Final Report Summary - NUTRAHEALTH (Improving Research Capacity of TUBITAK MRC Food Institute on Functional Foods, Nutraceuticals, and Natural Health Products) Executive Summary:3.1. Publishable summary A summary description of the project context and objectivesFunctional foods, nutraceuticals, natural health products (NHP) represent one of the fastest growing areas of research and development leading to novel products intended for disease risk reduction and proven human health promotion. The current global market is speculated to be around of 100-150 billion Euros annually. Therefore, there is an increasing demand in this area. The main objective of this project was (1) to improve research potential of existing functional foods, nutraceuticals, and NHP research laboratory within Food Institute, (2) to coordinate networking and co-operative research activities in this fostering field through a number of scientific and technical events, and (3) to integrate FP7/Horizon 2020 projects. To fulfil the objectives of the project, the following work packages had been foreseen. WP 1: Project managementWP 2: Improving infrastructureWP 3: Supporting research capacity of human resourcesWP 4: Organising scientific events and networkingWP 5: Participating scientific eventsWP 6: Communication and disseminationWP 7: Technical side visitsWP 8: Exchange of researchers The main objectives of each WP, progress, and achievements for the final report are given in detail below as well as in section 3.2.1. Project Context and Objectives:A description of the work performed since the beginning of the project and main results achieved so far:The work in all WPs was completed successfully, with only a few delays (see section 3.2.2). Main results achieved during the project are given below:•Six new and additional five equipment, as well as 12 scientific books were purchased (APPENDIX-1).•Five experienced researchers were recruited.•Three advisory board meetings were organised.•Three brokerage events, three seminars, and three open-days were organised.•The 2014 Annual Conference and Exhibition of the International Society for Nutraceuticals and Functional Foods (ISNFF) was organised in Istanbul between October 14 and 17, 2014 (APPENDIX-2).•Thirty two oral/poster presentations were given at international scientific congresses.•Project web-site was developed and regularly updated.•Three newsletters were published and circulated (one newsletter annually).•Around 1000 leaflets were prepared, printed, and circulated.•Under exchange of researcher WP, most activities were completed except 3 researchers whom could not make due to unforeseen circumstances beyond our control. These were confirmed with the Project Officer.•Twenty nine deliverables were prepared and successfully submitted to ECAS on time.•Sixteen milestones were fully achieved in the project life time.•Nine indicative topics from three brokerage events for Horizon 2020 were produced and shared (APPENDIX-3).•Project was successfully managed without any major problems.Project objectives for the periodThe project has 8 WPs as given below. Detailed information for each WP and Task for 36 months is given in section 3.2.2 and 3.2.3.WP 1: The main objective of this work package is to coordinate the whole project management. The specific objectives are as follows:•to manage the project administrative and financial issues.•to share the work among the project personnel.•to manage the organisation of internal and external activities.•to establish effective communication among the partnering organisations.•to establish effective communication and harmony among WPs.•to monitor objective achievements and deliverables.•to participate steering committee/advisory board meetings and discuss the related issues.•to monitor and measure the progress of work.•to report all deliverables to EC.The objectives of this WP were fully implemented, without any major concerns. WP 2: The main objective of this work package is to improve/renew the existing S&T infrastructure of NutraHEALTHCentre in order to meet the requirements. The specific objectives are as follows:•to purchase equipment and improve the S&T infrastructure of NutraHEALTHCentre.•to purchase up-to-date scientific books.The objectives of this WP were fully achieved. New instruments were also purchased with the approval of Project Officer. WP 3: The main objective of this work package is to support the research capacity of human resources by employing four new Post-Doctorate/Experienced researchers for strengthening human potential of the NutraHEALTHCentre/Food Institute. Therefore, they will be full-time staff of NutraHEALTHCentre. The specific objectives are as follows:•to recruit the new experienced researchers for strengthening research capacity of human resources.•to increase the research capacity.The objectives of this WP were fully achieved. Additional experienced researcher was also recruited with the approval of Project Officer.WP 4: The main objective of this work package is to organise a number of scientific events and to improve networking in Turkey by bringing participants from around the globe, EU Member States, and Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) countries, which will allow direct dissemination of information and establish national/international information-sharing network on the discipline of functional foods, nutraceuticals, nutrigenomics, and NHP. The specific objectives are as follows:•to organise seminars.