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Food for life

Insight into chronic human diseases, for improving health and nutrition 2part_

Food for Life was established in 2005 as a European Technology Platform within the VII Framework and is recognised throughout Europe as a key component of a knowledge-based bio-economy. Building on existing strengths in food quality and traceability at FEM, and acknowledging the importance of healthy whole plant foods to the regional economy, “Food for Life” was launched as a distinct research line, under the umbrella of the Food Quality and Nutrition Area. Recent research has clearly shown that diets rich in whole plant foods, especially fruit and vegetables, can protect against a range of chronic human diseases. Bioactive molecules in these foods are thought to be responsible for the beneficial effects on health, and the integrated study of their active metabolites has always been of primary interest in nutrition science. For this reason, the advantages of measuring several metabolites in a single experiment are evident to nutrition scientists. Metabolomics in fact provides nutrition science with a far superior tool, since it allows simultaneous analysis of thousands of known and unknown metabolites to be carried out, which can then be explored in new, data-driven experiments. This technique can provide a very precise characterisation of the effects of a nutrient, a food or a particular diet and is therefore now expected to play a major role in the nutritional sciences. It is uniquely suited to explore the complex relationship between nutrition and metabolism and investi- gate the role that dietary components play in health and disease. Nutritional metabolomics focuses on the active metabolites associated with the beneficial effects of different diets on human health.

The first direct outcome of nutritional metabolomics will be the discovery of novel biomarkers that will be able not only to highlight changes in health or disease but also to measure the intake of specific nutrients in the short- and long-term. Initial studies have highlighted the fact that many of the metabolites which change in response to dietary intervention or disease states, derive either from complex metabolic processes involving both human metabolic pathways and endogenous commensal microbiota within the intestine, or directly from microbial biotransformation of food. One of Food for Lifeʼs key research goals will be to characterise the metabolic fate of biologically active molecules in healthy foods, especially those which are important to the local economy, e.g. apples, wine, soft fruits.

Food for Life is founded on close collaboration between existing FEM areas of excellence in food metabolite profiling and genomics, and aims to develop new capabilities in human nutrition and nutrigenomics by establishing a technology platform capable of measuring the metabolic fate of biologically-active plant metabolites and their beneficial effects on human health.

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