Nestlé in society Creating Shared Value and meeting our commitments 2015

Nestlé in society:
Creating Shared Value
Nutrition, health
and wellness
Rural development
Water
Environmental
sustainability
Human rights
and compliance
Our
people
Customer health and safety G4-DMA
Nestlé Institute of Health Sciences (NIHS)
Our dedication to health and wellness is grounded in our
investment to advancing science through our own research
network. As part of this network, NIHS investigates how
nutrition can be used to guide people in improving and
maintaining their health.
This group researches how environment, diet and lifestyle
are influenced by other factors, such as genetics, gut microorganisms,
metabolism and nutritional status. NIHS’s ambition
is to improve nutrition and lifestyle to help consumers live
healthier lives.
In the five years since NIHS was founded in 2011, 145
scientific manuscripts have been published and applications
across 43 patent ‘families’ have been filed. NIHS has received
several research grants to work in collaboration with universities,
five of which are ongoing. The Institute has 14 graduate students
(PhD and Master) and has nine scientists with Adjunct Professor
or Lecturer affiliation from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de
Lausanne (EPFL), further strengthening our links and
relationships with relevant academic partners.
NIHS brings nutrition, health
and wellness to life in Beijing
Leading experts from around the world came together for an
unprecedented meeting focused on human nutrition,
environment and health in mid-October 2015 in Beijing, China.
The Keystone Symposia® Conference provided a unique
platform to explore how a person’s genome, nutrition and
environment together influence individual health and
wellbeing.
The meeting was attended by more than 140 participants of
40 different nationalities – the most ever nationalities to attend
a single Keystone Conference. Importantly, it was also the first
to focus on nutrition. NIHS took advantage of the symposium
to present how its research focuses on quantitative and
applicable approaches, thereby addressing and alleviating the
distinct challenges of the future of global health and nutrition.
Lipid research and metabolism
NIHS investigates the molecular mechanisms that underpin
how lipids support healthy metabolism and immune systems.
Lipids are naturally occurring molecules, including fats and
waxes, which play crucial roles in our diet, by maintaining cell
structure (phospholipids), storing energy (triglycerides) and
signalling (fatty acids), or transmitting messages between
proteins and specific cell responses.
The long-term aim of NIHS’s research is to apply technology
to the development of innovative nutritional solutions that
promote a healthy metabolism. NIHS recently partnered with
German company Lipotype GmbH to validate and deploy lipid
profiling in blood plasma. The successful results of this
partnership were published in the European Journal of Lipid
Science and Technology in October 2015.
The role of nutrition in
Alzheimer’s prevention
As our objective states, we seek to further and develop our
clinical strategies through nutritional solutions. For example,
Dr Gene Bowman, a leading NIHS scientist, is helping pave the
way for greater research into the relationship between
nutrition, metabolism and dementia. Dr Bowman, head of
NIHS’s research into cognitive health and ageing, is a founding
member of a new Professional Interest Area (PIA) forum within
the International Society to Advance Alzheimer’s Research and
Treatment (ISTAART).
ISTAART is a professional society for individuals interested
in the disease and dementia science, housed within the
Alzheimer’s Association. The new PIA, announced in July
2015, aims to facilitate more informed decisions on how
nutrition influences dementia risk and the coordination of
future large-scale research, with the hope of accelerating the
development of nutritional therapies.
In September 2015, Nestlé’s commitment to brain research
and Alzheimer’s disease took another step forward with the
signing of a research collaboration agreement with AC
Immune, a leading Swiss biopharmaceutical company focused
on neurodegenerative diseases. The collaboration aims to
develop a sensitive, minimally invasive procedure to map the
early stages of Alzheimer’s disease by applying antibody
technology provided by the NIHS.
Gastrointestinal health and microbiome research
Our digestive systems contain trillions of micro-organisms
collectively known as the gut microbiota, or the microbiome.
When it functions properly, the microbiome supports nutrient
digestion, immune development and many other metabolic
activities required for daily life. Imbalances between the gut
microbiota and the body can occur in many disease
conditions.
As part of our research strategy, Nestlé seeks to develop a
better understanding of diet and lifestyle. In this context, the
primary role of NIHS’s Gastrointestinal Health and Microbiome
group is to investigate how the gut microbiota supports the
normal functions of the digestive system. It also studies the
relationship between our gut and body in relation to various
diseases, with the aim of identifying nutritional strategies to
maximise our health at all stages of life.
Personalised nutrition development
Through its Molecular Nutrition group, NIHS analyses the
nutritional status of individuals through a combination of
state-of-the-art molecular techniques. Launched in 2014, the
group aims to quantitatively analyse vitamins, minerals, amino
and fatty acids, to understand the unmet nutritional needs of
people at every stage of life. The research is expected to
support Nestlé’s nutrition, health and wellness focus by
providing personalised nutritional approaches in future.
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