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Early feeding may modify the risk of both type 1 (T1D) and type 2 diabetes (T2D) later in life. The information generated so far is, however, controversial. When evaluating studies on the impact of early feeding on risk of later diabetes, the data have to be assessed critically and possible confounding factors have to be considered. The study design may induce biases and there are considerable differences in early feeding practices across various countries and cultures. Accordingly it may not be possible to generalise observations based on one population. Long breastfeeding, exclusive breastfeeding in particular, and supplementation with vitamin D in infancy have been reported to confer partial protection against beta-cell f autoimmunity and T1D. In contrast, early exposure to cow’s milk proteins and cereals and heavy weight in infancy have been implicated as risk factors for T1D. Long breastfeeding has also been observed to psrotect against T2D in aboriginal populations. Poor fetal nutrition resulting in low birth weight has been identified as a factor contributing to later insulin resistance and T2D. Recent data indicate that current overweight and obesity are stronger determinants of insulin resistance than birth weight among preschool children. High-nutrient diet and rapid growth in early infancy have been reported to adversely programme the principal components of the metabolic syndrome including insulin resistance and T2D. It is an important scientific and public-health m objective to define protective and predisposing effects of early nutrition on the development of diabetes, since early feeding can potentially be modified to minimise the risk of later chronic diseases.

The role of the gut immune system in the development of autoimmune m type 1 diabetes is evaluated in this review with special emphasis in the hypothesis suggesting that dietary cow’s milk insulin could trigger betacell autoimmunity when the mechanisms of oral tolerance are disturbed.

Research in Europe needs multidisciplinary approaches and young researchers should get the opportunity to become familiar with new perspectives and future research topics. The workshop focused on some particular topics of research:

By using different experimental designs in the rat we have been able to answer several unanswered questions on the short- and long-term effects of alterations of lipid metabolism during the perinatal stage. The first was to demonstrate the importance of maternal body fat accumulation during the first half of pregnancy, since undernutrition in this critical period when fetal growth is slow, impedes fat depot accumulation and not only restrains intrauterine development but has long-term consequences, as shown by an impaired glucose tolerance when adults. Secondly, undernutrition during suckling has major long-term effect of decreasing body weight, even though food intake is kept normal from the weaning period. Our findings also show that a diet rich in n-3 fatty acids during pregnancy and lactation has adverse effects on offspring development, but cross fostered experiments showed that this effect was a consequence of the intake of these fatty acids during the lactation period rather than during pregnancy. Pups from dams that were fed a fish oil-rich diet during pregnancy and lactation were found to have altered glucose/insulin relationship at the age of 10 weeks. Since a n-3 fatty acid-rich diet decreases milk yield during lactation, additional experiments were carried out to determine whether decreased food intake or altered dietary fatty acid composition, or both, were responsible for the long-term effects on the glucose/insulin axis.

Results show that the decreased food intake caused by a n-3 fatty acid-rich diet rather than the change in milk composition during suckling was responsible for the reduced pancreatic glucose responsiveness to insulin release at 16 weeks of age.

In conclusion, present findings indicate that impaired maternal fat accumulation during early pregnancy and food intake during lactation, rather than a difference in dietary fatty acid composition, have major effects on postnatal development and affect glucose/insulin relationships in adult rats.

The family contains 22 recognized virus species, each of them strongly associated with a rodent species (except Tacaribe virus which is associated with a species of bat), suggesting an ancient co-evolutionary process. Although the concept of co-evolution between rodents and arenaviruses is now largely accepted, little has been uncovered in terms of dating the phenomenon and the mechanisms of evolution, including speciation and pathogenicity. These questions are targeted in the present chapter. Old World arenaviruses are associated with the Eurasian rodents in the family Muridae. New World arenaviruses are associated with American rodents in the subfamily Sigmodontinae. The correlation between the rodent host phylogeny and the viruses suggests a long association and a co-evolutionary process. Furthermore, three distinct New World arenaviruses share a common ancestor, demonstrating a unique recombination event that probably occurred in that ancestor. This shows that recombination among arenaviruses of different lineages might occur in nature. Recombination and co-evolutionary adaptation appear as the main mechanisms of arenavirus evolution, generating a high degree of diversity. The diversity among rodent host reservoir and virus species and the potential to exchange genomic material provide a basis for the emergence of new viruses and the risk of these becoming pathogenic for humans.

Research in Europe needs multidisciplinary approaches and young researchers should get the opportunity to become familiar with new perspectives and future research topics. The workshop focused on some particular topics of research:

This meeting discussed the regulation, marketing and communication needs of these products from a consumer point of view. It was agreed, that clear and consistent messages are needed from health professionals, public authorities, industry and also the media. There is also a need to better understand the context in which choices of products are made. Research into these topics is reviewed in this paper, but it is obvious that more research into consumer and health professional behaviour is needed. This will allow best practices for communication of the use of dietetic foods for the important consumer group of lactating mothers and young parents.

Co-operation between SMEs and Academia can be a win-win situation when each partner understands the constraints of the other. SMEs are often leaders in innovation; therefore more ready to share interest in research. They are flexible and dynamic. They need a short feed-back to sustain their co-operation. Academia is often more long-term oriented and more question- than answer-oriented. A code of conduct can ease the relationship because it can anticipate the potential problems.

The family contains 22 recognized virus species, each of them strongly associated with a rodent species (except Tacaribe virus which is associated with a species of bat), suggesting an ancient co-evolutionary process. Although the concept of co-evolution between rodents and arenaviruses is now largely accepted, little has been uncovered in terms of dating the phenomenon and the mechanisms of evolution, including speciation and pathogenicity. These questions are targeted in the present chapter. Old World arenaviruses are associated with the Eurasian rodents in the family Muridae. New World arenaviruses are associated with American rodents in the subfamily Sigmodontinae. The correlation between the rodent host phylogeny and the viruses suggests a long association and a co-evolutionary process. Furthermore, three distinct New World arenaviruses share a common ancestor, demonstrating a unique recombination event that probably occurred in that ancestor. This shows that recombination among arenaviruses of different lineages might occur in nature. Recombination and co-evolutionary adaptation appear as the main mechanisms of arenavirus evolution, generating a high degree of diversity. The diversity among rodent host reservoir and virus species and the potential to exchange genomic material provide a basis for the emergence of new viruses and the risk of these becoming pathogenic for humans.

The family contains 22 recognized virus species, each of them strongly associated with a rodent species (except Tacaribe virus which is associated with a species of bat), suggesting an ancient co-evolutionary process. Although the concept of co-evolution between rodents and arenaviruses is now largely accepted, little has been uncovered in terms of dating the phenomenon and the mechanisms of evolution, including speciation and pathogenicity. These questions are targeted in the present chapter. Old World arenaviruses are associated with the Eurasian rodents in the family Muridae. New World arenaviruses are associated with American rodents in the subfamily Sigmodontinae. The correlation between the rodent host phylogeny and the viruses suggests a long association and a co-evolutionary process. Furthermore, three distinct New World arenaviruses share a common ancestor, demonstrating a unique recombination event that probably occurred in that ancestor. This shows that recombination among arenaviruses of different lineages might occur in nature. Recombination and co-evolutionary adaptation appear as the main mechanisms of arenavirus evolution, generating a high degree of diversity. The diversity among rodent host reservoir and virus species and the potential to exchange genomic material provide a basis for the emergence of new viruses and the risk of these becoming pathogenic for humans.