Source: Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), 8 August 2008

A unique public-private partnership between 3 Research Councils and 15 food and drink companies has yesterday launched £4M of research projects with the aim of improving scientific understanding of the key issues linking diet and health so that food companies can address obesity, heart disease, anaemia and other health problems to the benefit of the consumer.

The Diet and Health Research Industry Club (DRINC) is managed and led by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and aims to bring together food and drink companies, public research funders and academic scientists to ensure support to the very best UK science so that consumers can quickly benefit from a better understanding of the link between diet and health. Funding has been awarded to university and institute scientists across the UK to investigate three main areas:

• How foods can be developed to help fight obesity;
• The processes that affect our decisions about what food we eat and the portion sizes we take;
• The benefits to health of various nutrients found in foods - including fruits, vegetables, cocoa, wine and tea - and how best such nutrients can be efficiently delivered to where they are needed in the body.

The nine projects announced today are the first funded since DRINC launched in April 2007. A second round of projects worth another £3M will be funded in 2009.

More information can be found on the above BBSRC website at www.bbsrc.ac.uk.

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