[Challenges of food and nutrition in a global context]

Today, in the global context, food and nutrition must face multiple challenges, but new knowledge provides windows of opportunity for effective actions. On one side it is urgently necessary to implement applied research and intervention politics that effectively contribute to the global diffusion of food security and safety. This could take advantage of new technologies, among which genetic engineering. On the other side, it is now clear that a better understanding of diet-mediated gene-environment interactions represent the key for the improvement of health in both developed and developing populations. Interactions between diet and genome should be viewed in an evolutionary perspective and should be studied taking advantage of the emerging disciplines of nutrigenetics and nutrigenomics. New knowledge about the relationships between diet and chronic diseases such as atherosclerosis and, in particular, cancer will provide ample opportunities for actions finalized to disease prevention throughout the world.