Margrethe Jonkman, Global Director Research & Development FrieslandCampina: “This milestone is an important step towards new scientific insights into the nutrition and health status of children in South East Asia. The collected information is key to develop programs and dairy products to support the nutritional health status of young children.”

Lucas Actis-Goretta, programme manager SEANUTS: “The data collection includes the recruitment of children from both urban and rural areas, conducting physical & fitness measurements, collecting blood samples and filling out questionnaires. Unfortunately, when the corona pandemic hit, all field teams had to put the collection of data on hold in order to ensure the safety and well-being of all participants, their caretakers, and staff. Continuation of data collection in a safe and responsible manner has been the top priority of the teams since then.”

In 2018, FrieslandCampina kicked off SEANUTS II, its second large-scale nutrition survey in South East Asia, aiming to deliver up to date information on nutritional status, dietary intake, physical activity, and lifestyle factors of the 6 months to 12 years old child population, together with four principal investigators from academia in the participating countries.

The first edition of SEANUTS ran in South East Asia from 2010 to 2013 and demonstrated the double burden of malnutrition (undernutrition co-existing with overnutrition) and hidden hunger amongst young children in the region. The insights collected from SEANUTS I were used to developing dairy products and set up programs such as Drink, Move, Be Strong, and school milk programs.

According to FrieslandCampina