The WHO recurrently acknowledges that a balanced and varied diet can dramatically increase life expectancy, with unhealthy diets considered a primary factor of overweight and obesity and noncommunicable diseases occurrence (e.g. cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes or cancer). The WHO also found that 80% of heart diseases and strokes could be prevented by simply limiting lifestyle risk-factors.
Given this well-known link between nutrition and health, SAFE was selected to coordinate an Erasmus+ Project in nutrition which aims to further mainstream nutrition into current medical school curricula.
The 2022-2024 project, entitled “Undergraduate Medical University Module in Nutrition: Connecting health and nutrition to help reduce non-communicable diseases” drew a connection between nutrition and health through the design and implementation of an undergraduate study programme in nutrition. The expected outputs included a teachers’ coursebook, a students’ handbook, as well as this online platform introducing the module and the concept of nutrition.
The project, which officially started on 1 February 2022, will run for 30 months and will be coordinated by Safe Food Advocacy Europe, together with the following partners: Società Scientifica de Nutrizione Vegetale – SONVE, EMOTIFOOD (Italy), University of Rzeszow (Poland), University of Liège (Belgium), La Sapienza University (Italy).
Acknowledgments
As coordinators, SAFE would like to thank everyone who had contributed to the realisation of this project. First and foremost, all the researchers and professors working for the partners’ organisations for delivering a highly professional work. Second, the Agence Francophone pour l'éducation et la formation tout au long de la vie (AEF-Europe) for the support throughout the whole duration of the project.