Nutrition for Optimal Health
Good nutrition is essential for health throughout the life-course. But which specific components contribute to which effects? Does it apply to everyone or only to specific groups? And what are consumers’ attitudes and purchase intentions towards new healthy initiatives?
Wageningen Food & Biobased Research enables the development of food products with scientifically proven health benefits; helping consumers to make informed, healthy and sustainable food choices and tailoring people’s diet to optimise their health and minimise their risk of disease.
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Target-group-specific nutrition
A personalized shopping list, with protein-enriched products, for the elderly. An existing recipe translated to a personalized recipe, for people with food allergies. When it comes to Wageningen Food & Biobased Research, in just five years 'customized food' has become the most normal thing in the world.
Young or old, healthy or ill: more and more people need trustworthy, scientifically-proven advice; and preferably advice that fits their health, personality and social environment. The threshold for (sustained) healthy eating is indeed getting much lower. The rise ofwearablesandartificial intelligenceoffers plenty of opportunities for large-scale applications. Target group-specific and personalized nutrition are good additions to generic health campaigns and can accelerate the change to a healthy lifestyle.
Scientifically proven
Wageningen Food & Biobased Research provides advice based on the latest scientific insights and uses its network to bring innovations to the market. Wageningen experts have a great deal of knowledge about the food choices and eating behaviour of special groups of consumers such as the elderly, people with chronic intestinal complaints or food allergies, and children. They have conducted much research into the health effects of foodstuffs (ingredients) - both for target groups and for individuals. In addition, knowledge is available about how to interpret digital nutritional data and how nutritional scientific knowledge can be translated into tailor-made advice. We are also working on new methods for measuring health, and pioneering techniques such as 3D printing. Customized food can thus be produced on site, for example in the supermarket, or restaurant, or at the consumer’s home.
Working on solutions
Wageningen Food & Biobased Research is working on various solutions within this research programme:
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Health Benefits of Foods
Nutrition research holds great promise in finding solutions to positively influence human health and reduce the risk of many chronic diseases. Wageningen Food & Biobased Research evaluates the health benefits of foods from lead finding (screening to identify promising compounds) and preclinical research (in vitro and in vivo), all the way up to human clinical trials. Our ultimate aim is to provide evidence-based information supporting optimal health for all throughout the life span.
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Healthy and Sustainable Dietary Choices
Insights in food consumer behaviour are key to support people towards healthier and more sustainable diets. Wageningen Food & Biobased Research measures food choice, sensory preferences and dietary behaviour in different environmental contexts, resulting in science-based behavioural change strategies.
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Digital and Personalized Dietary Advise
Healthy eating. Consumers want it, but because of the overload of information, they can’t see the wood for the trees. Wageningen Food & Biobased Research investigates how IT can help consumers make healthier food choices. This allows the development of personal services, for example apps which provide digitally-based and personalized nutritional advice.
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Food digestion and Gut Microbiome
Research on the gastrointestinal tract (GI tract) and its gut microbiome is a rapidly evolving field that holds great promise to unlock relationships between nutrition, digestion and human health. Wageningen Food and Biobased Research evaluates the digestibility, gut microbiome and health impact of foods throughout the GI tract with sophisticated in vitro models, professional human clinical trial expertise, and predictive in silico models.