Table 2.

Specific research and translational challenges identified by the EU-US Gent symposium participants.

Research is needed on the longer term effects of pre-natal factors and maternal eating patterns influencing adult food behavior, appropriate weight management, and other health outcomes There is a critical need to characterize actual food practices in the home, including the context for those practices and the impact on dietary intake Expanded research partnerships with industry, especially in this era of constrained resources, may accelerate understanding and promotion of multilevel (e.g., private and public) healthy-eating practices Some aspects of healthy eating can be achieved from an early age without compromising the objective of making healthy foods enjoyable but this requires a multilateral commitment across the commercial sector (e.g., prepared foods) and community (e.g., public health campaigns) Better understanding of physiological states that may influence food choices and compromise rational healthy food decisions is important to personalized interventions More research is needed on the long term benefits of incentive and other motivational programs to optimize the opportunities for children to make healthy food choices Appropriate outcome measures to assess effectiveness are largely lacking in policies targeting the market environment (e.g., nutrition standards; food taxes/subsidies; school meals) This research must be conducted in the context of a cultural understanding of the history, traditions, and practices of the individuals and groups involved