Summary report ILSI Europe Workshop: Nutrition in children and adolescents in Europe: what is the scientific basis?

The objective of the ILSI Europe Workshop held on 14–16 May 2003 in Rome was to look at the scientific information and knowledge related to nutrition in healthy children and adolescents in Europe. Its main purpose was to highlight and understand the discrepancies in dietary recommendations and intake between European countries. The workshop focused on children between 2 years of age and the end of the growth period (18 years). Two expert groups critically reviewed the available data and methodological approaches relating to the current dietary recommendations, dietary intake and nutritional status in children and adolescents in Europe. Based on presentations of the data collected by the expert groups, reasons for discrepancies in dietary recommendations and intakes were analysed by individual expert researchers and working groups. The following issues were discussed: methodological limitations, identification of conflicting or lacking data, diversity of scientific background for consensus, and significance of dietary intake in terms of metabolism and, more importantly, physiological functions.