Department of Public Health and Primary Care

Public Health Nutrition

Presentation of unit

The unit ‘Public Health Nutrition' was launched as independent unit in 1998 to visualize  and promote the importance of diet as a major determinant of public health.

Objectives

  • to promote nutrition education for health professionals
  • to foster research in the field of human nutrition, food safety and public health and to promote multidisciplinary collaboration in these fields
  • to support public authorities in their efforts of optimizing nutrient intake and nutritional status (as part of a healthy lifestyle) in the general population and in specific subgroups
  • to contribute in the promotion of health and nutrition among populations in low and middle income countries

Topics

Research lines in Belgium and Europe

  • Measuring dietary intake
  • Eating behaviour and motivations
  • Risk factors for overweight and associated non-communicable diseases in all age categories
  • Lifestyle: physical activity/fitness & sleep
  • Telomeres/aging/polyphenols
  • Psychosocial stress (chronic)
  • Gut microbiome
  • Biomarkers in blood, urine, hair, saliva, feces
  • Exposure assessment (mycotoxins, phtalates, heavy metals, acrylamides, and food additives)

Research lines in low and middle income countries

  • Infant and young child feeding practices
  • Ante- and prenatal maternal care
  • Management of severe acute malnutrition- underlying risks for non-responsiveness
  • Micronutrient deficiencies (anemia, iron, vitamin A)
  • Malnutrition and infectious diseases (malaria)
  • Nutrition in school-age children and cognitive development
  • Double burden of malnutrition in populations undergoing nutritional transition
  • Behavior change communication
  • Nutrition and morbidity in people living with HIV/AIDS
  • Sustainable agriculture and community nutrition
  • Mycotoxins and micronutrient deficiencies (vitamin A)

Main activities

Education

  • “Nutrition and Health” for Master in Biomedical Sciences
  • “Basic concepts in public health and epidemiology” for Master in Environmental Sanitation
  • “Nutrition and Sports nutrition” for Bachelor in Sport Sciences
  • Several nutrition and public health classes for Master and Bachelor in Medicine
  • Several courses for multiple University Colleges

Research

  • Nutritional research broadly looking at the impact of nutrients, foods, dietary patterns and the overall  eating behaviour on public health.
  • Food safety research is mainly focused on chemical food safety in relation to environmental problems and to food technological aspects.
  • Methodological research to support both pillars of nutritional research and food safety research, including dietary assessment methodology (e.g. questionnaire development), measurement of body composition, new statistical methods for diet and health associations, probabilistic techniques for exposure assessment and biological stress measures..
  • Community nutrition in low and middle income countries: Research themes include maternal and child nutrition and health, infant and young child feeding, micronutrients and cognitive development, and assessment of underlying factors of malnutrition

Services

  • Expert input for public health instances e.g. Health Council Belgium, European Food Safety agency
  • Collaboration with dieticians and nutritionists via European Associations
  • Supporting the Belgian Nutrition Society
  • Services to researcher in developing dietary tools
  • Science communication for broad public

