Nutritional status monitoring

Over- und under- or malnutrition are global public health challenges. Nutritional status monitoring is essential to inform programs, policy makers, as well as other stakeholders.

Historically, Switzerland is iodine deficient with endemic goiter and cretinism. Since the introduction of iodized table salt in 1922, however, goiter and cretinism have been eliminated and the iodine status of the population has improved drastically. Nevertheless, since nutritional habits change over time, it is important to monitor iodine status in vulnerable population groups at a regular interval. We have conducted the Swiss Iodine Survey every 5 years since 1999 and have recently completed the latest (delayed) edition.

Childhood obesity is an important public health burden globally, as obese children often grow up to be obese adults. In Switzerland, national monitoring of childhood obesity started in the year 2002 and has shown a dramatic increase to ̴20% in prevalence in comparison to earlier regional studies that showed a prevalence <5%. Since 2002, we have monitored childhood obesity in Switzerland every 5 years and have more recently also assessed potential risk factors associated with diet, physical activity and socioeconomic factors. Currently, we are in the process of conducting the Swiss Childhood Obesity Survey 2023.