L-R: John Quinn, assistant director, Clinical Nutrition, RWJUH; Joshua Miller, professor and chair, Department of Nutritional Sciences; Jane Barracato, senior manager, Global Nutritional Sciences, Pfizer Consumer Health; Mukund Karwe, professor, Department of Food Science; Sarah Recanati, Clinical Nutrition Support, Home Solutions Infusion; and Ronald Levine, Esq., co-chair, Litigation Department at Herrick, Feinstein LLP and member of the Board of Advisors of the New Jersey Institute for Food, Nutrition, and Health at Rutgers.
On March 10, the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (RWJUH) held its 1st Annual Nutrition Symposium, “The Positive Impact of Today’s Nutrition on Tomorrow’s Society: Current Perspectives from the Clinical, Public Health, Food Science, Pharmaceutical and Legal Sectors.”
John Quinn, assistant director of Clinical Nutrition, RWJUH, provided an overview of the symposium, which was held at the RWJUH-New Brunswick campus.
Among the presenters was Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences (SEBS) professor Joshua Miller, who also chairs the Department of Nutritional Sciences. His talk, titled “Folic Acid, a Single Nucleotide Polymorphism & Neural Tube Defects’ Impact on Public Health Policy: An Illustration of Integrative Nutrition,” focused on the genetic, biochemical and nutritional factors that led to government-mandated folic acid fortification of our food supply to prevent spina bifida and other related birth defects.
SEBS professor of food science Mukund Karwe spoke on “The Necessity of Food Processing: The Positive and Negative Impacts on Nutritional Quality.” He discussed how processed food means different things to different people, how difficult it is to avoid some degree of food processing even for food cooked at home, the benefits and negatives aspects of processed foods, and how food scientists are trying to find new ways for minimally processing foods without sacrificing the safety and quality of food
Other presentations at the symposium included “The Basics of Home Nutrition Support: From Medicare Guidelines to Clinical Management and Beyond” by Sarah Recanati, Clinical Nutrition Support, Home Solutions Infusion; “What to Tell Your Patients about Multivitamins” by Jane Barracato, senior manager, Global Nutritional Sciences, Pfizer Consumer Health; and “Does Food Belong in the Courtroom – Health and Nutrition Claims and the Law” by Ronald Levine, Esq., co-chair, Litigation Department at Herrick, Feinstein LLP and member of the Board of Advisors of the New Jersey Institute for Food, Nutrition, and Health at Rutgers.
