S3 Intestinal nutrient transport in the cradle of the Mediterranean Diet: 23 rd EITG meeting report Yula Sambuy a , Liberato Marzullo b , Chiara Murgia a , Alessandra Tosco b , Giuditta Perozzi a a INRAN - National Research Institute on Food & Nutrition, Via Ardeatina 546, 00178 Roma, Italy. b Dept. of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Salerno, Fisciano, Italy The 23 rd Meeting of the European Intestinal Transport Group (EITG) was held in Salerno, Italy, on April 7-10, 2010. EITG (www.eitg.org) is an international association of scientists specifically focused on the topic of intestinal transport, both from the research and from the clinical viewpoints. EITG was created by John Robinson and Francisco Alvarado in the late 1970s with the aim of providing a friendly and informal forum for scientific discussions, giving the opportunity to young scientists to meet their seniors from all over Europe. Every other year since 1977 EITG has organized international scientific meetings in different European countries. Meeting abstracts have been published since 1978 in different Journals, and they are hosted this year for the first time in Genes & Nutrition. This supplement contains extended abstracts (including references) of the keynote lectures, and regular abstracts of the Oral and Poster contributions. All abstracts (including those of keynote lectures) are grouped according to the scientific sessions of the meeting. The 23 rd meeting returned to Italy after 15 years, and was organized by a committee composed of scientists from the National Research Institute on Food & Nutrition (INRAN) in Rome and from the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Salerno. The meeting was held in the Italian region Campania, an area rich of historical, architectural and natural beauties. The city of Salerno was also chosen for reasons related to science: Latin, Jewish and Arab cultures established in Salerno the first School of Medicine of the western world, the Schola Medica Salernitana, dating back to the IX century. Moreover, in the mid 1950s, this region greatly contributed to the first scientific reports of the health-promoting effects of the Mediterranean Diet, published by the American physiologist Ancel Keys and by his wife Margaret, who conducted their epidemiological studies on the population of Cilento, in the Salerno county (Fidanza et al. 1970). Characterized by a high cereal content (>60%), low fat (<30% - mostly monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids from olive oil and fish), high fiber (fruit and vegetables), and based on moderate but regular consumption of wine, Med Diet became the synonym of healthy diet between 1950-60. Ancel and Margaret Keys eventually moved in the late seventies from Minnesota to Pioppi, near Salerno, where they spent extensive periods of their lives until Ancel’s death in 2004, at the age of 101. The healthy and sustainable Med Diet model was recently recognized by international organizations such as WHO and FAO, setting the basis for its official Nomination to UNESCO as “Immaterial Cultural Patrimony of Humanity”, presented by Spain, Italy, Greece and Morocco. These aspects were further illustrated in the welcome lecture held by Giuditta Perozzi (INRAN, Rome, Italy) and Liberato Marzullo (University of Salerno), who underlined the importance of bioactive dietary components in health maintenance and disease prevention, focusing on their enrichment in the typical food products that characterize the Mediterranean dietary profile. The organizers dedicated the meeting to the memory of Prof. Arturo Leone, who prematurely died in 2005 (Bonatti 2006). He was a passionate scientist who devoted over twenty years of his professional life to studying the role of metal ions in human metabolism. Among the founders of the School of Pharmacy at University of Salerno, he was also among the promoters of a rebirth of the ancient School of Medicine, which had been closed in 1811 by Gioacchino Murat, King of Naples. Unfortunately, the Faculty of Medicine was Genes Nutr (2010) 5 (Suppl 1):S3–S9 23 rd EITG Conference DOI 10.1007/s12263-010-0200-z 23 rd EITG Meeting report