In the very beginning of 2025, a significant milestone was achieved in Greece regarding education and awareness of the role of nutrition, and I am so grateful to be part of this through my collaboration with the Medical School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and the postgraduate program “Global Health – Disaster Medicine.”
As part of the postgraduate program, in the second-semester courses for 35 first-year students, most of whom are already healthcare professionals, I participated with my lecture on “Public Health and Nutrition” presenting (both online and in-person) the interconnected link between nutrition, health, the climate crisis, and its global consequences. Specifically, I covered the following topics:
- How the climate crisis affects the air we breathe and the soil microbiome, contributing to the increase in asthma and vascular dementia
- How antibiotics in animals lead to drug resistance in humans
- How intensive livestock farming and industries, through their sponsorships, influence scientific studies promoting meat and dairy as nutritious
- How food security is impacted not only locally but globally
- The dual challenge: Global hunger and obesity in Western Europe, the main cause of chronic diseases in Greece and Europe
- Global agreement on the shortage of fruits, vegetables, and legumes, alongside excessive consumption of meat and dairy, with some countries exceeding recommendations by 400%
- Environmental footprint and food: Which foods are pure gold for health and the planet
This is a very important collaboration with a substantial and decisive impact, as it is the first university in Greece to finally recognize the importance of nutrition in the climate crisis and global health, giving it the space it deserves, as we already see in major universities across Europe.
And the even more exciting part is that this collaboration is just the beginning!
–Despina Marselou, Clinical dietitian specialized in autoimmunity, chronic inflammation and degenerative diseases, educated in plant-based diet
