Food Structure and Health
Research Summary
As the place where food meets the human body, the gastrointestinal tract is the key organ and thus the primary site where food intake is able to modulate human health and well-being. Through understanding how food structures are created during cooking and processing, and how they change and are broken down during digestion, it will be possible to select or rationally design healthier foods that consumers will choose to eat, and hence maximise beneficial health effects of our diet.
Our research brings together expertise in food biopolymers, colloid and interface science with those of protein biochemistry, molecular modelling and gut epithelial biology.
Structured Emulsions and Interfaces
Led by: Pete Wilde
Fats are present in an emulsified form in many foods, such as dairy products, soups and sauces and possess a texture and taste that are very difficult to replace. We want to understand the fundamental mechanisms that control emulsion viscosity and texture that could be used to reduce the fat content of food. We are also interested in how fats and other compounds in food interact with saliva in the mouth, since this will affect digestion further down the GI tract. We are also trying to understand the interfacial processes controlling fat digestion as a strategy to reduce appetite. Such new knowledge will enable the development of foods that could help reduce weight gain and the onset of obesity.
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Carbohydrate Biopolymer Structure
Led by: Vic Morris; Roger Parker
Carbohydrates are another important energy source, excess consumption of which also contributes to weight gain, obesity and diseases such as type-2 diabetes. Resistant starches have many health benefits; we will investigate the fine structure of starch granules in order to understand such resistance to digestion. This could help to develop ingredients and foods with lower glycaemic index. There are some bioactive carbohydrates that are linked to cancer prevention, so we want to find out how their digestion products may interact with cells to help prevent cancer. Carbohydrates can be used to create coatings to encapsulate bioactive nutrients or drugs. We are developing "smart", multilayered coatings that react to the different conditions found in the stomach or small intestine and release micronutrients, such as iron, in the appropriate part of the gut to increase nutrient uptake and maximise their nutritional benefit.
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Protein Structure and Proteolysis
Led by: Clare Mills
Proteins are another vital nutrient, which also cause food allergies. We will determine how proteins are digested, absorbed by the body and stimulate an allergic response. We will discover how molecular structure affects allergenic potential and how this is changed by food processing or food structure. These studies will help us to understand why some proteins are allergenic and others are not.
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Imaging Food in the Gut
Led by: Brian Hills
Food Structure can also change when food enters the gut, for example in the acid environment of the stomach. We will work with radiologists to develop whole body MRI techniques to study food structure during digestion and relate it to gut motility, complemented by studying the physical processes involved in uptake. We will characterise the structure and properties of the mucus layer that relate to the transport of nutrients and allergens, and link these properties to studies of uptake (especially of allergens) by the underlying epithelium and mucosal immune system.
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Transport and Uptake Processes
Led by: Alan Mackie; Clare Mills; Claudio Nicoletti
We aim to understand how colloidal and biopolymeric food structures affect the uptake of biologically active macromolecules (including bioactive polysaccharides and food allergens) across the mucus and epithelial layers of the gut mucosal barrier, particularly in the small intestine. We will investigate the immune modulating effect of the key structures surviving digestion in the lumen and that stimulate responses via direct interaction with the gut epithelium and through differential routes of uptake across the epithelial barrier, particularly in relation to allergenicity.
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