Sheffield researchers are aiming to prevent age-related macular diseases by adding relevant pigments with antioxidant properties into popular foods such as biscuits and cheese.
These pigments, called carotenoids, are usually found in fruits and vegetables and are associated with reduced inflammation. Consuming a diet high in carotenoids is thought to lower your risk of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, Alzheimer's and some cancers.
Elderly people often have lower levels of carotenoids in their diets compared to younger adults. Reasons for this include changes in dietary habits, reduced appetite and limited access to nutrient-rich foods.
The body’s ability to absorb and take up carotenoids also declines with age due to changes in the digestive system, while medication, chronic diseases such as diabetes and inflammatory bowel disease, poor dietary habits and restricted diets due to health conditions can also influence the amount of of carotenoids in our diets.
Adding relevant carotenoids into foods more popular with the elderly, which includes biscuits, spreads and cheeses, will help address these issues and lower the risk of age-related macular diseases.
As such, researchers - led by the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering’s Dr Seetharaman Vaidyanathan - are to explore the feasibility of adding sustainably produced carotenoids to foods in a new two-year study.
The study will look at carotenoids sourced from algae, which is a potentially more sustainable source of carotenoids than from fruits and vegetables that have been farmed through traditional agricultural methods. This is due to the lower environmental impact and land usage - with potential for production in urban environments.
However, these carotenoids can have a strong and distinctive flavour that some people find unpleasant.
The researchers will therefore be investigating both high productivities and the most appealing formulations to assimilate carotenoids. They will also identify off-flavours components and look into the extracts and ingredients that would mask unacceptable flavours.
The project - which has been awarded £482,945 in funding from Innovate UK’s Better Food for All: Innovation for improved nutrition early stage competition - will also look into whether the digestive system can easily absorb the carotenoids.
Researchers from the University of Sheffield’s School of Medicine and Population Health will run models on this, while the study will also look at how these new carotenoid-enriched foods could be marketed to consumers in a way that would make them appealing and would also provide market value to the companies selling them.
As well as the benefit to public health, reducing the risk of age-related diseases would also help reduce pressure on the healthcare system and ease some of the economic burden of some of these diseases.
The British Heart Foundation estimates that cardiovascular disease alone costs the UK economy >£19 billion a year, of which £9 billion are direct healthcare costs and the remainder are indirect costs e.g. productivity losses.
Once this project is complete, the next stage would be a demo, which may include trials.
Dr Vaidyanathan said: “Age-related macular disorders form a considerable concern in the UK’s ageing population that can be addressed by enabling measures to prevent or alleviate the concern through appropriate dietary intake.
"This will also help to reduce the burden on the UK health services. This Innovate UK funded feasibility study will aim to develop a sustainable basis for enabling this proposition in collaboration with UK industry.”