We meet Mr Willy Vandenschrick, Secretary General of the European Centre for Research, Development and Education in Nutrition and Nutritherapy (CERDEN) in Brussels.
Nutrition is a big deal at the moment: gluten-free food, juices and fasting are just a few examples. Our attitude to food is gradually changing. CERDEN’s professional training programmes are designed to meet this need for change.
Your centre specialises in in nutrition and nutritherapy. Can you tell us what exactly that means?
Our training centre was set up to train nutrition and nutritherapy professionals. The role of such professionals is to advise people on healthy eating choices and to help them make dietary changes to treat a range of diseases.
What inspired you to found your training institution?
Quite simply, we noticed an increasing demand: a lot of people wished to have more control over what they were eating. Scandals such as mad cow disease have made people more aware of how food impacts on our health. Likewise, medical professionals are increasingly tuned into the need for healthy eating. As nutrition is rarely taught in medical schools, we wished to provide a rigorous, scientific training programme that would give our students the nutrition skills needed on the ground.
Which are currently your most popular courses?
Both our courses are currently very popular. The first is the CERDEN-certified ‘Nutritherapist’ qualification for health professionals, which provides access to the FEDE-accredited Master’s in Nutrition and Nutritherapy. The second is the CERDEN-certified ‘Human Nutrition Advisor’ qualification, which provides access to the FEDE-accredited Bachelor’s in Nutrition.
Have you noticed a change in the choice or topic of training courses following the spread of COVID-19?
The COVID-19 outbreak has made it clearer than ever to all of us that healthy eating is one of the best ways of boosting immunity.
Does your centre have international ambitions?
We are currently helping to develop a training course in Northwest Africa. We also hope, thanks to the precious help of the FEDE, to establish and develop contacts across Europe. Indeed, we feel that the message of our non-profit association should, in the interests of public health, be shared with as many people as possible.
Would you mind sharing some nutritional advice to stay in good health and good spirits?
I could give you lots of advice, but in these challenging times it seems particularly important to focus on immunity. I would therefore advise your readers to have a look at our website, where they will find an information file on immunity and diet. At the end of the file there is a list of (very) practical tips!
https://www.cerden.be/Publications-scientifiques/immunit%C3%A9-et-alimentation.html
