Nutrition Integrates gets off to a great start

Taking place at the Grange Tower Bridge in London, UK for the first time on 5 June 2014, the Nutrition Integrates conference brought together more than 130 leading life science experts from the fields of nutrition, health and wellness.

With the overarching theme of “working together for a healthier Europe,” delegates, sponsors and key industry stakeholders came gathered to strategically debate some of the sector’s most pressing issues and enhance their working relationships.

Opening the event, Bryonie Hollaert, Company Nutritionist for Wm Morrison Supermarkets, said: “As Europe faces the many challenges of economic instability, regulatory pressure and the need to combat unhealthy lifestyles, the rise of non-communicable diseases has caused public health costs to soar and necessitated preventative measures aimed at the promotion of healthier and more active lifestyles to be put in place.

Collaboration is the only way for us to effectively tackle Europe’s health challenges

“EU regulations must promote fair trade and encouraging product innovation whilst ensuring that consumers are both protected and able to make informed choices. Collaboration is the only way for us to effectively tackle Europe’s health challenges,” she added.

During the day, expert speaker panels deliberated the big issues in the food, functional food and nutraceutical markets, from the rise of sports nutrition to product labelling, from innovating food technology, from weight wellness to sustainability and from healthy ageing to nutrigenomics. Radek Sali, CEO, Swisse Wellness, commented: “By taking sports nutrition out of the gym and putting it on the high street, we’re making it accessible to one and all and empowering consumers to take care of their health.

“We’re putting health and well-being into the hands of the better-educated consumer who wants to make informed choices about staying healthier and happier for longer.”

Despite being a launch event, the high turnout of senior level strategists from the nutrition and wider business communities, coupled with the event’s unique panel discussion format, has placed Nutrition Integrates firmly on the map as a key industry event.

By taking sports nutrition out of the gym and putting it on the high street, we’re empowering consumers to take care of their health

“As Co-Founder and Executive Director,” said Samuel Thangiah, “I am absolutely delighted with the overall success of our newest event. The steering committee has helped us to compile an excellent programme of current topics, which the panellists have brought to life with expertise and enthusiam, and the quality of the delegates just adds to the value of — and emphasises the need for — a forum like this. It’s hard to believe that this conference was the first of its kind."

Peter McConville, Chief Technology Officer, Lucozade Ribena Suntory, said: “I very much enjoyed the day; it was good to catch up with old colleagues and meet new people. The sports nutrition session, admirably chaired by Professor Gareth Wallis from the University of Birmingham, was excellent: we could have discussed the topic, and its broader impact in the various categories of the food and drink industry, all day. Clearly, there’s plenty of fuel for future debates.”

Dr Martin Wickham, Head of Nutrition, Leatherhead Food Research, added: “Nutrition Integrates 2014 was a great event and an excellent networking opportunity. I would like to thank the panellists for making the sessions both informative and fun.” And David Browning, Director, MediCity, commented: “I thoroughly enjoyed the forum; the organizers did a great job developing lively and dynamic discussion on some highly interesting and relevant topics.” Ellen Conrad, Procter & Gamble, and Michelle Barrow, CNELM, both noted the excellent mix of industry delegates, associations, academics and educators, and Nazli Dag, Wm Morrison Supermarkets, found the panel session format to be “particularly interactive and engaging”.

Launched in 2011, Life Sciences Index is a specialist provider of events designed for life science leaders to stay current and connected in a network of peer-to-peer debate and continuous learning. The company was created with the aim of helping industry leaders across global business functions and geographical locations to resolve today’s critical business issues and address those of tomorrow.

“This has been a great start for what I sincerely hope will become an established must-attend event,” said Christopher Watt, Co-Founder and Executive Director.” We would like to extend our sincere thanks to the sponsors who supported us this year, including our platinum sponsor, Catalent, the silver sponsors, Stratum Nutrition, Park Acre and Barry Callebaut, and fertin pharma and Ozopure. We are extremely grateful for their involvement and endorsement. I would also like to extend my gratitude to the prestigious speaker line-up, our media partners for the global reach the event has enjoyed and, of course, the attendees for participating and contributing to the debate.”