Award details

Innovation Hub for Improving Health and Nutrition through Biofortification (HERB Hub)

Reference	BB/X010864/1
Principal Investigator / Supervisor	Professor Martin Warren
Co-Investigators / Co-Supervisors	Professor Cathie Martin
Institution	Quadram Institute Bioscience
Department	Food Innovation and Health
Funding type	Research
Value (£)	374,862
Status	Current
Type	Research Grant
Start date	10/11/2022
End date	09/11/2027
Duration	60 months

Abstract

Our goals as a Hub are to (i) develop pathways for a connected community to develop research and translation activity in the field of biofortification that will improve nutrition and health and (ii) support ways to inform policy and raise awareness of the importance of balanced nutrition for health throughout life. The reason for establishing the Biofortification Hub is specifically to increase levels of engagement and dialogue between the academic community and multiple food sector businesses/ regulatory bodies. The goal is to enable rapid deployment of expertise in this sub-discipline to the advantage of industry and society. In this way the Hub will assist in the development and expansion of the food provision economy. Biofortification often involves selective plant breeding for specific nutritional traits such as elevated bioavailable iron or zinc but can also be achieved through the use of vertical farming techniques and collectively results in crops with elevated nutritional content. However, the process of biofortification can be extended to include the biofortification of animals, fish and fermented foods. In this Hub we plan to promote collaborative projects across our membership between academia and industry that will increase understanding about the nutritional efficacy of biofortified crops, develop effective strategies for post-harvest nutritional retention, develop robust biomarkers for accurate measurement of nutritional status, understand agronomic traits that improve nutritional outcomes, and determine how to influence nutritional bioavailability and bioaccessibility within foods. We will also address other more social questions, relevant to industry, such as: whether there is a public health case for commercialising currently-available biofortified crops; how biofortified foods can best be incorporated into food systems in the UK; and whether the current regulatory framework supports adoption of biofortified crops or could be improved?

Summary

The UK has a strong commitment to food, health and nutrition. This is particularly the case in the field of biofortification where food manufacturers are increasingly encouraged to produce foods that are healthy and safe for their customers. There are a range of ways in which nutrition can be improved and these include a combination of traditional and novel approaches to improving nutrient quality, e.g. plant breeding, vertical farming, gene editing and fermentation. Developments in biofortification must align with government regulations on the safety of new foods. It is therefore essential to take advantage of the wide range of expertise within the UK on techniques used to improve food quality across industry and academia and link it with knowledge of food structure and interests in health and nutrition. To be effective this must be set in the context of new food preferences of consumers, and emerging preferences for sustainable diets. As a network for scientific innovation and collaborative research the Hub for Improving Health and Nutrition through Biofortification will address these complex challenges through its community of representatives from the food industry, government and non- government agencies, alongside health and nutrition professionals and scientists. To establish this functional community, the Hub will progress stepwise. Initially, by taking views from a diverse range of leaders with impact in biofortification, the Hub will identify the landscape of existing food networks, industry, academia, government and non-government agencies, and health and nutrition professionals. By encouraging membership from this landscape, which encompasses a critical mass of experts that span multiple disciplines, we will be able to expand the Biofortification Hub and thereby generate a diverse but inclusive collaborative innovation and knowledge exchange community. By utilising the expertise from thought leaders and harnessing the experience and perspectives of the community, the Hub will identify existing and new biofortification and nutrition research challenges that can be translated to the commercial sector. The willingness of both academia and industry to collaborate is evident by the large number of letters of support that were received within the short preparation period of this application. The Hub will harness the interdisciplinary talents of the community to drive collaborative projects. The projects will be developed through scoping workshops and community meetings, that help refine some of the key challenges within the biofortification discipline. Collaborative teams will be able to pursue these research priorities with programmes funded by Business Interaction Vouchers, Feasibility Awards, and Flexible Mobility Awards. The latter will allow for industry placements and talent development, under a 'culture of innovation' to draw upon the insights, data, and technologies from across the Hub members' organisations. The Hub will thus enhance the health, nutrition and biofortification community by developing research with direct application to the food industry, generating food with greater nutrient density with clear benefits for health and well-being. Academics will learn the drivers for industry and successful transition of ideas, industry will gain access to recent developments in academic research, and policy makers will be able to interact with both communities in terms of understanding the advantages and potential disadvantages of such approaches. Collectively, through the collaborative efforts of its members the Hub will develop the biofortification field in the UK, helping support many of the new emerging innovative food-based SMEs. The Hub will be highly visible and have an active social media presence to support Hub engagement with policy makers and other funders. Hub research and training outcomes will also be shared more broadly and publicly to further support the health impact of biofortification.

Committee	Not funded via Committee
Research Topics	X – not assigned to a current Research Topic
Research Priority	X – Research Priority information not available
Research Initiative	Diet and Health Innovation Hub [2022]
Funding Scheme	X – not Funded via a specific Funding Scheme

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