Since most of us could not attend the ESPEN congress in Lyon this year, we were excited to hear the
highlights of the programme during the After ESPEN conference organized by NESPEN.
Here we got the chance to hear about the main take-aways of ESPEN, such as the importance of proteins and
their quality, novel alternatives for BMI, and of course micronutrients! We were glad to see some
speakers highlight the importance of vitamin suppletion (e.g. for dialysis patients). And it was
interesting to hear about the importance of not only the osmolarity but also the composition of
electrolyte mixes given intravenously.
There was also a trend noticeable towards measuring outcomes that are valuable for the patient,
such as grip strength, next to traditional measures such as muscle percentages. This increasing call to
involve patients in the design of research and treatment is something wholly agree with.
Photos: Prof van Zanten opened the after-ESPEN conference on the 6th of October, and Summary of Manfred Eggersdorfer's presentation (member of the CMSM) at the ESPEN conference, by Dr. Maarten Soeters, Amsterdam UMC.