterproductive. More diverse, efficient, and open food systems and a stronger focus on poverty reduction and social safety nets will be required to address the various challenges ahead, including climate change, possible future pandemics, and continued population growth.
Professor of Nutrition in the Human Biology and Nutrition Department at AgroParisTech, Paris (France)
Protein in plant-based diets: Classical and emerging topics
In this presentation, I will discuss the different aspects of protein nutrition related to plant protein intake. I will start with the classical issues concerning the ability of plant protein sources to cover basic protein (nitrogen) and indispensable amino acid requirements. I will present data on protein and amino acid intakes from vegetarian diets in western countries and gather information in terms of adequacy for protein and amino acids requirements, using indirect and direct data to estimate nutritional status. I will point out that protein-rich foods, such as traditional legumes, nuts, and seeds, are by far sufficient to achieve full protein adequacy in adults following a vegetarian/vegan diet, whereas the issue of deficiency in any amino acid has been substantially overstated. This will also provide a perspective on the issue for new vegetarians or vegans following less classical dietary patterns.
I will also examine the question in older adults, where the issues linked to the protein adequacy of vegetarian diets are more complex, and in children where, conversely, the issue is simpler when energy requirements are met. In the second part of the presentation, I will outline the most recent advances in plant protein nutrition, which has shifted the viewpoint to long-term health. I will recall the data regarding plant protein intake and cardiometabolic health, which may be attributed in part to the nutrient cluster conveyed by plant protein sources, and I will end the presentation with the recent data suggesting that plant protein per se, that is, its amino acids, may have a beneficial effect on cardiometabolic health. From old myths to recent long term public health data, there are now clear indications that the definition of plant protein quality should be modernized.
CEO & Nutrition Scientist at Research Institute for Plant-Based Nutrition, Biebertal (GER)
The latest findings on vegan and vegetarian nutrition
Vegetarian and vegan diets are becoming more and more popular, especially in Western countries. This social development is reflected by an increasing number of studies on plant-based diets. There is growing evidence that vegetarians and vegans have a lower risk for non-communicable, lifestyle-related diseases like overweight, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, cardiovascular diseases, and some cancers, in comparison to omnivores. Many of these effects are attenuated after adjustment for the average lower BMI of vegetarians and vegans. In addition, the limited number of RCTs with plant-based diets show a promising therapeutical potential for some of these and other diseases. However, plant-based diets, especially vegan diets, might be associated with a higher risk for osteoporosis or eating disorders.
There are several critical nutrients in plant-based diets, e.g. vitamin B12, vitamin B2, calcium, iron, zinc, iodine, selenium, long-chain n-3 fatty acids, and protein. These nutrients require special attention in order to avoid nutrient shortcomings. In contrast, vegetarians and vegans have higher intakes and blood levels of other micronutrients, e.g. beta-carotene, vitamin C, vitamin E, vitamin B1, and folate, and of bioactive compounds like phytochemicals and fiber. In addition, there might be more critical nutrients in plant-based diets which have to be investigated, e.g. indispensable amino acids and vitamin A.
Despite the growing number of studies on vegetarian and vegan nutrition, there are still many research gaps, especially on vegan diets for risk groups like pregnant and breastfeeding women, children, adolescents, older people, and athletes. Public and private funders are advised to intensify their support of research on plant-based diets.
Initiator and spokesman of German Alliance for Climate Change and Health (KLUG), Munich (GER)
Medical emergency climate crisis – climate change as a health hazard
Climate change is an existential threat for humanity. It is the biggest threat to health in our century and an imminent health emergency for ecosystems, animals, and humans. It is threatening the amazing improvements in public health that have been achieved in the last century. At the same time, it is a major opportunity for global health, since climate protection measures come along with massive health co-benefits.
However, the topic has been absent in the health sector until very recently. Even within the climate movement, the connection between climate change and health is only rarely recognized. Fridays for Future and the broader for Future Movement have clarified that we are globally as well as nationally stuck in the implementation of the necessary measures. We are sleepwalking into catastrophe.
