LAUSR

In October 2019, scientists and practitioners gathered in a workshop on Children’s Dietary Measurement and Promotion in Bern, Switzerland. The workshop aimed to establish partnerships for childhood nutrition promotion, monitoring, and measurement in Switzerland. Synergies between research and practice exist, but collaborations are lacking due to the multi-language makeup of the country and to reduced funding. Efforts are needed to bring research, practice, and policy together, to stimulate the valid and affordable measurement of nutrition and eating behavior, and to promote healthier eating in Swiss children. This is timely, given the now century old tradition of Public Health in Switzerland, and the growing importance of lifestyle across the life course. The study of nutrition must move beyond the clinical context to include understanding of the ways in which children eat, what they eat, and what determines such behavior. Combined with clinical data, these measures should provide public health and medical stakeholders the information needed to implement programs helping children and families to obtain and consume a higher-quality diet. In this position paper, we provide an overview of nutrition promotion, monitoring, and measurement in Switzerland, highlighting gaps and opportunities for the way forward.