CRN-International Announces Speakers for 3rd Scientific Symposium in December

The Council for Responsible Nutrition-International (CRN-I), the international arm of the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), has announced the speakers for its third scientific symposium, taking place in Kronberg im Taunus, Germany, on December 1.

The symposium will focus on the activities of the Codex Alimentarius Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses (CCNFSDU). Titled “Nutrient Reference Values for Bioactives? -New Approaches,” the symposium will bring together in discussion regulators, policymakers, nutrition scientists, and academics. “The purpose of the symposium is to advance the understanding of the relevant science to the regulatory and policy-setting community of Codex,” said John Hathcock, PhD, senior vice president, scientific and international affairs, CRN-I, in a press release.

The symposium’s keynote speaker will be John Erdman, PhD, of the University of Illinois. Erdman will speak about the framework and definitions of the U.S. Institute of Medicine’s Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs) and “how the IOM DRI framework may be adapted to establishing nutrient reference values for bioactives.” He was previously a member of the IOM standing committee on the scientific evaluation of DRIs for essential nutrients.

Additional speakers announced include:

• Professor Hans Biesalski, University of Hohenheim, who will address intervention and epidemiological data that can be used to establish nutrient reference values (equivalent to the Recommended Daily Allowance in the U.S.);

• Kathleen Ellwood, PhD, formerly with the USDA and the FDA, who will speak on the use of dietary intake patterns for healthy persons to identify “Adequate Intake,” as defined by the IOM;

• Stephen Beatty, MD, and Elizabeth Johnson, PhD, who will both speak about the positive health impacts of lutein and zeaxanthin;

• Roberto Marchioli, MD, and Lotte Lauritzen, PhD, who will talk about omega-3 fatty acids; and

• CRN-I’s Hathcock, who will cover safety considerations that should be evaluated when establishing government-recommended intakes for nutrients

The CRN-I symposium will precede the official meeting of the CCNFSDU.  The full agenda is posted on the CRN-I website and participation is by invitation-only.  The association says there is no registration fee for government regulators, delegates to Codex, and full-time academics, and a nominal fee for other attendee categories. 

Summary proceedings of the first conference were published in Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology and those of the second conference were published in European Journal of Nutrition. CRN-I says it plans to publish a summary document of this third conference.