Award details

Exploiting bioactivity of European cereal grains for improved nutrition and health benefits (HEALTHGRAIN)

Reference	BBS/E/F/00041889
Principal Investigator / Supervisor	Professor Clare Mills
Co-Investigators / Co-Supervisors
Institution	Quadram Institute Bioscience
Department	Quadram Institute Bioscience Department
Funding type	Research
Value (£)	457,500
Status	Completed
Type	Institute Project
Start date	01/06/2005
End date	31/05/2010
Duration	60 months

Abstract

The HEALTHGRAIN Integrated Project aims to reduce the risk of metabolic syndrome related diseases in Europe by increasing the intake of protective compounds in whole grains or their fractions. A whole grain diet is increasingly demonstrated to be protective against development of diet related disorders such as cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. HEALTHGRAIN will carry out an integrated, multidisciplinary effort to establish the variation, process-induced changes and human metabolism of bioactive compounds in the major European bread grains, and to reveal the physiological mechanisms underlying their significance in prevention of metabolic syndrome and related diseases. The research is carried out in five research modules: Consumer research: Studies in four European countries are made to understand consumer expectations of healthy cereal foods, and to give basis for dissemination practises. Grain improvement and biotechnology toolkit: Plant biotechnology, including "omics technologies", is used to identify and generate new sources of nutritionally enhanced grain and to provide a "biotechnology toolkit" for plant breeding programmes. IFR is involved in this module, and aims to use advanced FT-IR spectroscopic techniques to determine the spatial distribution of bioactive compounds. Technology and processing: New fractionation and bioprocessing methods are developed to allow for incorporation of more of the whole grains and their outer parts in consumer foods with sensory quality appealing to European consumers. Nutrition and metabolism: Bioavailability of bioactive compounds is determined, and their role as well as that of glycemic properties of cereal foods in reducing metabolic risk factors is established. Dissemination and technology transfer: An education, training and dissemination element communicates the technology tools and know-how about healthy cereal foods to European grain processing industry and health professionals.

Summary

unavailable

Committee	Closed Committee - Agri-food (AF)
Research Topics	Crop Science, Diet and Health, Plant Science
Research Priority	X – Research Priority information not available
Research Initiative	X - not in an Initiative
Funding Scheme	X – not Funded via a specific Funding Scheme

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