Committee, Council & SIG Updates

The Nutrition Society

Dr Bernadette Moore, University of Leeds, The Nutrition Society Clinical/Medical Advisory Council member

Email: office@nutritionsociety.org
Website: www.nutritionsociety.org
Twitter: @Nutritionsoc
Instagram: the_nutrition_society
LinkedIn: /nutrition-society

It has been an unprecedented time since my report last year, with many essential adjustments needing to be made following the COVID-19 pandemic. Although not quite the same as meeting colleagues and friends face to face, I was pleased to hear about the huge success of the two weeks of virtual events, ‘Dine at home and dial-in”. While I am personally keen to go back to attending conferences and very much hoping that I will see you again in person in Brighton at the 2021 Annual BAPEN Conference, it is clear that virtual events are a great equaliser in some ways, as they allow many more people in different locations to attend and gain useful knowledge. At the Nutrition Society we envision that the future will bring hybrid events and are seeking the best way to do this.

Part of what we miss of course is the networking between colleagues and students and the Training and Events team have been working hard to ensure the annual Winter Conference continues to go ahead as an online event while also still allowing delegates to interact with speakers and network amongst themselves in between symposia. They are investigating novel tech platforms to allow this and I am looking forward to seeing how the networking aspect might work.

I suspect the two-day event, 8-9 December, will be of significant interest to my BAPEN colleagues as it focuses on micronutrient deficiencies and requirements across the life-course. The four symposia will cover the impacts of vitamin and mineral deficiencies in ageing and disease; sarcopenia, frailty, osteo-sarcopenic obesity and bariatric surgery. Topics of significant interest to clinical nutrition professionals. Speakers will explore the emerging issue of the ‘double burden of disease’ in low- and middle-income countries as well as the importance of micronutrients during pregnancy, and neural development in childhood, before discussing how these issues can be addressed.

I hope to see many BAPEN members in attendance and look forward to an online ‘chat’ with you. Further programme and registration details can be found on the Society’s website.

I mentioned last time that the Society’s new open access journal, Gut Microbiome was just about to launch. Published in partnership with Cambridge University Press, the journal aims to support the development of an interdisciplinary understanding of the gut microbiome. Primarily focusing on how the gut microbiome impacts the health, development and disease status of the whole human body, I trust it will be of great use to many of you and the first issue has now been published.

A last note likely of interest, is that with COVID-19 pushing the global Obesity issue higher up on the UK Government agenda, the Nutrition Society’s Training Academy (NSTA) have prioritised a series of webinars to help clinical practitioners develop the skills needed to work towards successfully tackling the problem and its associated comorbidities. These individual webinars are available to watch on the Society’s website, and will shortly be made available as a package at a discounted rate.

I hope that you and your families are all keeping well in these challenging times. Those of you on the front lines of healthcare have my very deepest admiration for all that you do. Please do say a virtual hello if you attend the Society’s online Winter Conference in December.

With best wishes,

Bernadette

 

Malnutrition Action Group (MAG)

Rebecca Stratton, Chair, Malnutrition Action Group

Email: R.J.Stratton@soton.ac.uk
Website: www.bapen.org.uk/about-bapen/committees-and-groups/malnutrition-action-group

 

Following the national screening survey during October, MAG are delighted to reveal that 1,179 completed the survey, using the Malnutrition Screening Portal.

By screening a large number of people across the UK, we can build a better picture of the scale of the malnutrition problem in different locations, settings and according to age and any clinical conditions – thank you to everyone that took part.

As mentioned in the last MAG update, there were prizes on offer for top screeners. The top screeners were:

• England: Staffs
• N Ireland: Antrim
• Wales: Cardiff.

We will look forward to updating you on the results of the survey at a later date.

 

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