Public summaries of the High-Value Nutrition programmes announced in October 2015
The High-Value Nutrition National Science Challenge harnesses New Zealand’s world-class scientific expertise to create market and industry relevant knowledge which will deliver competitive advantage to New Zealand’s food and beverage exports.
In October 2015 High-Value Nutrition is launching its first research projects worth $10.9m, focussing on three key opportunities and two underpinning programmes of work.
Gastrointestinal Health
The Gastrointestinal (GIT) Health investment priority will focus on the aspirational ‘Elite Gut’ of ‘Worried Well’ Asian consumers. The ‘Worried Well’ consumer represents the emerging middle and upper classes in Asia who want to excel as their careers and age advance. They will purchase food and beverage products to feel physically comfortable and immune fit, to stay mentally sharp and to slow cognitive decline. This is an economic opportunity for New Zealand that focuses on the wellness of the GIT and consumers’ wellbeing.
Food and beverage products that support work and play performance excellence for the ‘Worried Well’ are an under-exploited segment in the Asian market, with potential for strong growth in new, high value food and beverage product development with validated scientific claims. GIT health in Asia is among the leading health positions for market share and fastest growth worldwide and many functional food products are directed at these targets. There is an opportunity to market an ‘Elite Gut’ that is highly desired by ‘Worried Well’ Asian consumers to maintain optimal physical and mental performance in order to achieve their full potential and stay ahead of their peers.
Investment will enable the consolidation of existing New Zealand capability and will result in the establishment of a New Zealand translational world class ‘Elite Gut’ research capability within New Zealand. It will also offer a unique opportunity for emerging scientists to develop their careers in New Zealand and continuous improvement of the tools and models that are critical for food-health claims. The specific focus of this research is to de-risk commercial opportunities for the New Zealand food and beverage sector, resulting in the development of food and beverage products with validated health claims designed to meet the needs of motivated Asian ‘Worried Well’ consumers; seeking to improve peak performance throughout the entire day, successfully manage stress responses and stay mentally sharp (the ‘Elite Gut’).
High-Value Nutrition has allocated $3.6million to AgResearch to research the relationship between nutrition and gastrointestinal health. The principal investigator is Dr Nicole Roy and will be collaborating with colleagues at the University of Otago, the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research and Plant & Food Research.
Immune Health
An appropriately functioning immune system is essential for health and wellbeing, and impaired immunity effects physical and mental wellness resulting in diminished productivity. The desire to achieve and maintain economic success and status across generations in Asia drives the exceedingly high expectation of productivity and performance excellence in education and the workplace. The Building Immune Defence research programme will focus on these motivated consumers seeking food and beverage solutions to support immune defence against cold/flu infection and manage pollution driven respiratory inflammation for success in their daily lives.
Frequent colds/flu are one of the top health issues worldwide, with influenza epidemics occurring virtually every year. The link between reduced overall productivity during respiratory tract infections is well recognised in the Asian market, and these motivated consumers demand solutions. The influence of nutrition on gut microbiota composition is a vital connection between diet and immunity, and the subsequent association with health status. Indeed, diet, antibiotic use and stress are known to alter gut microbiota composition, leading to reduced immune defence against respiratory tract infection. This research seeks to demonstrate the beneficial effects of New Zealand food and beverage products to restore appropriate host-microbiota interactions and build immune defence against influenza.
Beyond respiratory tract infection, the significant rise in the ageing population that is susceptible to poor respiratory health is of major concern, and air pollution has become the fourth biggest threat to people's health in China. The rapidly increasing air pollution in China’s major cities means these densely populated areas are considered ‘barely suitable’ for living. The respiratory immune system protects the body against inhaled pathogens and damaging particulate matter. In environments with high levels of air pollution, the lung immune system is under continued stress. This research will pursue the beneficial effects of food and beverage solutions to improve and support respiratory function in poor air quality environments through the management of inappropriate inflammation.
This multi-disciplinary national research collaboration will provide increased scientific understanding of food-health relationships, and generate new opportunities for New Zealand companies to develop foods and beverages with scientifically validated immune defence benefits to increase market share and drive exports into Asia.
High-Value Nutrition has allocated $3.5million to the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research to research the relationship between nutrition and immune defences. The principal investigator is Dr Elizabeth Forbes-Blom. She will be assisted by colleagues at AgResearch, Plant & Food Research and the Medical Research Institute of New Zealand.
Metabolic Health
Weight gain and the poor metabolic health that develops as a consequence is rapidly becoming our most important global health condition. More than 1.5 billion adults worldwide struggle to control their weight and are now overweight or obese, with rates rapidly increasing throughout Asia including China where an estimated 30% of adults are struggling with their weight. Of these, 300 million have already been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, the most common disease caused by overweight condition, and the numbers continue to rise.
