Nutrition Publications

Early childhood is a critical period when nutrition and environmental factors strongly influence lifelong brain development, physical health, and overall well-being. Both undernutrition and overnutrition can lead to growth faltering and increase the risk of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), with lasting effects on individual potential and broader societal outcomes. This issue of Annales Nestlé presents practical, up-to-date strategies for assessing growth and addressing both faltering and catch-up growth. It emphasizes early growth as a crucial phase for metabolic and developmental programming

In this symposium, leading experts explored the evolving role of human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) in childhood development and their benefits beyond immunity. The speakers discussed the key factors influencing HMO composition, the critical role of HMOs in shaping the infant gut microbiota, highlighting the complexity of HMO-microbiota interactions. The talks also focused on human milk-inspired biotics, such as synbiotics, in fostering a balanced gut microbiome, supporting growth, immune development, and offered insights into future research aimed at understanding the specific functions of

In the NNI and WNSC symposium at the 12th International Conference on Nutrition and Growth, global experts discussed how nutrition during the critical toddler years builds a strong foundation for future health. The talks mainly tackled complementary feeding (CF) and the emphasis on the right timing to maximize health outcomes such as prevention of allergy and obesity, as well as the complex process of learning to eat, emphasizing the importance of food taste and texture acceptance in shaping future eating behaviors, and the impact of specific nutrients on brain maturation and myelination