Links
This page provides links to other Food Science projects funded by the European Commission’s 6th and 7th Framework Programmes and International organisations and networks.
EARLY NUTRITION
The EarlyNutrition project is the largest of its kind, worldwide, that is studying the effect of early programming on health in later life. The term programming effect refers to the finding that nutrition and lifestyle during pregnancy and infancy can affect a range of different bodily functions. Such effects have been confirmed by earlier research by the FP6-funded Early Nutrition Programming project EARNEST. The Early Nutrition project focusses on overweight and obesity as the increase of overweight children worldwide is a serious health concern and there is convincing evidence that this may be partially caused by programming effects during infancy. Babies and infants can be programmed to become overweight and develop consequent metabolic disorders which manifest themselves later in life. EarlyNutrition aims to foster the scientific basis for this programming effect and to fill the gap between scientific advances and their practical implementation into recommendations for everyday life. The project will run from February 2012, for five years. Website.
TORNADO
TORNADO will determine the influence of diet on the gut flora and highlight the impact of gut flora on the immune system/other organ systems with an ultimate aim of developing an infrastructure that will accelerate future design of personalised functional food for specific target groups (age and geography). The evidence-based data that will be delivered by TORNADO will have long lasting effects on health among European citizens well beyond 2012. TORNADO began in September 2009 and will run for four years until August 2013.
LIPIDIDIET
The main aim of the project is to develop a lipid based diet that is able to delay or prevent the onset of Alzheimer’s disease and related diseases and that has a stabilising effect on cognitive performance in aging. This is based on previous observations that some omega 3 lipids appear to lower the Alzheimer risk. Existing medical therapy of Alzheimer’s disease will be complemented with nutrition, especially at the very first stages of Alzheimer’s disease. The project will not stop at Alzheimer’s, but will also develop dietary products that maintain and support the normal cognitive function in healthy aging in general and help reduce cerebrovascular risks. In addition to dietary products we also develop diet and life-style based health care advice for the elderly. The project began in August 2008 and will run until July 2013.
TOYBOX
The primary aim of the project is to influence children’s behaviour with respect to preventing obesity in early childhood. TOYBOX will identify behaviour related to early childhood obesity and their determinants and evaluate behavioural models and educational strategies. Based on insights obtained at a local level, TOYBOX will develop and implement a school and family based intervention programme that can be applied on a European scale. The project began in March 2010 and will run until August 2013. Website.
MAITRE
The FP7 funded MAITRE will run training seminars in several EU and associated countries, where journalists and media experts will train a target group of roughly 600 researchers from organisations involved in food science by transferring the special expertise and knowledge of journalists to researchers to increase their willingness to interact with the media and to propoerly communicate scienttific information to the public. The project will run from September 2011 and aims to run 50 training seminars.
CommNet
CommNet will increase and channel the information flow from research projects towards the target groups. The exchange of best practice and training events for the CommFABnet network of communication officers and managers will result in a European community of communication managers highly proficient in the effective communication of research results to a range of target groups and other stakeholders. The result will be a significantly enhanced impact of the research results on European competitiveness and on the quality of life of EU citizens. The project started on January 1st 2012 and will run for three years. Website.
IDEFICS
The IDEFICS Study is exploring the risks for overweight and obesity in children as well as associated long-term consequences. This EU-wide study offers a unique possibility to measure how far sensory perception and preferences of children influence the development of overweight. The study will deliver reliable data to make an international assessment of the problem of “obesity in children” possible. Beyond pure research, IDEFICS will offer activities for health promotion and prevention in kindergartens and schools. These prevention programmes will be developed, implemented and evaluated within the IDEFICS Study. The results of the study will be incorporated into various guidelines on nutritional, behavioural and lifestyle as well as ethical aspects in all participating countries. The project began in September 2006 and was due to end in August 2011. Now https://www.ifamilystudy.eu/
EURRECA
EURRECA was a Network of Excellence funded by FP6 that developed methodologies to standardise the process of setting micronutrient recommendations. Currently, different countries have different recommendations thus harmonised recommendations based on up-to-date science and improved means to reach them are needed.
EARNEST
The EARNEST project was an Integrated Project by FP6. The project investigated the long-term consequences of early nutrition by metabolic programming using an approach which integrated knowledge from randomised controlled trials, prospective observational studies and animal, cellular and molecular techniques. With the aim of enabling better understanding of the extent to which nutritional influences in early life can programme a person’s development and metabolism in adulthood.
International organisations and networks
Early Nutrition Academy
The Early Nutrition Academy extends the activities of the EARNEST project (e.g. training activities) beyond the EARNEST partnership. It will also be able to form a legal entity that can raise funds from sponsors to support and enhance the training and research activities beyond what EARNEST can achieve and that will survive beyond the lifetime of EARNEST. It will be able to continue to support research collaboration (including the preparation of research applications, e.g. for FP7), training, and scientific communication. Website.
DOHaD The International Society for the Origins of Health and Disease
EUFIC The Europan Food Information Council
EUPHIX The European Public Health Information and Knowledge System
ESPGHAN European Society for Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition
FENS Federation of European Nutrition Societies
IUN Interntational Union of Nutritional Societies
WHO The World Health Organisation Health Topics: Diet Nutrition
WHO Department of Nutrition for Health and Development
UN Standing Committe on nutrition
