Infant nutrition and primary prevention: current and future perspectives.

Primary prevention is generally considered as the prevention of a disease before it occurs, or reduction of its incidence. However, this concept needs to be expanded here since early nutritional interventions are often targeted towards optimizing neurodevelopmental potential. Therefore, the suggested definition of primary prevention for this Workshop is as follows: To prevent or reduce the risk of disease and prevent impairment of cognitive potential The means of achieving primary prevention by nutrition is through education, clinical or public health practice or intervention, and through policy, legislation and regulation. However, these strategies are all dependent on the establishment of a solid research base – the focus of this Workshop. Research in primary prevention may and should have a fundamental basis, as considered in several chapters, but ultimately effective prevention strategies depend on formal evidence-based research that establishes the impact of nutrition on health and developmental outcomes.