Nestlé Ja hosts symposium on health and development in infants

HEALTH CARE professionals (HCPs) gathered at the Knutsford Court Hotel on May 10 to attend a symposium titled ‘Rationale for Feeding Normal Infants from Birth to One Year’. While the topic may not sound interesting to anyone that isn’t a HCP, it turned out to be a very interesting and important one.

The keynote speaker, Dr Jatinder Bhatia, professor of paediatrics, Augusta University, Atlanta, Georgia, in his presentation highlighted iron requirements as a specific need for infants.

The right nutrition during the first 1,000 days can have an important impact on a child’s ability to grow and learn and iron deficiency remains a public health concern for Jamaica. Nestl* has reformulated its NESTUM infant cereal portfolio to include additional iron, in response to the needs of children for this important nutrient. The session was an interactive one with health professionals (including doctors, nurses, midwives and nutritionists) asking a range of questions related to the presentation. The overall sentiment of those in attendance was that they welcomed the symposium as part of the continuing discussion on this important topic. Nestlé believes nutrition is at the core of what we do and for more than 70 years we have contributed to the continuing education of the healthcare and nutrition community in a variety of subject areas, through our publications, workshops and other activities. Nestlé hopes that the information shared will prove very valuable to these health care professionals as they provide service to the Jamaican population.