It has been clear for some time that we need a “Great Transformation“ – a far-reaching, cross-sectoral, cross-national, global transformation. Fridays for Future and other climate activists have demonstrated in 2019 how citizen change agents can take the lead in tackling the existential crisis we are in. Health for Future activists have demonstrated that health professionals and the health narrative can play a strategic role in building up the momentum to achieve the critical mass to turn things around. This implies developing a much broader understanding of human action and the power of working together. Advocating for a plant-based diet is a key facet of the broader transformation agenda. It needs to be placed in the larger transformation agenda to develop its full potential.
Founder & CSO at Phytaphix // Co-founder of Plant-Based Doctors Ireland and Plant-Based Sustainability Group of the Irish Nutrition and Dietetics Institute, Dublin (IR)
Plant-based nutrition and heart failure
Growing evidence has emerged about the role of dietary patterns and components in heart failure (HF) incidence and severity. Several plant-based diets have consistently been associated with decreased HF incidence and severity, notably the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) and Mediterranean diets. Several other plant-based dietary patterns, including low-fat diets and the rice diet, also show promise.
Higher dietary quality, as assessed using different scores, seems to provide protective qualities. Fruit, vegetables, legumes, and whole grains appear to be beneficial, whereas red/processed meats, eggs and refined carbohydrates appear harmful. Some evidence suggests detrimental effects of dairy products and poultry, but more research is needed. There is observational and interventional evidence that a plant-based diet high in antioxidants, micronutrients, nitrate, and fiber, but low in saturated/trans fats may decrease the incidence and severity of HF. Potential mechanisms for this include decreased oxidative stress, homocysteine and inflammation levels, as well as higher antioxidant defense and nitric oxide bioavailability with gut microbiome modulation.
Plant-based diets appear to decrease the incidence and severity of heart failure.
Associate Professor at University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville, Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson (US)
Talk 1: Mechanisms of nutrition in the development, prevention and reversal of chronic disease
The World Health Organization (WHO) recognizes that nutrition-related chronic diseases, such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis and some cancers, are leading causes of global morbidity, mortality and high health care costs. Medical professionals are in a position to stem the tide of chronic disease incidence and prevalence in their patients; however, most medical professionals are not adequately trained in the mechanistic roles that nutrition plays in chronic disease, despite the overwhelming scientific evidence that supports the efficacy and effectiveness of healthy nutrition.
The WHO states that the right investment in nutrition could save 3.7 million lives by 2025, which could start with medical professional education. This talk will describe the evidence-based mechanisms of nutrition in the development, prevention, and reversal of type 2 diabetes, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, hypertension, heart disease, osteoporosis, breast cancer, colon cancer, and other chronic diseases, with the goal of improving the audiences’ medical knowledge for optimum patient care.
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Talk 2: Lifestyle medicine at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville: the classroom-clinic-community model
While scientific evidence demonstrates conclusive associations between unhealthy lifestyle behaviors and increased morbidity and mortality related to non-communicable chronic diseases (NCDs), most physicians are not formally taught the root causes of NCDs nor how to counsel patients regarding their lifestyle behaviors for disease prevention and treatment. Since its inception in 2012, the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville (UofSCSOMG) has designed, developed, and implemented an innovative, formalized Lifestyle Medicine classroom-clinic-community model to provide required undergraduate medical student training with a graduating program-level goal to improve population health.
Students matriculating to UofSCSOMG are introduced to the Lifestyle Medicine curriculum as a required component of undergraduate medical education which all students receive across the four years of the program. While in their biomedical science modules, medical students in in their M1 and M2 years are educated in detail and at the intracellular level in the biochemical and physiological mechanisms how lifestyle behaviors either plays a role in the prevention of, or pathophysiology of chronic disease. Medical students in the M3 and M4 years continue education in Lifestyle Medicine in an applied clinical knowledge and skills format with patients, and are also educated about the innovative clinic-to-community referral program called “Exercise is Medicine Greenville®” (EIMG®). In partnership with the YMCA of Greenville and Prisma Health, EIMG® delivers a 12-week, community-based, clinical exercise and lifestyle behavioral intervention for prevention and treatment of NCDs including obesity, dyslipidemia, hypertension, and Type 2 diabetes. Patients in the departments of Family Medicine and Internal Medicine are counseled by medical students and referred through the EPIC electronic health record to the program.
