Institute of Nutritional Behaviour

Research at the Institute of Nutritional Behaviour focuses on people’s needs in the context of nutrition. Nutritional behaviour embraces all nutrition-related actions that people carry out in everyday life. Taking this as a starting point, the entire product chain is considered, from food production via processing and trade to consumption and disposal as well as prevention of food loss. The core areas of research at the Institute of Nutritional Behaviour include the cross-generational National Nutrition Monitoring (nemo), the product monitoring, and the German Nutrient Database “Bundeslebensmittelschlüssel”. Research is also conducted on the food environment as a frequently underestimated determinant of nutritional behaviour, on the transformation towards a more sustainable diet, and on nutrition policy measures in the field of Public Health Nutrition. The associated questions from nutritional and social sciences as well as home economics are addressed with particular attention paid to vulnerable population groups like children and older people living in poverty. With its various research areas, the institute provides for the breadth and diversity of nutritional behaviour and targets sustainability across its four dimensions of health, social issues, environment, and the economy.