Dr Loek Pijls pmp manages Loekintofood (Brussels & Utrecht), which evolves around the questions: How does what we eat impact our health? And how to apply this nutrition understanding to our health – how to make it land on our plates? This often comes down to Advancing & Applying Nutrition Science through Research, Regulatory Affairs & Communications. Loek has worked on nutrition for about 30 years, from most angles possible: in various roles in several food companies, in public-private partnerships, in government bodies & universities, and on different continents. He is a farmers’ son with a particular affinity for responsible & healthy food production, presentation & consumption.
Before creating Loekintofood, Loek was The Coca-Cola Company’s Global Director Nutrition Innovation. For Nestlé Health Science he was Regulatory Affairs Manager for Benelux, as well Corporate. At Nestlé Research Center he led a Group that guided, worldwide, the substantiation of health claims. He was ILSI Europe’s Senior Scientist, and Director of the EC-funded EURRECA Network of Excellence. Before that he worked in The Netherlands at the Health Council, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, National Institute for Public Health and Wageningen University, and for the Ethiopian Nutrition Institute. Loek’s MSc is from Wageningen University and his PhD from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. He is also certified at PhD level in Nutritional Sciences and in Epidemiology, and as Project Management Professional (PMP®).