Abstract
Following the successes of the first European Digestive Health Summit in December 2016, a second Summit was held on 29 November 2017. Organised by UEG and Member of the European Parliament Michèle Rivasi, the event took place within the European Parliament in Brussels and highlighted the need to improve digestive health through healthy nutrition.
Balanced diet and responsible alcohol consumption play a vital role in the prevention and treatment of digestive diseases. In this spirit, the second European Digestive Health Summit endeavoured to show how vital it is that health issues be tackled at the political level through promoting good nutrition. Many digestive diseases can be prevented by adopting healthy lifestyles; hence, the event shed light on the pressing nature of these problems and pushed for prioritisation of digestive health on the EU stage. The Summit called for the need to make the dietary regulations across Europe stricter if digestive disease rates are to fall. As the EU considers ‘self-regulatory’ approaches regarding alcohol labelling and trans-fat limitations, UEG stressed the need to impose mandatory legally binding regulations for the food and drinks industries, based on scientific evidence.
The Scientific Panel composed of UEG experts took the floor to present research and information on the importance of healthy nutrition. Following an introduction from Thierry Ponchon (UEG Public Affairs Committee Chair), Thomas Seufferlein (of the European Society of Digestive Oncology) discussed how there was now evidence that links obesity with 13 different types of cancer, including oesophageal, pancreatic, liver and colorectal cancer. This was followed by Iva Hosjak (of the European Society for Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition), who presented the significant health benefits of breastfeeding, and Arie Levine (of the European Crohn’s and Colitis Organisation), who discussed how Crohn’s disease is now known to be influenced by environmental factors and early life nutrition, and is today considered a pandemic issue rather than a rare condition. Helena Cortez-Pinto (of the European Association for the Study of the Liver) concluded the Scientific Panel discussion by putting forward concrete proposals to combat the current alarming rate of alcohol consumption throughout the continent, such as setting minimum unit pricing and regulating the marketing of alcoholic products.
The subsequent Policy Panel discussed EU options to mitigate the digestive diseases burden: stressing in particular the importance of tackling alcohol regulation as an EU-wide initiative; and referring to restriction on marketing of unhealthy foods and alcoholic beverages as a key determinant of good health.
The Summit was deemed a noteworthy success, providing UEG and its Members with an excellent opportunity to engage with policy and opinion makers on an EU level. Through EU Affairs initiatives, UEG will continue raising political awareness of digestive health conditions to help drive strategies on an EU and Member State level throughout 2018.
Find out more about UEG’s EU Affairs activities at www.ueg.eu/eu-affairs