Provide a map of nutritional status in Italy

As the consequences of unhealthy and unsustainable diets are multisectoral and significantly influencing, understanding the population’s nutritional status within a specific country can serve as a critical prevention and education tool to provide information, knowledge, and awareness about the health, economic, social, and developmental benefits of safe and adequate nutrition. 

To achieve this goal, the OnFoods Work Package 5.1 will first provide a map of the Italian geographical areas, including urban, non-urban, economically advantaged, and peripheral ones, at higher risk of over- and under-nutrition; and secondly, identify strategic partners like schools, recreational centres, churches, and other associations, to meet and educate the at-risk Italian population. All this will be done by consulting existing databanks and assessing the people’s nutritional status according to age through investigating questionnaires.

The further task of WP 5.1 is examining, in conjunction with Spoke 1 “Global Sustainability”, the available data on food consumption, lifestyle, and biochemical/genetic parameters of Italian targeted groups along the lifecycle. This will entail the elaboration of relevant datasets providing information on eating and lifestyle habits, accessibility, drivers, and barriers towards a healthy diet of defined groups (children, adolescents, adults, pregnant women, and older subjects). 

The last goal is to develop an OnFoods cohort that systematically assesses target populations’ nutritional status, eating behaviour, physical activity, and lifestyle within the Italian geographical area covered by the participant institutions. 

The cohort will be elaborated by applying shared procedures and questionnaires that will add information lacking from the existing datasets and provide a setting for validating biomarkers, new interventions, and educational strategies.