The process of developing the classroom-clinic-community model was guided by the Association of American Medical Colleges’ Core Entrustable Professional Activities (required for graduates entering residency) and aimed to satisfy the Quadruple Aim components of better outcomes, lower cost, improved patient experience, and improved physician experience. This talk will describe the approach used to design and implement the model and offers guidance to other undergraduate medical schools that may wish to implement Lifestyle Medicine training to improve physicians’ medical knowledge and clinical skills for optimum health care.
Founding Member VESNA, MD at Czech National Institute of Public Health, Prague (CR)
Plant-based nutrition, research, and you: A practical approach to your scientific career
How do you get your dream internship or money for your student research experiments? What is worthwhile to invest your time into? Where and how can you find the right supervisor or prepare basic grant applications and other practical questions every student starts to face at some point in his or her career decision-making process? And by the way, how should a student select the career itself? What can be done to prevent burnout?
One person’s journey filled with tips and resources. From childhood dreams to vegan public health, practically explaining why doing the useless stupid stuff is the best career investment you can make. Period.
Nutritionist and Epidemiologist, Department of Epidemiology at the Medical Centre of Erasmus University Rotterdam and Wageningen University (Netherlands)
Diet in life-course and its impact on epigenetics
Risk of most chronic diseases is influenced by both environmental and genetic factors. Although our genes are inherited and cannot be modified, there is an additional layer in our genetic makeup that can be influenced by environmental factors, including our diet. Epigenetics (‘on top of genetics’) refers to mechanisms that control how genes are expressed, without changing the sequence of our DNA. The best understood and most studied epigenetic mechanism is DNA methylation. DNA methylation is increasingly recognized as a potential important link between diet and disease risk.
The susceptibility of changes in DNA methylation in response to nutrition is particularly high during early life, i.e., during the first 1000 days, and may constitute an important mechanism of how early life diet can affect long-term disease risk. Nevertheless, nutritional factors can also still modulate DNA methylation in later stages of the life course. Some nutrients are directly involved in methylation of DNA, such as vitamin B2, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, folate and methionine, which are also known as methyl donor nutrients. Recent studies also provided further insights into how other nutrients and overall dietary patterns can affect DNA methylation.
In this session an overview will be provided on how diet in different phases of the life-course can affect DNA methylation and thereby long-term health and disease risk.
Director and Physician-in-Chief, Chair for Complementary and Integrative Medicine at Charité University Medical Center Berlin Immanuel Hospital, Berlin (GER)
Is it possible to improve symptoms or to even heal diseases through an appropriate and individualized diet?
On the one hand, public health and prevention research indisputably show that nutrition-related diseases, such as overweight, obesity or type 2 diabetes, are continuously increasing in industrialized countries. Also, diseases that are considered to be at least partly induced by nutrition, such as autoimmune diseases, hypertension, dementia, functional and inflammatory gut diseases or depression, are clearly on the increase. On the other hand, epidemiological data from nutritional sciences often provide evidence that is too unprecise and unreliable, causing major controversies in international scientific discussions about nutrition issues during the last years.
Therefore, the synthesis of data from laboratory and animal research, from observational studies and from randomized controlled trials with clinical experience and clinical evidence should be considered. The key messages of this perspective are:
1. The more plants a diet includes, the healthier it is. This can be put down in the beneficial effects of fiber, the important roles of the microbiome and of secondary phytochemicals.
