The international symposium Novel Aspects of Fatty Acids. Nutrition and Biological Function was the 24th international symposium arranged by the Swedish Nutrition Foundation since its start in 1961. The venue was Ystads Saltsjöbad at the very southern Baltic coast of Sweden, June 14-16 2006.
Thanks to the scientific and organizing committee, and the positive response from the outstanding scientists in the field from all over the world, who accepted the invitation to speak at the symposium, it is our privilege now to present proceedings from this symposium. Thank you all for the contributions, making the conference a most successful event in the dynamic area of novel aspects of fatty acid functions.
The scope of the symposium was expressed as follows:
The amount and composition of dietary lipids have been in focus from the very beginning of nutrition research and recommendations, with emphasis on effects related to blood cholesterol levels and other risk factors for cardiovascular disease. However, progress in recent years shows that fatty acids and specific lipid compounds have many other cellular and metabolic functions of key importance for obesity and related chronic diseases. They are important regulators of gene expression, cell signalling, inflammation and carcinogenesis. Epigenetic regulation and early metabolic programming is an evolving area where fatty acids seem to play a key role, and some lipid components are crucial for the development and function of the brain.
This symposium will have state-of-the-art presentations by internationally leading scientists of the host of newly discovered key functions of fatty acids and specific lipid components, as well as future challenges for research in this area.
The implications of these new developments for nutrition recommendations at various ages will be explored and discussed, as well as the challenges and possibilities for the food industry to implement new findings into the development of nutritionally optimised foods and products with specific health-promoting effects.
The generous grants from the sponsors, making this symposium and the publication of proceedings possible, are gratefully acknowledged.
Finally, I would like to thank the colleagues in the scientific and organizing committee for reviewing the manuscripts.
Nils-Georg Asp
Editor-in-chief