In February 2007 the European Heart Network published a review of ‘Front of Pack’ nutrition schemes, which covered information up to and including November 2006.  Since then the European Commission has adopted a proposal for a Regulation on the provision of food information to consumers (COM(2008) 40 final)) to combine Directive 2000/13/EC on labelling, presentation and advertising with Directive 90/496/EC on nutrition labelling.

Research on ‘Front of Pack’ labelling, particularly consumer perceptions and use, has continued, and this brief paper attempts to summarise relevant research carried out since December 2006.

Review of current 'front of pack' nutrition schemes.

For several reasons, the concept of stress has played a much more important role in ideas about cardiovascular disease (CVD) among laymen than among experts. On a theoretical level, stress is more difficult for health care practitioners to define and assess than widely accepted coronary risk factors such as physical activity, tobacco smoking, serum cholesterol and blood pressure. It is also believed to be more difficult to deal with from a societal point of view.

Lifting the Smokescreen; 10 reasons for a smoke free Europe. This report was commissioned in October 2004. At the time, Ireland had gone smoke free in March of that year, followed by Norway in June. On the other side of the world, New Zealand was due to follow suit in December 2004 and there were rumours from Italy and Malta that comprehensive smoke free legislation was being enacted and would come into force early in 2005. It seemed to the commissioning organisations that times were changing. Smoke free workplaces were no longer confined to the more liberal US states. Could it be possible that comprehensive smoke free legislation could become a reality, not just in small European countries with a strong background in tobacco control, but across the European Union (EU) itself?

We decided to find out.  Please find here the full report.

On 7 March 2006, the European Heart Network and the European Society of Cardiology organised a joint conference on Women's Health at Heart.

The increasing prevalence of obesity among children and adolescents has placed the lifestyle of these age groups on the political agenda. An unhealthy lifestyle during childhood and adolescence, in particular unhealthy eating habits and physical inactivity, increases not only the risk of developing obesity but also, along with smoking, the risk of developing chronic diseases later in life.

Fruit and Vegetable Policy in the European Union: its effect on the burden of cardiovascular disease.

Smoke Free Europe makes economic sense. A report on the economic aspects of smoke free policies.

A report of Phase 1 of the 'Children, obesity and associated chronic diseases' project.  Please click here to read the report.

There is a widespread misconception that heart disease is mostly a male disease. Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the main cause of death in both men and women in Europe, causing more deaths than all cancers combined. CVD accounts for 46% of all deaths in women, as compared to 39% of all deaths in men in the EU.