Monday night I was kindly invited to give a seminar on behalf of Deakin University's Center for Physical Activity & Nutrition research (C-PAN) at the Cancer Council Victoria in Melbourne, Australia. The title of my talk was "Evidence-based promotion of healthful eating and physical activity in Europe". My talk was mostly on the results derived from the European Commission funded projects HOPE (Health promotion through Obesity Prevention across Europe), Pro Children (promoting fruit and vegetable intakes among children across Europe) and ENERGY (EuropeaN Energy balance Research to prevent excess weight Gain among Youth). I provided an overview of evidence on prevalence and trends in overweight and obesity across Europe as well as of prevalence and trends in behaviors that may increase or reduce the risk of excess weight gain. The larger part of my presentation was on potential determinants of such behaviors and how insight in such determinants may help us to design interventions that can contribute to promotion of more healthful behavioral nutrition and physical activity patterns. It was indeed a pleasure and an honor to give the talk and to be able to discuss some of the findings with Australian colleagues.
