Workshop Report: concepts and methods in the economics of nutrition – gateways to better economic evaluation of nutrition interventions

• Published in: British journal of nutrition 2012-11, Vol.108 (9), p.1714-1720
• Main Authors: Lenoir-Wijnkoop, I., Nuijten, M. J. C., Gutiérrez-Ibarluzea, I., Hutton, J., Poley, M. J., Segal, L., Bresson, J. L., van Ganse, E., Jones, P., Moreno, L., Salminen, S., Dubois, D.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Biomedical Technology - economics; Clinical Trials as Topic - economics; Costs and Cost Analysis - methods; Decision making; Diet; Diet - economics; Economics; Evidence-Based Medicine - economics; Feeding. Feeding behavior; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Health care; Health care expenditures; Health policy; Humans; Nutrition; Nutrition Disorders - economics; Nutrition Disorders - prevention & control; Nutrition Policy; Nutrition research; Public health; Technology assessment; Vertebrates: anatomy and physiology, studies on body, several organs or systems; Workshop Report
• ISSN: 0007-1145; 1475-2662
• DOI: 10.1017/S0007114512003704

Improving health through better nutrition of the population may contribute to enhanced efficiency and sustainability of healthcare systems. A recent expert meeting investigated in detail a number of methodological aspects related to the discipline of nutrition economics. The role of nutrition in health maintenance and in the prevention of non-communicable diseases is now generally recognised. However, the main scope of those seeking to contain healthcare expenditures tends to focus on the management of existing chronic diseases. Identifying additional relevant dimensions to measure and the context of use will become increasingly important in selecting and developing outcome measurements for nutrition interventions. The translation of nutrition-related research data into public health guidance raises the challenging issue of carrying out more pragmatic trials in many areas where these would generate the most useful evidence for health policy decision-making. Nutrition exemplifies all the types of interventions and policy which need evaluating across the health field. There is a need to start actively engaging key stakeholders in order to collect data and to widen health technology assessment approaches for achieving a policy shift from evidence-based medicine to evidence-based decision-making in the field of nutrition.