February 2006: (II)S62–S64

Global Obesity: Nestle Initiatives in Nutrition, Health, andWellnessHilary Green

This paper addresses some of the ways that Nestle ismaking a long-term commitment to the health andwell-being of consumers. In particular, Nestle, likeother food companies, has a role to play in improvingpeople’s health and wellness by improving the nutri-tional profile of foods, by ensuring sound communi-cation on nutrition and consumer education, and bycollaborating with other stakeholders in order to im-prove consumer health.

Key words: health, nutrition, obesity© 2006 International Life Sciences Institute

doi: 10.1301/nr.2006.feb.S62–S64

INTRODUCTION

Food companies are profit-making organizations,and it is their responsibililty to make profit in a sociallyacceptable way. The global rise in the prevalence ofobesity that has taken place in recent years has led toskepticism about the way in which food companies makeprofits. For example, marketing and advertising methodsthat encourage consumers to “pay less-eat more” (suchas supersizing) have been cited as irresponsible becausethey may promote overconsumption. This paper ad-dresses some of the ways that Nestle is making a long-term commitment to the health and well-being of con-sumers.

There are very few countries in the world that areuntouched by the obesity epidemic. Even in countrieswhere a relatively low proportion of the population isoverweight, the prevalence is increasing. In Europe, justas in America, over half of the population is overweight

or obese. Nestle, as the world’s largest food company,can be part of the solution to this global epidemic. Notonly does Nestle have global presence, with companiesin over 100 countries and factories in 86 countries, butthe company also has the world’s largest private nutritionresearch capability.

NESTLE POSITION ON OBESITY, NUTRITION,AND HEALTH

Nestle’s position on obesity, nutrition, and healthunderscores the company’s commitment to doing busi-ness in a socially responsible way. There are eight points:

● Nestle considers that proper nutrition and adequatephysical activity are integral to maintaining goodhealth. Therefore, the company not only makescontinual improvements to the nutritional profile ofits products, but is also actively involved in sportspromotion (such as cricket, swimming, and ski pro-grams) and sponsorship (such as by PowerBar) inmarkets across the world.

● Nestle believes every food has a role to play inachieving a balanced diet. We also recognize thatmany consumers need help in understanding howthis can be achieved. Therefore, the company’sposition also addresses communication on nutritionand education.

● Nestle continues to use its significant scientificknowledge not only to develop new products to helpconsumers manage their health, well-being, andbody weight, but also to improve the nutritionalprofile of existing ones.

● Nestle has always kept abreast of new developmentsin the nutrition sciences through research collabora-tion and its Nutrition Advisory Committee. Thiscommittee of world experts in nutrition has been inexistence for over 25 years.

● Nestle is committed to responsible communicationabout all of our products, especially those consumedby children. In 2003, for example, the companyrevised its corporate communication principles tobetter reflect this commitment. Nestle’s corporatebusiness principles can be consulted on the compa-

Dr. Green is with the Department of Nutrition andHealth, Nestle Research Centre, Lausanne, Switzer-land.

Please address all correspondence to: Dr. HilaryGreen, Department of Nutrition and Health, NestleResearch Centre, Nestec, Ltd., Vers Chez-les-Blanc,P.O. Box 44, 1000 Lausanne 26, Switzerland; Phone:41-21-785-8847; Fax: 41-21-785-8544; E-mail: hilary.green@rdls.nestle.com.

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ny’s website at http://www.nestle.com/All_About/Business_Principles/.

● Nestle is committed to clear and “user-friendly”nutrition labeling to help consumers make well-informed food choices. This is done both on and offpackaging.

● Nestle will expand the encouragement of nutritioneducation programs for the public, and this is beingdone in markets around the world.

● Nestle will collaborate closely with public healthbodies, both national and international, in efforts toreduce the incidence of global obesity. For example,the company has developed dialogue with the WorldHealth Organization (WHO) on nutrition and healthtopics.Global obesity presents a challenge for the food

industry, because food is part of the solution. Nestle istackling this in a number of ways, as outlined in thecompany’s position above. Science-based product reno-vation and innovation are an important aspect of thisoverall strategy. Nestle has a broad product range, whichincludes main courses, milk, and water, chocolate andcandies, and specialized nutrition products for infants,the elderly, and the infirm. This means that productimprovements require a multidisciplinary portfolio ofresearch and development.

Renovation may be secondary to company policiesthat specifically address consumer health across theproduct portfolio. For example, Nestle has a companypolicy with respect to fortification, trans-fatty acids andsalt, and is currently developing a policy on sugars.Alternatively, product renovation may be specific toindividual products.

CONSUMER BENEFITS

Product renovation, or innovation, starts with con-sumer insights, which tell us that, above all, our consum-ers want great-tasting foods—however, increasingly,consumers also want healthy foods. Taste and health aretherefore key drivers for product purchase. Bringing tasteand nutrition together in the same product is not easy. Ifproducts deliver nutrition but not taste they are unlikelyto be bought very often, and a food not bought has nocommercial benefit. And if it is not eaten, food will notconfer any nutrition benefits either. Therefore, our chal-lenge is to manufacture foods that taste great and providegood nutrition. At Nestle we are working on both tasteand nutrition in order to make the tasty choice thehealthy choice.

Food companies can renovate existing products rel-atively quickly, usually within 1 to 3 years. For healthpurposes, these renovations include low-fat, low-sugar,

high-fiber foods. Nestle first had such renovated productson the market about 15 years ago.

