The promotion and facilitation of healthier diets was the focus of two recent international meetings addressed by Suzanne Piscopo, head of the University of Malta’s Department of Health, Physical Education and Consumer Studies.

At the national congress of Diaita, the Mediterranean Association for Lifestyles Study, in Palermo, Dr Piscopo spoke about the Mediterranean diet as going beyond physical well-being to also being a channel for social identity and inclusion.

Dr Piscopo described various psychological and sociological issues related to this and also outlined the role of Mediterranean diet education in schools and in the community for revalorisation and adoption of this diet.

Dr Piscopo also contributed to a Food and Agriculture Organisation expert consultation meeting in the United Arab Emiraes on the subject ‘Stepping up school-based food and nutrition education in low and middle income countries’.

Dr Piscopo, a home economist, registered nutritionist and health educator, is involved in pre-service and in-service teacher training, in community courses on sustainable living, in research on access to food and in the promotion of healthy living among young children. She can be reached on suzanne.piscopo@um.edu.mt.