2. Industrial processing and ultra-processing reduce possible beneficial health effects of normo-caloric diets.
3. The question, how a world population of 10 billion people can be fed appropriately and in a healthy way, touches several aspects such as production circumstances, regionality and seasonality. A plant-based diet is a very relevant factor here.
4. Caloric restriction and intermittent or periodical fasting methods and their “metabolic switch” are effective techniques for prevention and therapy of numerous nutrition-related diseases.
5. In order to maximize its preventive and therapeutic effects intermittent fasting has to be combined with therapeutic aspects of chronobiology and individual genetics.
6. Periodic fasting can be applied as an add-on treatment to conventional therapy in various chronic diseases. Several techniques of modified fasting, fasting-mimicking-diet (FMD) and caloric restriction mimetics (CRM) can be implemented.
It can be summarized, that the meaning of nutritional therapy in increasing in modern medicine while the current evidence remains complex and controversial and the implementation in routine medical practice is still insufficient. It can be expected, that evidence from randomized trials focusing on nutrition and caloric restriction will significantly increase over the next years.
Associate Professor of Nutrition and Eating Behaviour in the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics of Harokopio University, Athens (GR)
Mediterranean plant-based diet and cognitive decline
The concept of the Mediterranean diet was originally conceived by Ancel Keys, in the Seven Countries Study. Nowadays, this term is widely used to describe the traditional dietary habits of people in Mediterranean countries, and it is characterized by an abundance of plant foods: fruits, vegetables, a lot of bread, other forms of cereals, legumes, nuts, and seeds. Olive oil is the principal source of fat. The Mediterranean diet includes moderate amounts of dairy products (principally cheese and yogurt), low to moderate amounts of fish and poultry, red meat in low amounts, and wine, consumed modestly, normally with meals. Greater adherence to this pattern has been associated with longevity and lower prevalence of several chronic diseases.
In relation to cognition, the Mediterranean diet is the most extensively studied dietary pattern in the context of brain ageing. Most (not all) cross-sectional and prospective studies suggest that higher adherence to this pattern is associated with slower rates of decline in performance in cognitive tests and with lower risk for dementia or mild cognitive impairment or progression from mild cognitive impairment to dementia. This finding is supported by the results of two clinical trials in the context of the PREDIMED study that included a Mediterranean dietary pattern and nuts or olive oil in the two intervention arms.
Other plant-based, dietary patterns have been also studied in relation to cognitive outcomes, with promising results. Although the underlying mechanisms have not been elucidated, partly due to the challenges associated with the multidimensionality of diet and of cognitive function, the existing evidence supports the adoption of a plant-based dietary pattern for the promotion of cognitive health and the prevention of brain aging.
Senior Physician at the Acute Psychosomatic Department, Seeparkklinik Bad Bodenteich (GER)
Abstract 1: Orthorexic equivalent of restrictive eating habits or a new nutritional style?
… healthy, healthier – Orthorexia nervosa.
Identity formation via food- “fashion disease” or disease-worthy disorder? Not only the increasingly rigid “ideal of slimness”, but also increasing “health care constraints” “provoke” that eating behavior in society is increasingly “problematized”. At the same time, identity is found through “eating” or eating behavior. In this way, symptoms of eating disorders are also becoming more widespread – often with long-term consequences of social isolation, symptoms of malnutrition and often also malnutrition. Does “vegan nutrition” pave the way for eating disorders? How does a healthy diet differ from symptoms of an eating disorder?
Ethical-moral and health reasons for a vegan nourishing way: Is it possible to ensure the supply of critical nutrients through a selection of wholesome herbal foods as part of an eating disorder treatment? These questions will be answered theoretically and practically during the lecture.
Abstract 2: Orthorexia – forbidden food or healthy enjoyment based on a moral evaluation?
In today’s society, people affected by orthorexia no longer see illness as an uninfluenceable fate, but as a “flaw” that they themselves have caused. Thus it is almost a “duty” to keep oneself and the body healthy through a healthy diet and appropriate exercise. Affected persons often report about the concern or fears of being “seriously” ill; furthermore about a great fear of growing old. Through a “compulsive fixation” on health-conscious, high-quality food, rigid nutritional rules in the sense of a “moral evaluation” are established through constant employment.