•to organise brokerage events for developing collaborative consortium for FP7/Horizon 2020.•to organise an International Congress on Functional Foods, Nutraceuticals, NHP, and Dietary SupplementsThe objectives of this WP were fully achieved.WP 5: The main objective of this work package is to participate scientific events in this exiting field. The specific objectives are as follows:•to participate scientific events (congress, seminars, workshops, short courses, brokerage events).•to facilitate dissemination of research results of the NutraHEALTHCentre.•to receive positive feedback on developing skills and relationship by direct participation and contacts with scientists from around the globe.The objectives of this WP were mostly achieved. Details are given under Task 3.2.2 in the related WP.WP 6: The main objective of this work package is to develop communication and dissemination trough a number of activities such as developing web-address, producing leaflets, and organising open-and info days, and attending food exhibitions. The specific objectives are as follows:•to develop a web-site for internal communication and external dissemination incorporating an interactive SME tool.•to promote awareness of new developments relating to the characteristics and benefits of functional foods, nutraceuticals, and NHP through various output media.•to organise info-days for improving regional competitiveness in various regions of Turkey. The objectives of this WP were fully achieved.WP 7: The main objective of this work package is to arrange short-term technical visits to project partnering organisations in order to collect and share information about latest development, laboratory systems, ongoing projects, and exchange ideas for mutually beneficial collaborative FP7/HORIZON 2020 projects. Technical visits to collaborators should be seen as a good chance not only to observe the recent advances in the relevant research area but also to seek future collaborations. The specific objectives are as follows:•to visit well-established functional foods and nutraceutical research centres and leading SMEs.•to learn and gain from the experience and technologies of visited bodies.•to explore the possible cooperation between NutraHEALTHCentre and visited entities.•to improve networking and dissemination.The objectives of this WP were achieved with slight changes. Technical site visits to some foreseen organisations could not be arranged so that technical visits were performed to other organisations. WP 8: The main objective of this work package is to organise exchange programmes (through trans-national two-way secondments of researchers) for new and existing researchers where needed in the field of functional foods, nutraceuticals, and NHP at both NutraHEALTHCentre and outstanding partnering organisations in EU Member States, which will bring new skills to the centre and expose staff to working practices in EU institutes, universities, and leading companies. The specific objectives are as follows:•to exchange of researchers between NutraHEALTHCentre and European partnering organisations. •to improve skills and research capacity of NutraHEALTHCentre’s staff in the discipline of functional foods, nutraceuticals, and NHP.•to improve networking and exchange of know-how and experience.•to improve career development. The objectives of this WP were achieved with slight changes, due to some unpredictable problems such as legal employment procedures, maternity of newly recruited personnel, and changes in the strategic working topics of the foreseen partnering organisations. To achieve the objectives of WP, some organisations to collaborate the exchange programs were changed with the approval of the Project Officer. See detailed information in Section 3.2.2.Project Results:The main S & T results/foregrounds after 3 years are described in the Project as success indicators, those are given below:1.Participating at least three (3) Horizon 2020 consortiums as partners: a)In the project life time, Project Coordinator (Cesarettin ALASALVAR) of NutraHEALTH Project Team participated in one project consortium under Horizon 2020 entitled as “Interindividual variation in response to consumption of plant food bioactives and determinants involved - POSITIVe”, FA COST Action FA1403 (coordinated by INRA-France). POSITIVe specifically addresses inter-individual variation in bioavailability and physiological responses to consumption of plant food bioactives in relation to cardiometabolic endpoints. It will promote the leadership of European research in this active and high-profile research field, provide scientific knowledge to regulatory authorities for a new generation of nutritional recommendations targeted to large population subgroups and foster the competitiveness of the European food industry by underpinning the development of new functional/customized foods. Participating in POSITIVe will help Food Institute in the field of functional foods, nutraceuticals, and NHP within TUBITAK MRC Food Institute to be a part of a multi-disciplinary and multi-sectorial European network and to