41st ESPEN Congress on Clinical Nutrition & Metabolism “Nutrition A Highway to Health”
A 3 day conference that provided scientific and educational sessions by international experts in the field of nutrition, on a diversity of topics related to clinical nutrition & metabolism. The topics were focused in the acute, chronic, peadiatric and geriatric settings.
Few of the most important take home-messages from some sessions I have participated during the congress:
Body Composition in clinical practice
- BMI use in clinical practice may jeopardize the nutritional diagnosis, in particular malnutrition.
- BMI <30 kg/m2 does not exclude the presence of metabolic risks associated with excess adiposity.
- BMI at least 30 kg/m2 does not exclude the presence of low muscle mass (sarcopenic obesity) mainly in some clinical situations i.e. elderly, cancer, chronic diseases and critically ill patients.
Oncology
- Nutrition in heamatological malignancies
- Neutropenic diet does not protect from bloodstream infections, safe food-handling rules should be implemented instead.
- Vitamin D and A supplementation are strongly recommended.
- Antioxidants, glutamine, omega-3 fatty acids –may be beneficial in particular cases.
The evidence behind diets
- Mediterranean diet: PREDIMED Plus RCT study expected to be available in 2020 – the first study to demonstrate that weight loss and maintenance using a hypocaloric Mediterranean diet and physical activity promotion can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and mortality in overweight and obese individuals.
Nutricia Symposium: intervention & implementation along the oncology patient journey
- Energy recommendations for oncology patients based in body weight alone were poor assessments of energy requirements.
- Energy needs must relate to their body composition, with protein intake targeted to protect lean body mass.
31 August -3 September 2019, ICE Krakow Congress Centre, Krakow -Poland
The ESPEN (European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism) Annual Conference is one of the most prestigious meetings of its kind in the world. There are concurrent Scientific and Educational programmes to describe the latest advances in research and clinical practice. The programme is accredited through the European Accreditation in Continuing Medical Education initiative.