“This plant destroys 98% of cancer cells in only 16 hours”
“You have so much poison in your body-with only 2 ingredients flush 30 pounds of toxins out of your intestines”
“In the future take a teaspoon of this before you go to bed – you will never get up tired again, your hair will grow, you will have the sight of an eagle”.
What are the background conditions of this “compulsive” focus on the quality of food, unrealistic-moral beliefs, and “intrusive” thoughts of “perfecting” health? Security due to fear of loss of control, a self-confident or compulsive personality style, a perfectionist demand on oneself – in search of recognition, identity formation and self-realization, feeling of belonging in the sense of a peer group? Should the diagnosis of orthorexia be given and how should this clinical picture be classified? As an obsessive-compulsive disorder, a special form of a classic eating disorder or an independent disease?
Vegan nutrition – does this form of nutrition pave the way for an eating disorder? How does healthy eating behavior in the context of a vegan diet differ from symptoms of an eating disorder? Ethical-moral and health reasons for a vegan nourishing way Is it possible to ensure the supply of critical nutrients through a selection of wholesome herbal foods as part of an eating disorder treatment? These questions will be answered within the framework of the workshop on the basis of theoretical basics and practical case studies with
reference to the presentation.
Cancer Epidemiologist at Genetic Epidemiology Group, International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC/WHO), Lyon (France)
Evaluating the role of vitamin B12 in lung cancer using multiple sources of evidence
Vitamin B supplementation can have side effects for human health, including cancer risk. The potential role of B vitamins in relation to cancer has been reported on previously. Two large randomized controlled trials of B vitamin supplementation in Norway found an increased risk for cancer among subjects who received both vitamin B12 and B9. Most cancers were lung cancer. Recently, the Vitamins and Lifestyle (VITAL) cohort study reported higher lung cancer rise in men who used vitamin B12 and B6 supplementation.
To clarify the role between vitamin B12 and lung cancer risk, we conducted two large and complementary analyses based on (i) directly measured circulating vitamin B12 concentrations in pre-diagnostic samples and (ii) a Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis based on genetic data.
Our aim was to determine the role of vitamin B12 in lung cancer by direct measurements in pre-diagnostic blood samples and a Mendelian randomization approach. We used pre-diagnostic biomarker data from 5,183 case-control pairs nested within 20 prospective cohorts, and genetic data from 29,266 cases and 56,450 controls.
Eight single nucleotide polymorphisms were associated with vitamin B12 concentrations in the MR study. When assessing risk of lung cancer overall and by histological subtype, we found circulating vitamin B12 to be positively associated with overall lung cancer risk with an odds ratio of 1.15 (95% CI: 1.06-1.25). Genetically determined vitamin B12 concentrations were positively associated with overall lung cancer risk with an odds ratio of 1.08 (95% CI: 1.00-1.16). The consistency of these two independent and complementary approaches support the hypothesis that high vitamin B12 status increases the risk of lung cancer.
Dietitian and Graduate Pedagogue // President of the Association of Dietitians – German Federal Association e.V. (VDD), Wiesbaden (GER)
Workshop: Finding nutritional therapy in the jungle of the German healthcare system
In Germany, the prevention of nutrition related diseases as well as nutrition-related health promotion has a comparatively long and changing history, which in the year 2000 culminated in the “prevention paragraph” in the Social Code Book. This paragraph provides preventive measures in the fields of malnutrition, obesity, stress management, physical activity, and drug use (alcohol and tobacco), all these being mandatory components of the service spectrum of statutory health insurance (SHI). Around 90% of the German population is covered by SHI, which allows them to enjoy prevention services in the above-mentioned fields.