increase the current knowledge. b)In the project lifetime, Project Coordinator (Cesarettin ALASALVAR) had also secured the implementation of the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA-funding mechanism of EU) project entitled as “Development of research and innovation facilities for improving the regional competitiveness of food industry - INNOFOOD”. The project with 29.5 million € budget (80% from EU fund and 20% from Turkish fund) aims to support the competitiveness of target regions, having an income per capita below the 75% of Turkish national average, by increasing exports of food and beverage sectors. NutraHEALTH Project Team has the position of project applicant and support the target region through a number of R&D and related activities, provide technology/knowledge transfer, networking, and innovation through the SMEs. c)In the project lifetime, NutraHEALTH Project Team proposed a project entitled as “Improving the Innovation Capacity of TUBITAK MRC Food Institute on Exploitation of Food Waste and By-Products through an Integrated Bio-refinery Approach - InnoWaste” Final ID# of submission: 691967 under Horizon 2020-Twinn 2015 program as coordinator. This project proposal was a complete output of NutraHEALTH Project, since both the coordinator of proposed project (Dr. Ayse Karadag) was employed through NutraHEALTH Project and the partnership of this proposed project was established through NutraHEALTH Project activities of brokerage event, info days, and technical visits. The evaluation score (12) of the project was over the threshold value, but still it was not enough for the project to be funded. The project will be submitted to Twinn 2017 calls after making necessary changes and improvement according to evaluation score report (APPENDIX-4).d)In addition, NutraHEALTH Project members involved in another Horizon 2020 Consortium that was Integrated and innovative key actions for mycotoxin management in the food and feed chain - MycoKey, call: H2020-SFS-2015-2; topic: SFS-13-2015. This project aims to propose integrated and innovative key actions for mycotoxin management in the food and feed chain to have safer and healthier food and will be implemented between 2016- 2020.e)NutraHEALTH Project members involved in a consortium in the scope of 2016 ESFRI the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures) Roadmap- Domain: Health & Food. The name of the project is Infrastructure for Promoting Metrology in Food and Nutrition - METROFOOD (Infrastructure for Promoting Metrology in Food and Nutrition)f)In the project life time, NutraHEALTH Project members also involved in a consortium in the scope of 2016 ESFRI the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures) Roadmap- Domain: Research Infrastructure. The name of the project is Design and Preparatory of Food and Health Research Infrastructure - FAHRI (Design and Preparatory of Food and Health Research Infrastructure)2.Signing at least five Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with project partners: In the project life time, after preparing tentative draft of MoU, sharing it with partners and with the help of Business Development Department of TUBITAK-MRC to get started the legal procedure, five (5) MoU were signed the institutions from Europe, and they were currently under the internal procedure of TUBITAK to be signed by the President. Five Institutions that signed MoU with TUBITAK MRC were Food Biobased Research (The Netherlands), Kaunas University of Technology (Lithuania), Institute of Animal Reproduction and Food Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences (Poland), Technical University of Denmark National Institute of Food (Denmark) and University of Wales Trinity Saint David (The United Kingdom) (APPENDIX-5).3.At least 15 oral/poster presentations at international scientific congress in the field of functional foods and nutraceuticals: The list of presentations (32 in total: 15 oral and 17 posters) at international scientific congress between 1st and 36th months of the project was given in D.5.1 – D.5.3. 4.At least 20 scientific publications in peer reviewed journals: Although the number of scientific publications was determined as 12 in the DoW document, it was revised as 20 during the visit of the Project Officer in June 2014. The list of 20 publications in the project life time was given in D.1.7.5.At least 3000 hits of project website by users (including scientists and SMEs): The number of hits on the project web site can be followed by web site (http://www.fp7-nutrahealth.com) and it was 34.009 hit by 24.12.2015. 