Gianluca Tognon is an Italian nutrition coach, speaker, entrepreneur and associate professor at the University of Gothenburg. He started his career as a biologist and spent 15 years working both in Italy and then in Sweden. He has been involved in several EU research projects and has extensively worked and published on the association between diet, longevity and cardiovascular risk across the lifespan, also studying potential interactions between diet and genes. His work about the Mediterranean diet in Sweden has been cited by many newspapers worldwide including the Washington Post and The Telegraph among others. As a speaker, he has been invited by Harvard University and the Italian multi-national food company Barilla.
Schools are uniquely positioned to promote consumption of healthy food as well as to teach cooking skills. The provision of healthy food ensures that the students eat what they learn about healthy eating in the classroom[1]. Better food at school can also have positive impact on students’ performances[2]. On the other hand, the ability to
It is often said that being overweight results from an imbalance between energy intake and energy expenditure. When more food energy is consumed than is needed, excess fat accumulates in the fat cells in the adipose tissue. Scientists define this situation as an imbalance in the energy balance. But what is energy balance? And what happens in
by Gianluca Tognon There are several reasons why implementing a system to improve health and lifestyle at the workplace is a wise thing to do. As an example, a healthy lifestyle is often associated with a healthy weight. The more people who are normal weight at a workplace, the less sick leave there will be.
How can we have more healthy children? Education in healthy nutrition starts at home well before school age. To cook, to grow vegetables and herbs, to learn how to eat healthy foods, are all home activities. It is important to help your children discover different types of food and, particularly, how to eat them in
by Gianluca Tognon Nickel is an omnipresent oligoelement and it is the most widespread cause of allergies to metal. Allergy to nickel is a recurrent problem that can develop at any age, and affects more women than men. Food is considered as one of the main source of exposure to nickel for the populations, and
by Gianluca Tognon In Italy many nutritionists wonder, and sometimes they strongly fight about this issue, whether exclude milk from the diet is good for health or if we should keep advising people to drink it. At the same time here in the north, in the more dairy-friendly Sweden, Dr. Annika Dalqvist has instead become
What foods have gluten? This question is more and more commonly asked by anyone experiencing celiac disease-like symptoms and indeed, 1% of the worldwide population is affected by celiac disease. This disease affects individuals who are genetically predisposed to this condition and is an autoimmune disease caused by an abnormal immune reaction to gluten. Multiple
By Gianluca Tognon Osteoporosis is a skeletal disorder characterized by low bone mass (osteopenia) and qualitative alterations that are accompanied by an increased risk of fracture. Those called “primitive” forms of osteoporosis develop after menopause (postmenopausal osteoporosis) or with advancing age (senile osteoporosis). Secondary osteoporosis can be caused by a large number of diseases (hyperparathyroidism,
By Gianluca Tognon Obesity is defined as an excessive accumulation of adipose tissue compared to lean tissue. Technically, a person is considered obese when his body mass index (BMI) is greater than 30. To understand the importance of this problem from a health point of view, one just need to think that some years ago,
Italian cheese: what’s tastier? A few weeks ago I was asked to present the features of a few Italian cheeses at an after work meeting of a professional women’s group in Gothenburg. The invitation came from Monica Hunsberger, a colleague dietician and friend who is particularly knowledgeable in the field of wines. Together we presented