The Peak Nutrition for Metabolic Health [PANaMAH] program is focused on Asian consumers who are looking for nutritional solutions to maintain good metabolic health throughout middle and older age. In particular the ‘overweight and over forties’ looking to prevent diabetes and to support heart health. Perhaps surprisingly, when matched with people of the same gender, age and body weight, Asian consumers are at much greater risk of poor metabolic health than Europeans, Māori or Pacific people. This highlights the need for the design, development and marketing of food and beverage products that are positioned at the high-value end of their product categories by New Zealand exporting businesses focused on Metabolic Health.
The reason why some individuals are more susceptible than others and what controls their diabetes risk may lie in the storage of body fat. Gaining even small amounts of weight can lead to the fat ‘spilling over’ from adipose tissue and into critical organs such as the muscle, liver and pancreas, which in turn may significantly increase risk of disease. Often known as TOFI – ‘Thin on the Outside, Fat on the Inside’ – ostensibly slim individuals can develop diabetes whilst those who are morbidly obese may be resilient. A national collaborative research team across New Zealand will be conducting clinical studies supported by advanced molecular techniques to ask questions such as ‘who is most at risk and why?’, ‘what are the early markers of disease, and do they differ in those resilient to diabetes?’, ‘does lipid overspill matter?’, and how can these problems be targeted by food and beverages, particularly in key consumer groups for New Zealand food exports to Asia. Type 2 diabetes is a nutritional disease, caused primarily through poor lifestyle, and is able to be both prevented and treated through better nutrition. Understanding the mechanisms through which the disease is caused will help us to target the widespread problem of adverse Metabolic Health with nutritional solutions that can be employed by New Zealand food and beverage exporters. The long-term aim of the Metabolic Health program is to fast track New Zealand companies in their development of validated food and beverage health claims, that both satisfy national and international regulators in terms of the scientific validity of the food health relationship, and which also ultimately appeal to the tastes of the Asian market.
High-Value Nutrition has allocated $2.9million to the University of Auckland to research the relationship between nutrition for metabolic health. Professor Sally Poppitt is the principal investigator working with scientists from the University of Otago, AgResearch and Plant & Food Research.
Consumer Insight
Consumer insights are needed to help guide and prioritise opportunities in the High-Value Nutrition health domains. These insights will be delivered through targeted projects to address identified needs. They will also fulfil High-Value Nutrition’s aspiration to collect insights that allow grounding of product-specific information in a broader understanding of the beliefs, attitudes, behaviours and lifestyles of Asian consumers that affect their choices of High-Value Nutrition foods and beverages. Use of these insights will guide development and help improve the success rate of High-Value Nutrition product launches and prevent significant economic losses associated with development and marketing of new products that subsequently fail in the marketplace. To achieve these goals in Year 1: consumer insights from the literature will be merged with pre-competitive knowledge available from New Zealand food and beverage companies, government-funded agencies and Asian academic organisations with a focus on food and health to provide early guidance and prioritisation of opportunities.
High-Value Nutrition has allocated an initial $300,000 to Plant & Food Research to establish a collective NZ Inc. programme on consumer insights in relation to food-for-health in our key markets with a focus on Asia. The principal investigator is Dr Roger Harker with collaborators from the University of Auckland, the University of Otago and Price Waterhouse Cooper. This will lead into the design of a wider $1.5m study to identify the key drivers of consumer behaviour in relation to food purchases and health and wellbeing.
Food Science
The Food Science team brings together experts from Massey University, AgResearch, the University of Otago and Lincoln University to support the translation of novel scientific insights into high-value export food products.
Foods with science-backed health benefits have been developed and sold around the world for several decades, so we need a good understanding of what is already on the market and what opportunities there are for new high-value export foods. ‘Scanning the Horizon’ will take a close look the health-focused foods that are on the market or under development globally, and it will guide the research on food-health relationships towards promising new avenues where there is scope for innovation and the potential for export growth.
The ‘Bioactive Food Systems’ project, scheduled to start in 2016, will address the need to protect the health-promoting compounds (the ‘bioactives’) in foods during their journey from raw ingredients to finished food products. The Health Programmes will be identifying bioactives that promote optimal health, and the Food Science team will design food ingredients and processes that keep those bioactives in top condition within food products, then release them to the body when those food products are eaten.
High-Value Nutrition has allocated $600,000 to Massey University for a preliminary project to establish current knowledge on the food science of health foods as a lead into a larger $1.5m programme to support the design and development of food and beverages that maintain their health benefits through to the point of consumption. The principal investigator is Distinguished Professor Harjinder Singh, with colleagues from the University of Otago, Lincoln University and AgResearch.
