The 23rd International Congress of Nutrition (IUNS-ICN 2025) took place from 24–29 August 2025 at the Palais des Congrès in Paris, France. For more information and registration, visit #.
As part of the scientific programme, the International Dairy Federation (IDF) hosted a scientific symposium titled:
“From nutrients to food matrix: Unveiling the dairy matrix’s role in health”
Date: Friday, 29 August 2025
Time: 09:45 – 11:15
Room: Grand Amphitheatre
This symposium illustrated the concept of the “food matrix” and its significance in nutrition science, with a particular focus on the structural complexity of dairy foods and their potential influence on health outcomes. Unlike traditional approaches that assessed individual nutrients in isolation, emerging research highlighted the critical role of nutrient interactions and the physical structure of food in modulating nutrient absorption and physiological effects.
Dairy foods possess unique and complex matrices that can exert health effects beyond the presence or absence of individual nutrients. This evolving understanding opened new avenues for interpreting the role of dairy in a healthy diet. The symposium emphasized how the food matrix concept could help reshape current perspectives in nutritional science, promoting a more holistic and food-based approach to dietary recommendations and public health guidance.
The IDF actively advanced this field over the past two years, including the publication of a peer-reviewed article that clarified definitions and implications. To support a consistent understanding, IDF proposed internationally applicable definitions:
- The “dairy matrix” describes the unique structure of a dairy food, its components (e.g., nutrients and non-nutrients), and how they interact.
- “Dairy matrix health effects” refers to the impact of a dairy food on health that extends beyond its individual components.
Programme and presentations:
Moderator: Professor Corinna Walsh, Professor in the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics at the University of the Free State, South Africa
Looking beyond the nutrition facts label: The case for the food matrix | Professor Hannah Holscher, Professor of Nutrition in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA |
Dairy and cardiovascular health: a case exemplifying the importance of food matrix | Dr Benoît Lamarche, Scientific Director at Centre Nutrition, Santé et Société (NUTRISS) & full professor at the School of Nutrition, Université Laval, Canada |
Dr. Emma Feeney, Assistant Professor at the Institute for Food and Health, School of Agriculture and, Food Science, University College Dublin, Ireland |
IDF Scientific Symposium at the IUNS-ICN 2025 Summary report
The IDF summary report provides key insights from the IDF Scientific Symposium at IUNS-ICN 2025, emphasizing how the dairy matrix, the structural complexity of dairy foods, affects nutrient absorption, health outcomes, and the evolution of nutrition science and dietary guidelines.
Defining the dairy matrix and its health effects
The ICN 2025 e-poster presents harmonized international definitions of the dairy matrix and its health effects, highlighting how the structural complexity of dairy foods influences nutrient absorption and supports a holistic approach to nutrition science. View here.
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