List of most important projects

  • Evaluation of dietary practices and assessment of nutritional status and associated risk factors for metabolic syndrome in the young adult population of Rwanda. (2017-2021)
  • Effects of intermittent iron and vitamin A supplementation on nutritional status and development of schoolchildren in Arba Minch Zuria District, Ethiopia. (2017-2021)
  • Effects of video-based nutritional education on nutritional status of mothers and their infants (from 0 to 6months) in Dirashe district Southern Ethiopia - A cluster randomized controlled trial. (2017-2021)
  • Underlying risk factors affecting the effectiveness of the nutritional therapeutic treatment protocol for complicated severely malnourished children in the Centre Hôspitalier Universitaire Souro, Bobo Dioulasso, Burkina Faso. (2018-2022)
  • Vitamin A status in children of 36-59 months of age in a malaria-endemic rural area in Burkina Faso. (2017-2021)
  • Integrated health and agriculture services for improved household food security and nutritional status of mothers and children under five years of age in Ethiopia. (2019-2022)
  • Effects of daily supplementation with spirulina fortified cereals on the nutritional status and treatment outcomes of people living with HIV/AIDS in Chad (2018-2022).
  • The bidirectional stress-obesity relation: mediating role of low-grade inflammation and gut microbiota.  (2015-2021)
  • Understanding Obesity in Young Adolescents: the Role of Emotion Regulation (2017-2021)
  • Blue health: the restoration capacity of the coast (2019-2022)
  • BELICCA: BEtter LIfestyle in Cognitive and Cardiovascular Aging (2017-2020)
  • Intake of polyphenols in European adolescents and its association with early metabolic markers of healthy ageing (2016-2019)
  • INTERPLAY OF DIET WITH ADIPOSITY, SEDENTARY BEHAVIOR, AND GENETIC POLYMORPHISMS TOWARDS INFLAMMATION IN ADOLESCENTS. (2015-2019)
  • Lifestyle and telomeres (2015-2019)
  • REWARD (2012-2016)
  • I.FAMILY (2012-2017)
  • Nutrition in times of examination stress (2016-2017) The relation between chronic stress and inflammation in children and adolescents: measuring tryphan breakdown (2015-2017)DEDIPAC (Determinants of Diet and Physical Activity) (2013-2016)ENPADASI (European Nutritional Phenotype Assessment Data Sharing Initiative) (2015-2017)DEPS (drink, eat and pee at school) (2014-2015)Body Image Perception and Associated Obesity Risk in Ghanaian Adolescents (2014-2015)READY-TO-EAT CEREALS (2013-2015)CHILDREN'S BODY COMPOSITION AND STRESS (CHIBS) (2009-2013)
  • THE INFLUENCE OF LIFESTYLE ON THE EVOLUTION OF BONE HEALTH IN FLEMISH CHILDREN (2010-2013)
  • DIET-GENE INTERACTIONS ON FATTY ACID AND LIPID STATUS IN ADOLESCENTS (2009-2013)
  • TOYBOX: MULTIFACTORIAL EVIDENCE BASED APPROACH USING BEHAVIOURAL MODELS IN UNDERSTANDING AND PROMOTING FUN, HEALTHY FOOD, PLAY AND POLICY FOR THE PREVENTION OF OBESITY IN EARLY CHILDHOOD (2010-2013)
  • DIETARY INTAKE OF OMEGA-6 AND OMEGA-3 PUFA IN BELGIAN ADULTS (2012)
  • IDEFICS: Identification and prevention of Dietary- and lifestyle-induced health EFfects In Children and infants (2006-2012)
  • PANCAKE: Pilot study for the Assessment of Nutrient intake and Food consumption among kids in Europe (2010-2011)

More information about the projects

 Collaborators

  • Stefaan De Henauw, Head of unit, full professor
  • Bryan Gonzales, professor
  • Nathalie Michels, PhD. Postdoctoral researcher
  • Souheila Abbeddou, PhD. Postdoctoral Assistant
  • Aline Arouca, PhD student
  • Girmay Ayana, PhD student
  • Wanzahun Godana, PhD student
  • Joanna Klosowska, PhD student
  • Alain Nahaskida, PhD student
  • Phenias Nsabimana, PhD student
  • Bintou Sanogo, PhD student
  • Olivier Sombie, PhD student
  • Befikadu Tariku, PhD student
  • Kathleen Wijnant, PhD student
  • Ratih Wisnuwardani, PhD student
  • Barbara Thumann, PhD student

 Most important national and international partnerships

National

  • Centre of Excellence in Mycotoxicology and Public Health – Ghent University
  • The International Centre for Reproductive Health
  • Laboratory of Parasitology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine - Ghent University
  • Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
  • UHasselt
  • VLIZ (Vlaams Instituut aan de zee)

International

  • Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology, Germany
  • GENUD group, Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain
  • Institut de Recherche en Sciences de la Sante (IRSS), Burkina Faso
  • University of Arba Minch, Ethiopia
  • The Ethiopian Public Health Institute, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
  • Pwani University/ KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme, Kilifi, Kenya
  • University of Rwanda, Kigali, Rwanda
  • Centre de Réhabilitation et d’Education Nutritionnelle des enfants souffrant de la malnutrition aigüe sévère (CREN), Bobo Dioulasso, Burkina Faso
  • One mobile projector per trainer (ompt https://www.ompt.org/)
  • The international Atomic Energy Agency (Vienna, Austria, https://www.iaea.org/)

Contact data

Prof. Stefaan De Henauw
Campus UZ Gent, 4K3,
Corneel Heymanslaan 10 (entrance 42), B-9000 Gent

Telephone : +(32) 9 332 36 79

Secretariat: +(32) 9 332 36 78