In contrast to this, nutritional advice in case of a diagnosed disease is much more difficult to receive by patients. Even though the highest social court of Germany had named nutritional therapy as a remedy in the year 2000, the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA) responsible to transform law into guidelines decided to allow nutritional advice by prescription only in case of cystic fibrosis (CF) and rare congenital metabolic disorders like PKU. Patients with other nutrition related diagnoses might receive nutritional information through disease management programmes, or if they need more individual advice refunded partly by their SHI in case of applying. The situation of nutritional intervention in the clinical setting requires much improvement as well. Only 23% of German clinics employ dietitians or nutritionists even though they are responsible to provide remedies. This might be caused by the little financial benefit of nutritional advice for the hospitals. Yet, since 2019 nutritional therapy can be coded if structural demands are fulfilled and starting 2020/2021 the performance of nutritional therapy will be reimbursed.
The workshop provides an overview of possibilities in the clinical and the ambulant sector of the German Health Care System to guide the patient to safe nutritional advice in case of nutritional prevention and therapy. The aim of the workshop is to discuss options and necessary tools and information for all partners of the health care process: the patient, the physician, other health care professionals and the dietitian.
Director at Association for Independent Health Counselling (Verband für unabhängige Gesundheitsberatung, UGB), Wettenberg/Gießen (GER)
Eating with children – education and relationship
There are two major questions that need to be answered in the area of child nutrition. On the one hand is the question, “What should children eat?” On the other hand is the question, “How do children eat and taste, experience, and learn?” These two questions often result in a discrepancy in everyday family life, but also in day-care centers and schools.
On the one hand, there is the “should,” defined by the adults, and on the other hand, the “want,” shaped by the development of taste, evolution and genetics, culture and age, and last but not least, by the personality of the child. In order for children to learn to eat self-determined, health-promoting and enjoyable wholefood and vegan food, the knowledge of a vegan wholefood diet is essential. Almost even more important, however, is the knowledge about the relationship of food with eating education.
Access over 15 hours of medical and scientific content at the on-demand site, with a viewing pass: Vegmed.uk.
For more information see Plant-Based Health Professionals UK.
Plant-based dietary patterns with a high intake of whole plant foods and less red and processed meat have been associated with several health benefits and lower planetary health impacts. Dr Dagfinn Aune will cover the current evidence, where the gaps in knowledge lie, how methodological issues impact results from epidemiological studies, the role of ultra-processed foods in the chronic disease epidemic and how nutrition recommendations align with planetary health concerns.
Welcome to a rejuvenating 30-minute morning meditation and breathwork session with Simone. Relax and activate the parasympathetic nervous system, finding calm amidst a jam-packed weekend of learning. Whether new to meditation or a returning practitioner, Simone’s expertise shines as she shares simple yet effective breathing exercises to set you up for the day ahead. Embrace this empowering opportunity to cultivate mindfulness and find inner balance, setting a harmonious tone for your day. All levels of experience are welcome.
Plant-based nutrition is a key pillar of lifestyle medicine. Positive dietary changes combined with other healthy habits help us to achieve optimal health. This session will showcase pioneering plant-based lifestyle medicine programmes from around the UK. Speakers will share their successes and challenges, inspiring you to incorporate lifestyle medicine into your clinical practices, and the principles into your own lives.
In addition, we will hear a global perspective from the President of the World Lifestyle Medicine Association who will share insights into the adoption of lifestyle medicine in the global south.
Can you reach optimal fitness on a plant-based diet? Are there nutrients that require extra attention? What about bone health? In this session these questions will be answered by expert dietitians, and showcased by individuals who are themselves thriving on a plant-based diet.
Delicious, healthy plant-based meals should be the centrepiece of public sector catering. Yet, the transition away from meat-based offerings seems slow and challenging. This session will offer hope and inspiration by sharing case studies from New York and the UK where plant-based meals are becoming front and centre in both hospitals and educational institutions. The session will also address the current barriers and the societal changes needed for more wide-spread adoption and acceptance of plant-based diets.
