3. Good Health and Well-Being
Wageningen University & Research focuses on research on healthy food, healthy living and on preventing epidemics such as coronavirus.
Healthy food
Bad eating habits, over-eating, malnutrition or consumption of contaminated foods are the main causes of adverse food related health effects. Wageningen University & Research contributes to international research agendas by looking into subjects as ‘how can we reduce poor eating habits’, ‘which foods have the best nutritional and health promoting value’, ’how can we innovate, produce and distribute these foods in a sustainable way’ and ‘how can we balance food safety and healthy nutrition’. New findings on impacts on human health need to be translated into best practices for food composition (e.g. reformulation), production, and consumption.
Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
Preventing epidemics
It is vital to monitor and eradicate epidemics so that everyone, anywhere in the world, can be assured of good health, access to health facilities and sound welfare. Wageningen researchers from various disciplines are working together on the scientific foundation needed to prevent future pandemics and reduce their impact.
Stay updated about activities and news of the Sustainable Development Goals at WUR:
Examples of WUR projects
Healthy food helps heart patients
Does a healthy diet help heart patients? To find out, researchers from Wageningen University & Research monitored several thousand heart patients after dividing them over two groups on the basis of their eating habits. The first group had a healthy eating pattern, whereas patients from the second group consumed more sugar, unhealthy fats and salt. Both groups received optimal medical care. The researchers found that the mortality risk for ‘healthy eaters’ during 6,5 years was 30 percent lower. That means that next to good treatment, a healthy diet contributed to the chance of a longer lifespan.
Preventing bird flu
For both humans and animals, it is important to prevent avian influenza virus. Some variants of bird flu are transmissible to humans. The chance of a human becoming infected is small, but there is a possibility that the virus adapts after which it could also spread between humans.
Wageningen experts provide diagnostics around bird flu and advise the government on preventing and controlling the disease. We also focus on vaccine testing for prevention.
SOLARMAL: more food without malaria
Every minute, a child dies of malaria. The disease is costing Africa US $12 billion per year in healthcare costs and lost agricultural production. Finding a way of combating malaria without using insecticides is essential to world food production. The use of newly developed mosquito traps incorporating human odour has resulted in a 70% decline in the population of the most significant malaria mosquito on the Kenyan island of Rusinga. After the introduction of the odour-baited traps on the island the proportion of people with malaria was 30% lower among those living in houses with a trap compared to those living in houses who were yet to receive a trap. Results of the study were published in The Lancet. The odour baited trap may also offer a solution to diseases like dengue fever and the Zika virus.