Nutrition

Many people are facing disease and chronic illness at some point in their lives. A healthy diet can prevent illness and contributes to a good quality of life.

ZonMw establishes what particular knowledge is required about the impact of nutrition on our health. It provides grants to researchers so they can develop this knowledge. We also work with Dutch and international partners on building a stronger knowledge infrastructure and passing on the research results better. 

Many issues in the field of nutrition and food systems are not unique to the Netherlands. This is why ZonMw is taking part in several international networks. For example, ZonMw is hosting the secretariat of Healthy Diet, Healthy Life (HDHL). This is a joint project with 14 countries in order to coordinate research into nutrition and food systems. Through this network and other international collaborations, ZonMw has funded many Dutch researchers. We have also made research results from international studies available and relevant for the Dutch context. 

Nutrition can contribute to preventing and curing illness. ZonMw funds research into how nutrition, genes and health interact. This helps to identify risk factors and to reduce illness.

Unhealthy diets are a burden for the metabolism, including the amount of sugar in the blood and increasing the risk of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. More knowledge about the impact of nutrition on our immune system helps to reduce these risks. Even though it sounds contradictory: malnutrition and overweight are often occurring at the same time. They are caused by illness or cause illness. This is why it is important to check this in case of illness. 

How can we change our living environment so it will be easier to make healthy choices rather than unhealthy ones when it comes to the food we eat? Policy plays an important role in this. Research shows us the options we have to improve policy for a healthier food system, and offers tools to turn policy into practical results.

Thanks to funding from HDHL, the Policy Evaluation Network (PEN) was established. This is a joint programme of 28 research institutions from 7 European countries and New Zealand. This collaboration has resulted in practical tools so countries can determine which policy measures are most effective and also to what extent policy measures have actually been implemented.

A healthy diet and plenty of exercise are part of a healthy lifestyle, helping to prevent obesity and reducing the risk of chronic disease. Nutrition also has an impact on treatment of and recovery from illness. This is why ZonMw funds clinical research into lifestyle medicine for curative care, in which a healthy lifestyle is now more often seen as a fully-fledged treatment method.

One third of the global greenhouse emissions comes from our food system. This has a huge impact on the climate – which is something we want to reduce. What’s more, with a growing global population, we need to make sure that we can produce enough food while taking care of planet earth.

Against this backdrop, it is important to make sure that a healthy option is also a sustainable option. This is why researchers receive funding to jointly look at innovations from producing food to consumer’s health in the food chain. They work closely with private partners and other organisations in society.

Within HDHL we coordinate the European Food4Health, connecting stakeholders from research, industry, policy and society to find solutions for related challenges of food-related illness and climate change. By being a partner of HDHL, we are also part of the FOODPathS and CLEVERFOOD programmes. We are working on a healthy, sustainable, safe and fair European food system, in joint collaboration with our international partners.