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
Healthy and affordable food G4-DMA, Customer health and safety G4-DMA
Research to improve cardiovascular health
A key focus of NRC’s work is cardiovascular health. In 2015,
the NRC published a meta-analysis of 15 existing studies in the
Journal of Hypertension on the benefits of potassium intake
for people with normal or high blood pressure who were not
taking medication for their condition. The WHO guidelines
recommend that individuals consume less than 2 g of sodium
and more than 3.5 g of potassium per day.
The study concluded that modifying diets to lower sodium
and increase potassium intake could be effective in preventing
high blood pressure and could be a cost-effective method of
delaying the onset of hypertension or mitigating its severity.
Higher potassium intakes can be achieved through eating
more fruit, vegetables, pulses and nuts – which Nestlé
encourages – and through foods fortified with potassium
as a substitute for sodium.
Researching children’s nutrition
We seek to continually improve our understanding of eating
habits, particularly during the crucial first 1000 days of life.
One important element of this is understanding what
influences children’s diet, lifestyle and health, which we
achieve through a series of dedicated studies that are shared
publicly. By establishing the right feeding practices early in
childhood, we believe that children can be encouraged to
pursue healthy eating and hydration throughout their lives,
allowing their development to proceed along the optimal
blue line.
Our commitment
Our objective
Build knowledge leadership in
children’s nutrition
By 2016 – Launch large-scale research projects in at
least 10 countries across the globe, including the
United States, Mexico, China and Russia to expand
understanding of children’s nutrition and inform our
own product and service development.
and Mexico, while a new study in the United States was
initiated in 2015. By the end of 2016, we expect to launch
the FITS in Russia.
FITS is complemented by the KNHS, which focuses on
children at the next life stage, from 4 to 12 years old. Many of
the dietary and activity habits that influence health across life
are formed at this stage. KNHS explores the food and nutrient
intakes of children and their relationship to lifestyle and
behaviour patterns. This information can be used to help
inform healthcare providers and policy-makers concerned with
children’s nutrition and health. KNHS is currently being
conducted in the United States, China and Mexico, and in
2016 will be initiated in Russia.
Findings from FITS and KNHS have so far revealed the
following:
• Breastfeeding rates are too low;
• Cow’s milk and complementary foods are introduced too
early, including some less nutritious complementary foods,
such as rice and tortillas;
• Infants do not consume sufficient levels of iron, as shown in
China and Mexico;
• Infants consume high levels of salt (sodium) and saturated
fats, particularly in the United States and China; and
• Fruit and vegetable intake is low, with children more likely
to receive sweets and sweetened beverages from an
early age.
FITS results are already influencing the foods and beverages
we are developing to address nutritional gaps for children and
toddlers. For example, our Gerber Graduates range in the
United States, aimed at pre-schoolers, now contains a greater
quantity of vegetables. Other areas in which we have seen an
increased impact thanks to FITS and KNHS include:
encouraging children to consume whole grain pasta; adding
healthy oils to infant dinners; and providing more convenient
packaging for fruit and vegetables in snacks. We expect this
impact to steadily increase.
Read more on encouraging vegetable consumption.
In 2013, Nestlé committed to build knowledge leadership in
children’s nutrition through a deeper understanding of their
dietary intakes and lifestyle habits. It remains a top research
priority for our teams, with plans to launch large-scale research
initiatives in at least 10 countries by the end of 2016. The
results of these studies help define our product formulation,
consumer communication and educational programmes.
The period from birth to four years old is vital, as it sees a
transition from an all-milk diet to solid foods. Our FITS was
designed to improve understanding of the eating patterns of
infants and toddlers at this stage and their associated
nutritional intake. Initially conducted in the United States in
2002 and 2008, the FITS has now been launched in China –
known as the Maternal Infant Nutrition Growth (MING) study –
Helping parents adopt healthier
attitudes to nutrition
A new article based on results from the FITS (2008) in the
United States has illustrated the need to support parents in the
development of healthy feeding practices in their children from
a young age. The article, published in the CDC’s Preventing
Chronic Disease journal in September 2015, indicated that
although parents thought that their children consumed enough
fruits and vegetables, only 30% of pre-schoolers met the
recommendation of five daily servings.
The research also indicated that about half of toddlers (56%)
and pre-schoolers (52%) met the recommendation to limit
consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages. For further
information and access to the article, please click here.
Nestlé in society – Creating Shared Value and meeting our commitments 2015 55