Omega-3 Pioneer Receives International Nutrition Award
This is the sixth time the Langholz Award has been presented since its creation in 1992 by the late Edna Page Langholz, a registered dietitian and former president of the American Dietetic Association, and her husband Robert.
02/04/08 Jorn Dyerberg, MD, PhD, whose groundbreaking studies on the health benefits of consuming fish oils provided the foundation for research on omega-3 fatty acids, has been named the 2008 recipient of the American Dietetic Association Foundation’s prestigious Edna and Robert Langholz International Nutrition Award.
Dyerberg, who has been called “the inventor of omega-3s,” will be presented with the award during the 15th International Congress of Dietetics, being held September 8 – 11 in Yokohama, Japan.
This is the sixth time the Langholz Award has been presented since its creation in 1992 by the late Edna Page Langholz, a registered dietitian and former president of the American Dietetic Association, and her husband Robert. The Langholz Award carries a $25,000 honorarium.
Between 1970 and 1982, Dyerberg and his colleagues made five trips to Greenland where they discovered that low rates of coronary heart disease in the Eskimo population was related to their dietary habits, particularly the consumption of fish oils and high intake of omega-3 fatty acids. Dyerberg has authored more than 350 published papers on the topic.
“Jorn Dyerberg’s research has had a huge effect on nutrition,” said registered dietitian Susan Finn, chair of the American Dietetic Association Foundation. “His contributions have helped us understand the link between omega-3s and cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, inflammatory diseases and many other health issues. He has helped scientists and health professionals around the world understand how we can reduce the risk of these diseases by increasing omega-3 intake. To illustrate the effect of his research on nutrition, in the United States, about 250 new food products containing omega-3s were introduced in 2006 alone, and the market for foods and beverages enriched with omega-3s is estimated to reach $7 billion by 2011.”
Dyerberg earned a medical degree from Arhus University in Denmark and a doctorate in medical science with a specialty in lipoproteins in blood. He worked for 15 years as chief physician in the department of clinical chemistry at Aalborg Hospital in Denmark and for 17 years as chief physician at Medicinsk Laboratorium, now Capio Diagnostik, one of Europe’s leading private health-care providers. He holds a chair as professor in human nutrition at The University of Copenhagen. Dyerberg is now medical and scientific advisor for Cognis Nutrition & Health, including Napro-Pharma Ltd. in Norway.
The American Dietetic Association Foundation is the philanthropic arm of the American Dietetic Association. It is a 501 (c) 3 charity devoted exclusively to nutrition and dietetics and the largest provider of scholarships and awards in the field of dietetics.
