NutraIngredients Omega-3 Summit: Global EPA and DHA intake levels reveal why action is needed
NutraIngredients, in conjunction with GOED, will be holding APAC's first ever omega-3 event in Singapore in February 2019, featuring renowned speakers from CSIRO, A*STAR, Koure, GOED and more.
In a recent paper, ‘The Most Hidden of All the Hidden Hungers: The Global Deficiency in DHA and EPA and What to do About It', Jack Winkler, Emeritus Professor of Nutrition Policy at London Metropolitan University, details the scale of the challenge.
He notes that there are around 165 targets across the globe for EPA and DHA intake.
“Among the recommendations for whole populations, there is a bunching around a middle figure of 500 mg/day. And the lowest target set by mainstream organizations is 250 mg/day."
Therefore, with less than 20% of the world eating as much as 250 mg/day of seafood omega-3, “more than 80% of the world is failing to meet even the lowest recommended intake.”
Our summit, backed by trade association Global Organization for EPA and DHA Omega-3s (GOED), aims to bring together industry, scientists and regulators to discuss how to best improve global intake.
A number of leading business professionals and academics have already joined the speaker line-up.
They include:
Dr Yutaka Matsuoka, Division Chief of Health Care Research at the National Cancer Center Japan.
Peter Barraket, MD of Designs for Health Australia
Ellen Schutt, Executive Director, GOED.
Dr Surinder Singh, Group Leader: Plant Oil Engineering, CSIRO Agriculture & Food.
Ron Park, Managing Director of Koure.
Dr Mary Chong Foong Fong, Principal Investigator at the Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences (SICS) and A*STAR.
Gerard Bannenberg, Director of Compliance and Healthcare Outreach, GOED.
As Prof Winkler states in his paper, increasing global EPA and DHA intake is not as simple as increasing supply; If everyone took the dietary recommendations seriously, there is not enough DHA/ EPA available to meet even the lowest targets.
That’s why our event will also assess emerging plant based sources of omega-3, as well as analysing some of the tought policy decisions that will need to be taken.
The paper asks: “Should distribution be largely left to the market as at present? Should we concentrate supplies on the most vulnerable, especially pregnant women and young children?
“Or should we try to reach the largest number of people in the shortest possible time, for example, by fortifying popular foods in poor countries? Some form of priority distribution seems likely, that is, some form of rationing.
“These are big issues that will take a long time to resolve, however we tackle them.The purpose of this paper is more modest, that is, to bring the issues surrounding DHA/EPA to public attention, so that it may no longer remain the most hidden of all the hidden hungers.”
The summit will take place at Singapore’s Hilton hotel, on Orchard Road, from February 20-22. In addition to two days of lively debate, discussion and presentations, there will also be extensive networking opportunities and social events.
For delegate registration details, click here.
To find out more about sponsorship opportunities, please contact gvz.rinaf@jeoz.pbzand pnebyvar.lrr@jeoz.pbz
Source: World Rev Nutr Diet. Basel, Karger, 2018, vol 118, pp 123–130
'The Most Hidden of All the Hidden Hungers: The Global Deficiency in DHA and EPA and What to do About It.'
J. T Winkler