Teaching the skill and art of cooking is essential to improving diet quality and providing accessibility for all. This session will share how community cooking projects and teaching culinary medicine can empower both health professionals and the public to embed healthy eating into their everyday practice. The discussion will address cultural and financial barriers and showcase how plant-based diets can be adapted to every cuisine at an affordable price.
In addition, policy initiatives and legislative changes required to ensure healthy and sustainable diets are accessible to all will be discussed.
With the rising global burden of cancer, understanding dietary interventions for prevention and living well after a cancer diagnosis are key. Nutrition is also crucial in supporting treatment, recovery and remission. This session will cover the role of nutrition and lifestyle factors in solid and haematological cancers, the emerging knowledge around the health of the gut microbiome for improving cancer outcomes and explore the role of integrative oncology.
Coming all the way from the Netherlands, two pioneers in the field of plant-based nutrition, Wendy and Carlijn, will bring you new data from their groundbreaking research on treating people who are living with rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis with a plant-based lifestyle approach. This session will also discuss the work of the Overcoming MS programme, and their long-standing dietary approach to supporting people living with MS. This will include an inspiring patient story from someone who is successfully managing their multiple sclerosis using this lifestyle.
Can plant-based diets support healthy living across all ages and stages of life? Can we safely raise our children on just plants? This session will give you the confidence you need to support yourselves, your families, and your patients, to thrive on plants. Three experts will discuss the evidence to support this way of eating, along with nutrient requirements, nutrients of focus, and those of abundance. They will then take a practical look at how these can be incorporated into our everyday diets.
Brenda Davis, the world’s most influential vegan dietitian, will tackle the much-debated topic of nutrition adequacy for older adults. She will use the latest scientific data to provide recommendations for optimising dietary protein and other key nutrients, supporting older adults to reap the benefits of a plant-based diet.
Supporting people to make positive changes to their dietary and lifestyle habits is crucial when putting knowledge into practice and truly effecting a change in the trajectory of people’s health.
In this session a research expert will cover the latest science and give us practical advice regarding the impact of diet on the gut microbiome. This will include findings from the famous PREDICT study which looks at people’s personal responses to food. We will then hear how two expert clinicians support their patients to overcome barriers and regain their health using personalised approaches. They will share some action points that we can take into our own personal lives and clinics.
Dr Tammy Tong will provide an update on the health outcomes of vegetarians and vegans from the EPIC-Oxford and UK biobank studies, including nutritional status and biomarker findings.
Risk factor modification is key to preventing long term chronic conditions such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke and dementia. This session will discuss the evidence around how a plant-based diet can positively impact common metabolic risk factors, including the latest research around the potential role of plant-based meat alternatives. The session will also discuss ethnic disparities in risks and outcomes and dispel some common myths around foods and dietary patterns that can help or hinder disease risk and management.
A transition to a plant-based food system is now considered essential to address the climate and ecological crises. This session will discuss the key components of a sustainable diet – what does this look like, and why? Recent research that has highlighted the changes needed to country-based dietary guidelines to support this transition will be shared; and an expert in the field of sustainable agriculture will take a practical look at what a farming system for a plant-based future entails.
Women’s health is finally getting the attention it deserves. Experts in the field with vast clinical experience and knowledge will discuss using a holistic approach to managing endometriosis, PCOS and menopause. This session will also include practical advice on improving fertility and maintaining a plant-based diet throughout pregnancy.
Healthy ageing is vital to ensuring optimal physical and mental well-being whilst preserving quality of life and extending healthy lifespan. Kidneys, heart and brain require special attention. In this session our three speakers will share evidence-based practical information on how to use a plant-based diet and other healthy habits to preserve the health of our vital organs for as long as possible.
The conference will open with an overview of the work of Plant-Based Health Professionals UK and Physicians Association for Nutrition. Dr Kassam will then bring the audience up to date on the current status of plant-based nutrition as applied to clinical practice, setting the stage for a weekend of science, research and practical application.