Global Nutrition Group
The Global Nutrition Group, led by chairholder Alida Melse, focusses on nutritional needs and interventions to improve health across the life span and across the globe. We concentrate research and training on nutrients, dietary patterns, and food systems with both a physiological and environmental focus.
Research themes
Nutrition across the life cycle
We study diet quality and nutrition intake during vulnerable life periods, from pregnancy to infancy and adolescence.
Sustainable diets across the globe
Our research focuses on the assessment of diet quality worldwide. We analyse food systems with special emphasis on drivers of food choice related to the external and personal food environment.
Dietary assessment
We develop new methodologies and tools that assess dietary intake and dietary behaviour.
Education
Education by Global Nutrition
The group contributes to the curriculum of the BSc and MSc programs in Nutrition and Health at Wageningen University & Research. We offer courses on topics such as Nutrition across the life cycle, Sustainable diets across the globe, and Dietary assessment.
Publications & Projects
At Global Nutrition, we study dietary intake, nutritional status and functional outcomes at the individual level as well as in public health related interventions. We publish the outcome of our research projects in scientific journals, professional journals, scientific and popular books, and proceedings.
Highlighted publications
- Scaling up antenatal multiple micronutrient supplementation in Africa: A unified call for action
- Daily iron supplementation does not impact on prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding or growth in young breastfed Gambian infants
- Addition of retronasal milk fat odour during milk consumption increased liking without affecting intake
Chairholder
Alida Melse is Chair of Global Nutrition. Her research focuses on preventing deficiencies of essential vitamins and minerals, particularly among vulnerable groups such as pregnant women and children. She studies how healthy diets can support global nutrition security while remaining environmentally sustainable.
People of Global Nutrition
Each chair group of Wageningen University & Research, under leadership of a professor, has its own area of expertise. Meet the people of Global Nutrition.
