Professor Ian Givens awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Helsinki
It is with great pleasure that we announce that our Director, Professor Ian Givens has been awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Helsinki. The announcement from Helsinki noted that Professor Ian’s involvement for 2 years project Dairy Products with Reduced Saturated Fatty Acids , and a number of other research projects in collaboration with Helsinki University had very much contributed to understanding how food and health quality especially of livestock products can be influenced and improved during primary production. This is very much in the research area of the awarding faculty.
Potential of the hybrid meat market
Potential of the hybrid meat market
An EIT Food funded study has gained the attention of the press – ‘Consumer attitudes towards healthier meat products’ led by Dr Simona Grasso, Senior Research Fellow at University of Reading in collaboration with ABP in UK, the University of Aarhus in Denmark, and the Spanish National Research Council.
Simona has been busy talking to New Food Magazine and Food Navigator about the possibility to create healthier meat products with lower fat, salt and added beneficial compounds such as fibre or omega 3 as well as exploring consumer attitudes towards these healthier meat products.
Dr Sabita Soedamah-Muthu -Senior Visiting Research Fellow in IFNH
We are pleased to highlight two recent papers from Dr Sabita Soedamah-Muthu from Tilburg University who is a Senior Visiting Research Fellow in IFNH. Both papers confirm Sabita’s link with IFNH. One paper (Imamura et al., 2020; https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1003102) analyses data from prospective studies relating to fatty acids in the de novo lipogenesis (DNL) pathway and incidence of type 2 diabetes. The key conclusion was that concentrations of fatty acids in the DNL pathway were positively associated with T2D incidence, suggesting that further work on this is needed.
The untapped value in upcycled food by-products
Every year about 30% of the total food produced in the world for human consumption is lost or wasted both at food supply chain and consumption level, corresponding to approximately 1.3 billion tonnes. Fruit and vegetable loss represents the wasting of food as a commodity, but production also includes wasting of important resources such as land, water, fertilisers, chemicals, energy, and labour. Dr Simona Grasso from the Institute for Food, Nutrition and Health, talks about what needs to change to encourage more novel ways of producing nutritious sustainable food.
IFNH – new Interdisciplinary Research Centres (IDRC)
We are delighted to announce that the IFNH has been approved as one of the University’s new Interdisciplinary Research Centres (IDRC). As announced on the Interdisciplinary Research Centres briefing, achieving Centre status is an important element of the University’s research strategy. It will enable us to continue to expand our collaborative efforts that bring together different approaches in innovative ways to tackle the global challenges we are facing today to have a positive impact for future generations. It will allow us to build on our achievements to date and extend our activity both nationally and internationally and broaden our collaborative expertise using a synthesis of approaches.
Should You Self-Isolate if You Suddenly Lose Your Sense of Smell? Here’s What We Know
Dr Jane Parker, Director of our Flavour Centre is working with clinicians and sensory scientists on a global survey to track the loss of smell and/or taste reported in detailed studies to provide more evidence linking anosmia to Covid-19. This is in response to the recent UK Government Covid-19 announcement, based on World Health Organization publication, to include anosmia as a possible Covid-19 symptom.
The research is compelling’ linking the gut with COVID-19
More than 120 leading British scientists, including Professor of Food Microbiology, Glenn R Gibson and experts at University of Reading urged ministers to probe the gut link and consider promoting a balanced diet to protect against COVID-19.
”COVID-19 is particularly dangerous for people with weakened immune systems that are unable to fight back against the vicious virus.
Debunking Food Myths
With comfort eating becoming a preoccupation for individuals during lockdown, CONNECTED speaks to nutritional scientist, Dr Miriam Clegg, from Reading’s Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences to find out more:
”Appetite is our desire to eat. And while hunger is a cue from our body, appetite is a cue from our brain. Satiety and satiation are often used interchangeably in relation to appetite but actually have different meanings.”
“Satiation is the process that leads us to stop eating, whereas satiety is the feeling of fullness that persists after eating, potentially suppressing further energy intake until hunger returns. In simple terms, what makes us put down our knife and fork is satiation, and what keeps us from starting our next snack or meal is satiety.”
Improving farmers’s livelihoods and engaging farmers during the Covid – 19
The ‘Focus on Farmers’project, led by Dr Gillian Rose, University of Reading, will overcome the slow adoption of agricultural technologies by recruiting farmer champions to encourage the wider farming community to adopt new methods and connecting European farmers with mentors who can teach them about the benefits of using innovative technologies and deliver first-hand training on how to use them.
Focus on well-being in response to Covid-19
The coronavirus pandemic has changed our daily lives like never before, and looking after our well-being under these circumstances is very important. Professor Ian Givens and Professor Glenn Gibson, in collaboration with David Givens, Fitness and Sports Manager, SportsPark, have recently produced two short videos to help people understand the importance of vitamin D and how to maintain good gut health together with SportsPark’s short guide on how to stay healthy at home. A series of exercises, from yoga to core work outs are now available as videos on YouTube, Instagram or via the SportsPark app.