Project description
Understanding the health benefits of cottage cheese
Cottage cheese (CC) is a common, high-protein dairy product that has been advocated for its health benefits in fitness and wellness communities. Nonetheless, scientific evidence validating the health benefits of CC remains scarce. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the CURD project aims to evaluate the health benefits of CC by studying its effect on the digestive and muscle system in both athletes and older individuals. Using microbiological and nutritional research methods together with statistical data analysis, this project will analyse the microorganisms in CC, assess its potential to be a source of probiotics and review the existing data on CC consumption and its health benefits.
Objective
"Cottage cheese (CC) is a widely consumed, protein-rich, fermented dairy product, often advocated for health benefits, particularly within fitness and wellness communities. However, despite its popularity and nutritional appeal, scientific evidence substantiating the health impacts of CC remains scarce. The CURD project aims to build a foundational evidence base for the role of CC in human health, focusing on gastrointestinal and skeletal muscle health in athletic and elderly populations. This will be achieved through a multidisciplinary approach combining microbiology, food science, bioinformatics, and population-level statistical analysis.
The project addresses key gaps in knowledge: (1) the absence of detailed microbiological characterisation of CC's intrinsic microbiome; (2) the unexplored potential of CC to act as a vehicle for beneficial live microbes, enabling the development of ""functional"" CC products; (3) the limited understanding of associations between CC consumption and health markers.
CURD will (i) characterise the microbial composition and function of CC using sequencing-based methods, (ii) investigate the potential of CC to be enriched with health-promoting microbes, and (iii) analyse existing cohort data to identify links between CC intake and health metrics, including body composition and cardiovascular health.
Importantly, CURD is envisioned as a strategic foundation for a longer-term research programme. It will generate novel insights into an underexplored yet globally consumed food, with the potential to guide the development of next-generation dairy products. CURD is timely, original, and positioned to inform industry, health professionals, and consumers by validating or challenging commonly held perceptions about CC’s health benefits."
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
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CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
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Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
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(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2025-PF
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R93 Carlow
Ireland
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