During an meeting of nutrition specialists in the Latin American and Caribbean region, held from 19-21 April, we asked some of the meeting's participants to delineate the size and scope of nutrition-related challenges in the region.?

The participants included Dr Manuel Ramirez, Coordinator of the Research Centre for Prevention of Chronic Diseases, Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama (INCAP) in Guatemala; Dr Gabriela Salazar of the Energy Metabolism and Stable Isotopes Laboratory at the University of Chile; and Professor Mauro Valencia, the Head of Nutrition at the University of Sonora, Mexico.