Research into food central to kick-off Dutch Food Week

Last Friday saw the opening of the Dutch Food Week at the Brightlands Campus Greenport Venlo. There was a lot of attention for healthy and safe food, such as the research on intestinal flora by Prof. Dr. Koen Venema, the use of mushrooms in the vitamin D shortage and the announcement of a new chair 'Youth, Nutrition and Health'

A healthy gut flora

On the occasion of the Dutch Food Week, Prof. Dr. Koen Venema received the stool samples of 87 volunteers. The professor of human biology examines this poop using a high-tech device that artificially mimics the gastrointestinal tract. His goal is to learn more about the influence of nutrients on our intestinal flora. It has long been known that the bacteria in our gut affect both our physical and mental health, but there is still much research to be done.

Venema expects increasingly sophisticated techniques to rapidly increase our knowledge of the gut flora. "In five years we will be able to give people advice on an individual level about what they should eat. Now that's at a level where we can say: eat more fiber. Soon it will be: for you it is good to eat broccoli."

Mushrooms for vitamin D

In addition to stool samples, blood was also examined during the opening event at Brightlands. Bart Kuijpers, a researcher at Brightlabs, found that 38% of the more than one hundred people tested had a vitamin D deficiency. Not a surprising result, as it corresponds to the general Dutch statistics. Kuijpers indicates that many people immediately reach for supplements, but that nutrition can also help supplement deficiencies. In the case of vitamin D, for example, this is possible with fatty fish or mushrooms.

Mushrooms contain ergosterol, the substance needed to activate vitamin D in our bodies. Eric Bongers of Scelta Mushrooms explains how vitamin D can already be activated in the mushroom by the use of light. A new preservation technique allows for even healthier mushrooms. For the time being, the technique is mainly used in the food industry, but Bongers also has a tip for consumers: "Just put fresh mushrooms in the daylight for an hour before you process them. It gives a huge vitamin D boost."

New Chair of Youth, Nutrition and Health

The Faculty of Science and Engineering of Maastricht University announced during the opening of the Dutch Food Week that it is starting a new chair. Dr Edgar van Mil and Dr Remco Havermans have been appointed endowed professors of 'Youth, Nutrition and Health', a chair based at the Brightlands Campus Greenport Venlo.

The new chair will be based at the Brightlands Campus Greenport Venlo.

Within the new chair, topics such as healthy food and the effect on the body, psychological knowledge and the development of new products will be central. The initial focus is on families with children up to the age of three and adolescents between the ages of twelve and eighteen. By focusing the chair specifically on youth, the hope is to make future generations aware of healthier food choices early in life.

Why do young people often eat unhealthily? In what ways can they be induced to make different choices? How does a baby's diet influence later preference in tastes? Can different baby foods lead to a broader appreciation of tastes later in life? The two professors will try to find answers to these types of questions in the near future.

Special to the new chair is the funding from industry. Scelta Mushrooms, ZON fruit & vegetables, BASF, Seacon Logistics and regional Rabobanks are investing to make it possible. Jan Klerken, initiator of Scelta Mushrooms: "The uniqueness of this chair is the combination of multidisciplinary research and industry. This creates unique knowledge, which is of great value."

Source: Brightlands, Dagblad de Limburger