Last year, we asked all of our markets to provide uswith examples of products that they had renovated forhealth over the last 5 years. We were inundated withmany hundreds of examples. These include enrichedproducts (e.g., with vitamins or minerals), as well asproducts that are low in fat, low in sugar, and low incalories.

The consumer benefits of this kind of product ren-ovation range from calorie control to being heart friendlyto helping to control postprandial blood glucose to help-ing with blood pressure control. Of course, productimprovements such as these, even though they are madeby many food companies, will not provide the onlysolution to the global rise in obesity and noncommuni-cable diseases, but product renovations of this kind arepart of a bigger lifestyle picture that includes healthyeating and exercise.

In contrast to renovation, product innovation re-quires a long-term commitment in research and devel-opment. It may take 5 or more years to innovateproducts. The innovation process includes evaluatingthe efficacy of new products in properly conductedscientific studies, which we can communicate appro-priately to the consumer. This can be illustrated forheart health.

Soft, general claims such as “may keep your hearthealthy” can be made for foods that are high in wholegrain because of the scientific evidence linking a diethigh in whole grains with heart health. Nestle makessuch a claim for shredded wheat breakfast cereal in theUnited Kingdom. However, more specific claims such as“actively reduces cholesterol absorption” for foods con-taining plant sterols requires more specific scientificsubstantiation. In fact, the cholesterol-lowering effect ofplant sterols has been shown in numerous appropriatelydesigned clinical trials.

NESTLE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

Nestle’s global research and development networkcomprises the Nestle Research Centre, which focuses onbasic research, as well as nine product technology cen-ters and seven research and development centers. Nestlehas nutrition expertise in every research and develop-ment facility and in every market.

The Nestle Research Centre was inaugurated in1987, and is Nestle’s center for basic knowledge in thefood and life sciences. This knowledge is applied to thewhole Nestle group, while also being part of the inter-national scientific community. Last year, we had 483outside contracts, published 208 papers, and registered17 patents.

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The Nestle Research Centre focuses on nutrition,health, and well-being. There are departments that spe-cialize in food science, food-consumer interactions (in-cluding sensory science and consumer behavior), nutri-tion, and health, and basic research in pet nutrition.These fundamental departments are supported by workin the departments of bioanalytical science, quality, andsafety and the nutrition network (which encompassesnutrition expertise in Nestle’s global research and devel-opment network). The combined work of all of thesedepartments can be summarized as being either food-oriented before consumption (food structure, taste, fla-vor, aroma, and appetite) or consumer-oriented afterconsumption (nutrient bioavailability, biomarkers ofhealth, and intra-individual differences).

An example of Nestle’s long-term research is the useof beta-glucans (soluble fiber) for slowing down theabsorption of nutrients such as glucose. Delayed glucoseabsorption is associated with a reduction in peak bloodglucose and a more sustained elevation of blood glucose.The consumer understands this as “long-lasting energy.”

One way that Nestle translates scientific knowledgefor consumers is using “branded active benefits.” Thebenefits of beta glucans are highlighted on the packageusing a trademarked logo and the term “BG-3.” Nestlehas also trademarked logos to identify its products spe-cially formulated to provide other benefits such as vital-ity/protection, cholesterol lowering, bone mineral den-sity, energy release, immunity, intestinal health, andgrowth and development.

INNOVATION IN THE FUTURE

At Nestle, we are thinking beyond 5 years into thefuture of nutrition science. We are interested in tailored,or personalized, nutrition through a better understandingof metabolism. Metabolism is highly complex because itconcerns the whole body and interactions between dif-ferent organs. Further, metabolism is tightly regulated byhormonal and nervous factors, while being influenced byenvironmental factors and nutritional status. Neverthe-less, conventionally, we try to evaluate this with a singlebiomarker or end point such as cholesterol. For example,if a consumer’s blood cholesterol is high, then we expectthat he/she will benefit from foods containing plantsterols, but in reality human health is more complicated

than this. Individuals may be be susceptible to more thanone noncommunicable disease, each one influenced bydifferent nutritional factors.

Therefore, we are taking an integrative biologicalapproach to understanding health in order to try andidentify health benefits (such as weight control) in re-sponse to different foods or diets. In relation to weightcontrol, one of our research goals is to understand bodyfat. We want to better understand the differences be-tween subcutaneous fat and the fat that is specificallystored around the abdomen and viscera. We know thatpeople with excess abdominal and/or visceral fat are atincreased risk of type 2 diabetes, hypercholesterolemia,hypertension, and atherosclerosis, so this understandingis critical.

We have collected fat biopsies from women whoattended the local teaching hospital for surgical treatmentof their obesity. Using comparative gene arrays, wefound that over 6000 genes are differently expressed inthe two types of fat. Although we are primarily interestedin the pattern of gene expression, rather than in individ-ual genes, we have observed that many of the genes thatare expressed preferentially in visceral fat seem to beassociated with inflammation, and this may help to ex-plain why fat from around the abdomen is associatedwith chronic metabolic diseases. We are now usingmetabolomics to study the metabolic profile in the urine,blood, and saliva of the same patients. In the longer term,it would be interesting to explore how nutrients, foods, ordiets influence gene expression in adipose tissue at dif-ferent sites.

CONCLUSION

Einstein once said, “Today’s problems cannot besolved by thinking the way that we thought when wecreated them.” We might apply this to today’s problemswith noncommunicable diseases, which cannot be re-duced by continuing to live as we have been living forthe past 40 years or so. We need to better address howlifestyle affects long-term health. Food companies have arole to play in improving people’s health and wellness byimproving the nutritional profile of foods, ensuringsound communication on nutrition and consumer educa-tion, and collaborating with other stakeholders in order tobe part of the solution.

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