Comunicaciones Orales

Introduction: Latin America is not spared by the epidemic of noncommunicable diseases. Strongly influenced by globalization, its eating habits change very quickly and led to a double problematic: obesity and malnutrition. Objectives: To gather information on micronutrient intakes and public health issues across 3 South American countries: Argentina, Brazil & Mexico for children, adults and elderly. Method: We developed “NutriPlanet”, a method that consists of an extensive literature review enriched with the view of multidisciplinary local experts to describe in each country, the dietary habits, the nutritional recommendations, the nutritional situation and its impact on public health. In these 3 countries, 636 publications were screened and 61 experts were interviewed. Results: The main inadequate nutrient intakes commonly observed for the 3 countries were calcium, sodium, iron, vitamin A and vitamin C. There are also inadequate intakes specific to the country and/or to the population group like vitamin E and D in Brazil and Zinc for children and adolescents in Mexico and for pregnant women in Argentina. Some national initiatives of food supplementation already helped to eradicate some deficiencies as iodine in the 3 countries and vitamin B9 in Brazil and Mexico. However, there is also a lack of national data for some micronutrients: vitamin B12 and vitamin E for Mexico, vitamin D and B6 for Argentina and vitamin K and B for Brazil. Conclusions: On top of the obesity epidemic, Latin American countries are experiencing significant micronutrients insufficient intakes. This double burden of malnutrition highlights the needs to consider solutions integrating calories reduction (sugar & fat reductions) but also to help consumers choose micronutrients rich foods and limit empty calories food consumption. In this context, private and public partnerships are essential to identify relevant actions addressing public health issues such as adapted products development & accessibility.