6.Successful completion of two PhD from project personnel: There are two ongoing PhDs of Ebru Pelvan and Tarik Özturk who completed their laboratory studies and both are in the final process of writing their thesis. They are planning to have their defences by spring season of 2016 (APPENDIX-6).7.Each requested new equipment will be used at least 100 run per year:Those equipment foreseen to purchase in DoW document, were used efficiently during the project. The equipment purchased at the end of project with the remaining budget will be used efficiently in on-going and new projects.8.At least five independent mentions in the national media: In the project life time, NutraHEALTH project was placed in national media through different actions (APPENDIX-7). In the beginning of the project, job advertisements of NutraHEALTH were published in national food journals and web page of food technologists association. NutraHEALTH was cited in web pages of universities, scientific institutions through ISNFF 2014 conference that organized by the project team. NutraHEALTH project was also placed in national media through the 2nd Sabri Ülker International Science Award in Human Nutrition and Health that was given to NutraHEALTH Project members. This award was given to the project which aimed to encourage healthy nutrition and healthy lifestyles, concentrates on the topics namely food, nutrition and health and with the criteria that they should have been completed and industry applicable. 9.At least 10 new keywords in scientific publications : In the project life time, there are some keywords that belong to NutraHEALTH Project research studies such as heart health sterol-enriched black tea, functional ice-tea. Although sterol has been used many times related to heart health until now, addition of this compound to black tea and ice tea formulation can be considered as first time. The researchers through exchange activities of NutraHEALTH conduct studies about hazelnut peptides, bioavailability of hazelnut phenolic acids, apple oligomeric proanthocyanidins, metabolism of gamma valerolactones, fish oil enriched granola bars, brown seaweed antioxidant extract, super-critical extraction of black currant pomace oil, chromatic separation of hazelnut tannins, aroma compounds of instant black teas, and hazelnut procyanidins. 10.At least five requests by enterprises (SMEs) to engage in further collaborative actions:Although the number of enterprises to engage further collaborative actions was determined as five (5) in the DoW document, it was revised as seven (7) during the visit of the Project Officer in June 2014. NutraHEALTH Project contacted seven enterprises in further collaborative actions. They can be listed as •“Dardanel Önentaş Gıda”, related the use of fish oil in food formulations, •“Ulker NorthStar Innovation and AKSU Vital”, related to have functional food formulations and dietary supplements,•“Biota Lab.”, collaboration in two national R&D projects to develop functional food ingredient and cosmeceutical,•“Gemma Food Aroma and Colors”, “Gebze Halk Ekmek”, and “Tiryaki Gıda”, related to develop a functional ingredient to reduce the risk of type II diabetes, and to produce β-glucan and its use in food formulations. 11.At least two requests by public organisations to engage in further collaborative actions:NutraHEALTH Project Team closely worked with Food Engineering Departments of Istanbul Technical University and Hacettepe University as well as Medical Faculty of Karadeniz Technical University. We worked on functional instant tea project together with these partners. NutraHEALTH Project Team also started new collaborations with Medical Faculty of Recep Tayyip Erdogan University, Pharmaceutical Department of Eskisehir University, and Batı Akdeniz (West Mediterranean) Agriculture Research Institute in the scope of national R&D projects. 12.Around 20% increase in fund raising following the results of the actionThe budget of INNOFOOD (IPA) project is about 29.5 million €. The budget of national R&D projects NutraHEALTH Project Team received funding was 892.000 € (2.677.323 TL), and the budget of TUBITAK MRC in Horizon 2020 - MycoKey Project was 170.000 € by now.13.At least one international patent and three commercialized food productsNutraHEALTH Project members submitted an international application for patent of their functional tea product and obtained a PCT application number (PCT/IB2015/051765 “Water dispersible sterol/stanol enriched polyphenol rich herbal teas in aqueous or powdered forms to reduce total and LDL cholesterol levels), which is still under evaluation for the further step. In addition to functional ice tea, we produced pilot scale instant black tea, decaffeinated black tea, and functional Turkish yogurt drink (ayran) (APPENDIX-8). Tea products will be commercialized by ÇAYKUR Tea Processing Plant (it is the largest tea producing company in Turkey and produces more than 50% of Turkish tea). The “functional ayran’’ will be commercialised by Business Development Department of TUBITAK MRC.14.Approaching at least 100 SMEs for further commercialization action During seminars, open days, info-days and brokerage events, the list of the companies approached is given in D.4.1 – D.4.3 and D.6.2 – D.6.4The report to assist the Commission to obtain statistics and indicators on societal and socioeconomic issues addressed by the project is given in D.1.8. “Report on Awareness and Wider Societal Implications”.APPENDIX can be found in the attached file.Potential Impact:Details of potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far) and the main dissemination activities and the exploitation of results are given in Deliverable 1.8 and second periodic report.List of Websites:The project web-site has been developed and regularly updated. It can be reached at www.fp7-nutrahealth.com. So far, the web-site has been visited around 34.009 hit by 24.12.2015 times. Related documents final1-second-periodic-report-nutrahealth.pdf