The FLORA European Project flies to Istanbul for its final meeting: New glimpses on how flavonoids will change our health
25 May 2009 - 26 May 2009
Germany
Have you ever heard of English purple tomatoes extending mice lifespan or blue corn made in Milan pro-tecting French rats’ hearts from myocardial infarction? If you have, you’ve got in contact with some of the most interesting scientific results emerging from the Flora study, the European Union-funded project that aims at gaining further evidence on the dynamics triggered by flavonoids and phenolics, plant-specific bioactive compounds mainly known for they antioxidant activity.
The final meeting of the project will take place in Istanbul at the ITU Foundation Building, Maçka, one of the international partners joining the study.
During the two-days meeting, researchers will show the major outcomes of the project focusing on the main steps ahead in the study on flavonoids, that were shown to protect against a large number of dis-eases, from cardiovascular disease to certain types of cancer.
FLORA started off with a crucial issue: the diet followed by the majority of people living in the Western world does not appear to be sufficient to guarantee an adequate intake of flavonoids and other polyphe-nols , present in many fruits and vegetables. The Western diet model has quickly swapped the good eating habits for more saturated fats and “touch and go” meals, quitting the protection offered by these natural supplements mainly contained in fruits and vegetables.
Thus millions of people lack these helpful natural compounds and need to find new ways to make up for the nutrients they need.
So far, FLORA researchers have tested high-polyphenols content foods on animals obtaining surprising beneficial effects both on cardiovascular disease and cancer. The study has also tested several types of food to evaluate their antioxidant capacity in order to establish new ways to preserve the maximum fla-vonoid amount often lost during industrial processing.
A trial has been performed by the group in Campobasso, Italy, to study the effects of Sicilian blood or-ange juice consumption on the vascular function of human volunteers. Results will be discussed during the final meeting.
AGENDA
FLORA FINAL MEETING May 25-26, 2009
?STANBUL – TURKEY
Venue: ITU Foundation Building, Maçka, Istanbul-TURKEY
The FLORA Project
Funded by the European Commission within the 6th framework program (FP6-Food-CT-2005-007130), the FLORA Project aims at gaining further evidence on the dynamics triggered by flavonoids, establish-ing a forefront in Europe for the study of association among these compounds and cardiovascular dis-ease, myocardial infarction and cancer. FLORA researchers are involved in the field of flavonoids con-tained in different vegetables, such as corn, tomatoes and an experimental plant called Arabidopsis. Or-anges too are other protagonists of this study. They are rich in flavonoids and phenolics by their own na-ture. FLORA’s vegetables and fruits have something more: the amount of antioxidant has been enriched in order to optimize their natural beneficial effects. Moreover, they are additive free and have been pro-duced in full respect of healthy parameters. There is no risk of unexpected surprises but just a measured increase in terms of nutrition. Promoting health through a balanced and correct diet, in respect for dif-ferent food traditions of European Countries, is the mission of FLORA.
Research Centres from different European Countries participate to the Project.
FLORA Partners
John Innes Centre, Norwich, United Kingdom
Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy
Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research, Gatersleben, Germany
Research Laboratories, Catholic University, Campobasso, Italy
Plant Research International, Wageningen, The Netherlands
TIMC-IMAG, PRETA Coeur & Nutrition, CNRS UMR 5525- UJF- INP, Faculté de Médicine, Université de Grenoble, France
Istanbul Technical University, Turkey
Congenia SRL, Italy
Istituto Sperimentale per l’Agrumicoltura, Italy
Ortogel, Italy
Biopolo SRL, Italy
The final meeting of the project will take place in Istanbul at the ITU Foundation Building, Maçka, one of the international partners joining the study.
During the two-days meeting, researchers will show the major outcomes of the project focusing on the main steps ahead in the study on flavonoids, that were shown to protect against a large number of dis-eases, from cardiovascular disease to certain types of cancer.
FLORA started off with a crucial issue: the diet followed by the majority of people living in the Western world does not appear to be sufficient to guarantee an adequate intake of flavonoids and other polyphe-nols , present in many fruits and vegetables. The Western diet model has quickly swapped the good eating habits for more saturated fats and “touch and go” meals, quitting the protection offered by these natural supplements mainly contained in fruits and vegetables.
Thus millions of people lack these helpful natural compounds and need to find new ways to make up for the nutrients they need.
So far, FLORA researchers have tested high-polyphenols content foods on animals obtaining surprising beneficial effects both on cardiovascular disease and cancer. The study has also tested several types of food to evaluate their antioxidant capacity in order to establish new ways to preserve the maximum fla-vonoid amount often lost during industrial processing.
A trial has been performed by the group in Campobasso, Italy, to study the effects of Sicilian blood or-ange juice consumption on the vascular function of human volunteers. Results will be discussed during the final meeting.
AGENDA
FLORA FINAL MEETING May 25-26, 2009
?STANBUL – TURKEY
Venue: ITU Foundation Building, Maçka, Istanbul-TURKEY
The FLORA Project
Funded by the European Commission within the 6th framework program (FP6-Food-CT-2005-007130), the FLORA Project aims at gaining further evidence on the dynamics triggered by flavonoids, establish-ing a forefront in Europe for the study of association among these compounds and cardiovascular dis-ease, myocardial infarction and cancer. FLORA researchers are involved in the field of flavonoids con-tained in different vegetables, such as corn, tomatoes and an experimental plant called Arabidopsis. Or-anges too are other protagonists of this study. They are rich in flavonoids and phenolics by their own na-ture. FLORA’s vegetables and fruits have something more: the amount of antioxidant has been enriched in order to optimize their natural beneficial effects. Moreover, they are additive free and have been pro-duced in full respect of healthy parameters. There is no risk of unexpected surprises but just a measured increase in terms of nutrition. Promoting health through a balanced and correct diet, in respect for dif-ferent food traditions of European Countries, is the mission of FLORA.
Research Centres from different European Countries participate to the Project.
FLORA Partners
John Innes Centre, Norwich, United Kingdom
Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy
Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research, Gatersleben, Germany
Research Laboratories, Catholic University, Campobasso, Italy
Plant Research International, Wageningen, The Netherlands
TIMC-IMAG, PRETA Coeur & Nutrition, CNRS UMR 5525- UJF- INP, Faculté de Médicine, Université de Grenoble, France
Istanbul Technical University, Turkey
Congenia SRL, Italy
Istituto Sperimentale per l’Agrumicoltura, Italy
Ortogel, Italy
Biopolo SRL, Italy