Introduction
The Wageningen Nutritional Sciences Forum 2009, held from 4 till 6 March 2009, heralds a new era in nutritional science with a shift away from "little science" toward "big science": The major nutritional problems facing the world today cannot be solved with "little science", characterized by individualistic research, lacking coordination and integration. "Big science" is needed, this implicates multiple groups with complementary knowledge and expertise working together in large consortia, and datasets made available in the public domain. This new era takes full advantage of web-based database management and provides a new platform for scientific dialogue and exchange.

The programme focused on nutrition in a world of 'too little - too much'. It offered an interesting variety of sessions with key-note lectures of internationally well-known nutritionists, with surprising ways of presenting and debating priority topics in nutrition research. A review of the programme can be downloaded here in pdf.

More than 400 Scientists, Research dieticians, PhD fellows nutrition & MSc students nutrition participated in this successful event at Burgers' Zoo, Arnhem, The Netherlands (www.burgerszoo.nl).

Organization
Scientific Committee
Professors Frans Kok (chair), Michael Müller, Pieter van 't Veer, Ellen Kampman, Renger Witkamp, Wageningen University.

Organizing Committee
lnge Brouwer, Sander Kersten, Monica Mars, Ondine van de Rest, Lidwien van der Heijden, Gea Brussen, Frans Kok, Wageningen University.

Awards
Abstracts
All attendees of the symposium were encouraged to submit an abstract for a poster presentation. In addition, young investigators could compete for a presentation award and a poster award.

Young Investigator Presentation and Poster Award
Based on the abstracts, six young investigators were selected to present their work in an oral presentation instead of a poster presentation. These six nominees competed for the Presentation Award.
All other abstracts submitted by Young Investigators competed for the Poster Award.
Abstracts were judged by the organizing committee based on the following criteria: innovative research methodology; the relevance and impact of your research (scientific as well as societal) and the quality of the abstract. The awards consisted of a certificate and a prize.

The prize for the Presentation Award was awarded to:
Laura Hughes (University Maastricht, Maastricht, The Netherlands) for her presentation:
Energy restriction during childhood is associated with a lower risk of colorectal cancer later in life; An analysis from the Netherlands Cohort Study.

The prize for the Poster Award was awarded to:
Anne Wanders (Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands) for her presentation:
Effect of a high intake of conjugated linoleic acid, an animal trans fatty acid, on lipoprotein levels in healthy human subjects.

All abstracts are published in a supplement of the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (EJCN), volume 63, supplement 3, June 2009.

MSc Student Award
All students from the Wageningen Master programme Nutrition and Health were encouraged to register for this conference and to compete for the MSc Student Award. Four groups of 4 MNH students each, competed for the award. On the Nutrition Sciences Forum the selected groups presented their vision on one of the major topics of the Forum, i.e. obesity, healthy food patterns, fortification, or the future of nutritional sciences.
The jury, consisting of Professor Jo Hautvast (Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands), Professor Emorn Wasantwisut (Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand), Professor Hannelore Daniel (Technical University, Munich, Germany) and Professor Walter Willett (Harvard University, Boston, USA), judged the presentations. At the last day of the symposium the jury presented the award to the winning group. The award consisted of a certificate and a monetary prize.

The prize was awarded to: Ana Carla Cepeda Lopes, Martin Mwangi, Maelle Olive and Lowela Padilla for their presentation:
Emergence of stunted obesity in developing countries