On the 20th and 21st of March, the CEIDSS team, attending both in person and online, participated in the 2nd Plenary Meeting of the Better4U project, in Vienna.

Better4U is an EU-funded project focused on developing personalised interventions to prevent and reduce overweight and obesity. The CEIDSS team joined both in person and online, actively taking part in the important discussions

During the meeting, the project consortium discussed the progress made so far, completed and upcoming tasks and deliverables, as well as each partner’s contributions. The next steps were also outlined and planned.

On February 24th, our nutritionist Marta Gaspar participated as a speaker at the VII Nutrition Science Conference, organized by the Nutrition Science Student Association of UTAD, representing CEIDSS.

Marta Gaspar took part in the panel on “Nutrition and Public Health,” where she discussed the topic “Fighting Malnutrition and Obesity,” an area in which CEIDSS has developed various projects and initiatives, maintaining its commitment to public health.

Ana Rito and Inês Figueira contributed to the chapter “Worldwide Institutional Policies to End Childhood Obesity” in the recently launched book “Childhood Obesity: From Basic Knowledge to Effective Prevention.” This book provides a comprehensive approach to childhood obesity, presents a multi-omics description of the early origins of childhood obesity, and includes innovative strategies to treat and prevent obesity in children.

Learn more about the book HERE.

On 13th and 14th of June 2024, CEIDSS participated in the 1st Plenary Meeting of BETTER4U project in Thessaloniki, Greece.

In this meeting, the Consortium discussed the progress of the project’s tasks, deliverables, contributions of each partner and it was defined the workplan and the next steps.

The 10+1 Santorini Conference “Systems Medicine and Personalised Health and Therapy – The Odyssey from Hope to Practice”, took place in Greece from 21st to 24th of May 2024. This Conference aimed to create interactions among disciplines, as well as exchanges between basic, industrial and medical research directed around a scientific content towards an effective ‘roadmap’ for personalised health and therapy.

In the scope of the EU-project BETTER4U, CEIDSS Director, Ana Rito presented a poster entitled: “Interventions to monitor and tackle obesity at European level: lessons learned to support BETTER4U project”.

CEIDSS is a partner of this European project, contributing to the behavioural and environmental indicator related to weight gain, carrying out a pilot study and the development of the randomized controlled trial. Additionally, CEIDSS team will implement and continuous monitor the intervention as well as contribute to the assessment of the intervention´s cost-effectiveness and budget impact.

Know more about this project HERE.

The 31st European Congress on Obesity was held in Venice between the 12th and 15th of May 2024. The congress had plenary and topic sessions, teaching workshops, and moderated research communication sessions. Programme topics were organised into four main areas of ‘Basic Science’; ‘Behavioural and Public Health’; ‘Childhood and Adolescent Obesity’; and ‘Management and Intervention’.

The Director of CEIDSS, Ana Rito, presented an oral communication entitled: “Trends in overweight and obesity in Portuguese primary school children: a one and half decade of the COSI/WHO Europe study (2008 -­ 2022)”.

Inês Figueira and Fátima Martins, research assistants of CEIDSS, presented 2 posters entitled: “Sucessful community-based interventions to tackle obesity in Portugal: lessons learned to support BETTER4U – an innovative European project” and “Associations between family socioeconomic factors, overweight and unhealthy eating habits after COVID-19 pandemic, in school-age children in Portugal”.

On April 23rd, the National Institute of Health Dr. Ricardo Jorge (INSA), in collaboration with WHO Europe, hosted a public session to present the European report “The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the daily routine and behaviours of school-aged children in Europe: results from 17 Member States”, in which the CEIDSS team provided technical and scientific support.

Led by researcher Ana Rito, this work aimed to understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the lifestyle behaviours of school-aged children, compared to the pre-pandemic period, in 17 Member States of the WHO European Region. The afternoon session of the event was dedicated to a seminar on the theme: “Portuguese and European Children’s Health and Well-Being”, featuring distinguished speakers.

Please find out more about the study HERE and access the report HERE.

On April 9th, the nutritionists from CEIDSS escorted a 1st cycle elementary school from Amadora, participating in the Escola Missão Continente Program, to a hypermarket belonging to the SONAE group.

The children had the opportunity to visit various areas of the store, including the bakery and warehouse zone, on a guided tour by several store managers where various processes and curiosities related to the normal functioning of a hypermarket were explained.

The CEIDSS nutritionists addressed in detail some aspects related to the various food groups present throughout the store, for an even more enriching visit for the children and teachers.

CEIDSS is conducting a Scientific Impact Measurement Study of the Escola Missão Continente program, until 2025. Learn more about CEIDSS’s intervention here.

On March 6th, the MUN-SI team was represented at the Health and Well-Being Space in an initiative promoted by the Municipalities of Lisbon, Oeiras and Cascais, as part of the World Health Day and World Physical Activity Day celebrations.

On this day, Lisbon to Cascais Marginal Avenue was closed in the morning, allowing for outdoor physical and sports activities and participation in activities promoted by the health partners of the municipalities, including MUN-SI Program.

The MUN-SI team organized various activities related to promoting healthy eating including the Mediterranean Diet Game of the Goose, the roulette with products from program giveaways, the presentation of materials used by the team in MUN-SI sessions in the classroom setting, distribution of flyers about food and nutrition, among others.