MDR goes to Rome: Can health be contagious?

The Mediterranean Diet Roundtable (MDR) is an international annual conference about sharing scientific contributions and practices on health benefits of Mediterranean Diet on people’s health and wellness. This year the conference will take place on November 9, 2018 at Roma Expo Salus and Nutrition 2018, Fiera di Roma.

Both local and global scholars and trend setters brought their contributions to discuss different topics about nutrition and dietetic studies, as well as marketing trends and concrete opportunities for promoting awareness about the MD and its inclusion in eating programs.

The first session, chaired by Prof. Giovanni Scapagnini (University of Molise), was focused on relevant academic contributions regarding Mediterranean Diet effects on people’s health, analyzed from different perspectives, from risk reduction in chronic diseases, to prevention and therapy for cancer patients and increasing of life expectancy.

Academic contributions were presented by Dr. Antonia Trichopoulou (Hellenic Health Foundation, Greece), Immaculata de Vivo (Harvard University), Antonino DeLorenzo (Università Tor Vergata, Rome) and Livia Augustin (National Cancer Institute Pascale, Naples, Italy; and St. Michael’s Hospital, Toronto, Canada).

The second session, moderated by Ken Toong, MBA (Executive Director, Auxiliary Enterprises University of Massachusetts, Amherst) saw the intervention of policy makers, presenting their good practices in including and promoting MD in hospitals and universities and colleges.

Angelo Mojica (Johns Hopkins Medicine) and Mary Angela Miller (Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center).

Robert Holden, MPA, CASP (Associate Vice President, Auxiliary Services, University of Georgia), Chris Abayasinghe, MBA (Senior Director, Campus Dining, University of Notre Dame) and Rafi Taherian (Associate Vice President, Yale Hospitality, Yale University) shared their inspiring experiences regarding inclusion and implementation of Mediterranean Diet in universities menus universities and impact of MD on health and wellness.