Healthy Ageing APAC Summit: Responsible nutrition and sugar taxes to feature in high-level industry debates

24-Jun-2019 - Last updated on 24-Jun-2019 at 03:43 GMT

The event begins on July 9.

The issues of responsible nutrition and sugar taxes will be debated by industry experts at our second Healthy Ageing APAC Summit being held in Singapore next month.

The event, held at the Hilton Singapore on Orchard Road, will feature 'The Responsible Nutrition Debate: Can industry and policymakers align to meet India's health, nutrition, traceability and NPD challenges?'

The discussion will be set within the context that life expectancy in India today stands at 68 years and is projected to hit 74 years by 2050. The country is facing a perfect storm of health challenges directly related to nutrition, with opposing issues of malnutrition and obesity.

Food and nutrition companies have a crucial role to play in improving these outcomes, and collaboration and support from policymakers is pivotal. In this debate, we will drill down into India’s rapidly advancing Responsible Nutrition movement and assess how industry can best play its part in improving public health.

The debate will feature:

Amit Srivastava, CEO Biovalley, Chair Responsible Nutrition Association
K.V.Rambabu, CEO, Pulsepharma
Dr Vivek Srivastav, Director Development Centre Enteral Nutrition, NESEA, Fresenius Kabi India
Raktim Chattopadhyay, Founder, Esperer Bioresearch
Santosh Jha, Head of Business development, Cipla

The summit will also stage ‘THE SUGAR TAX DEBATE: Is government intervention the key to slashing obesity and diabetes to aid healthy ageing?’

This will see Geoff Parker, Chief Executive Officer, Australian Beverages Council and international health consultant Dan Hunt debate the pros and cons.

The debate is framed by the fact that Asia-Pacific region is home to rising rates of obesity and diabetes, bringing with it additional health and economic burdens that many countries simply can’t afford.

Furthermore, as Asia’s society ages, medical care improves and people live longer, these costs, both health and financial, will be exacerbated.

In some countries, we’ve seen governments introduce sugar taxes to encourage firms to reformulate and to persuade consumers to adopt healthier choices. In this debate, we’ll be asking if state intervention is crucial, or is it a blunt tool that lacks effective outcomes?

Other confirmed speakers include:

Dr Siow Ying Tan, PepsiCo’s R&D Global External Innovation Lead of Academic Partnership

Dr Jorg Hager, Head of the Metabolic Health Department at Nestlé’s Institute of Health Science.

Belinda Reynolds, Director of Research, Product Development and Emerging Markets, Bioceuticals

Dr Okada Yumika Group Manager Supplements Research Group, FANCL

Dr Feng Lei, Principal Investigator at the Department of Psychological Medicine, National University of Singapore,

Dr Daisuke Fujiwara, Deputy Director of Kirin’s Business Creation Department

Dr Chan Shu Ting, Chief Supervisor of the Nutrigenomic Department at TCI Gene.

Joanne Todd, Challenge Director at New Zealand’s High Value Nutrition Challenge.

Joy Beckerman, Regulatory Officer and Industry Liaison, Elixinol

Dave McCaughan, Founder, ai.Agency

Regional Head of William Reed, and Editor-in-Chief of FoodNavigator-Asia and NutraIngredients-Asia Gary Scattergood, said: “With the number of over-60s in Asia set to double to 1.3 billion by 2050, the event will look at how the nutrition and food industry can meet the needs of the rapidly ageing populations of today, and more crucially, tomorrow.

“This means we'll be shining the spotlight on the latest product innovations, ingredient discoveries, and research targeted at older consumers, while also assessing what industry is doing to improve the health of younger consumers, so they can ultimately lead a more active and healthy life, and enjoy their golden years for longer in the future.”