Food Quality and Human Health

Areas of research and teaching activities

Food researchUnderstand and optimise how diets, foods and food components affect human health. Includes diet composition, functional foods, food supplements and medicinal plants used by consumers, and provision of evidence to support health claims.

Understand and optimise how production methods affect the quality of foods, food supplements and herbal medicines. This includes primary production (agriculture), processing, storage, quality control/standardisation, safety assurance, cooking etc.

Development of marketing strategies and other support to companies or other organisations working in these areas.

Participation in collaboration with others (inside or outside the university) to fulfil objectives beyond the areas listed above, for example discovery of leads for production of synthetic medicines, technical development of new processing methods, development of improved foods based on nutrigenomics research, improvement of health provision in developing countries etc.

The Medicinal Plant Research Group (MPRG), a cross-institutional network of experts in the field of medicinal plant research, is currently hosted by the School. The MPRG organises cross-disciplinary collaborations exploring a wide range of activities including discovery of new plant-based bioactive compounds, modes of action and development of new therapies. These include neurosciences, dermatology, psychology, clinical brain aging, oncology, diabetes and ageing and health.

A new research study, organised by the National Food Institute within the Technical University of Denmark in collaboration with the School of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development at Newcastle University, is being launched. The research known as the  ‘Fruit at Work Study’ is investigating whether the provision of fruit in the workplace is a useful way to improve employee’s health and wellbeing and aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the work environment as an opportunity for increasing fruit intake by providing free access to fruit. The study will be run as a 6 month intervention and performed at workplace settings during which time research staff will collect relevant health and wellbeing measures and assess the dietary intake of volunteers.  Intervention studies such as this among free-living individuals which focus on the effects on health and wellbeing of fruit intake alone, rather than fruit and vegetable intake combined, are scarce. However such studies are required as these food groups may have different effects. To find out more go to www.workwellbeing.org

PhD projects:

Current postgraduates supervised by Chris Seal:
  • Effects of soil fertility management on yield and quality of tomato fruit (Aphrodite Theodoropoulou [joint supervisor Carlo Leifert])
  • Effects of agronomic strategies on nutritional composition of tomatoes (Renata Toufexi [joint supervisor Carlo Leifert])
  • Effects of optimisation of control of foliar and soil borne diseases on nutritional and sensory quality of greenhouse grown tomatoes (Nikos Dafermos [joint supervisor Carlo Leifert])
  • Effects of organic and conventional dairy practices on nutritional quality of milk, especially fatty acid content and bioactive peptides (Socrates Stergiadis [joint supervisors Gillian Butler and Carlo Leifert])
  • Dietary supplementation and oesophageal cancer (Javed Sultan [MD, joint supervisor, Professor Michael Griffin])
  • Nutrition, antioxidant status, and periodontal disease (Ahmad Zare Javid [joint supervisor Paula Moynihan])
Current postgraduates supervised by Kirsten Brandt
  • Nutritional quality especially phytochemical content of organic and conventional carrots (Ahlam Rashed)
  • Soil-plant fertility and tomato quality (Dimitra Chormova)
Current postgraduates supervised by Ed Okello:
  • Evaluation of neuroprotective effects on medicinal plants and their potential role in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease (Suresh Kumar [jointly supervised by Chris Seal])
  • Effects of environmental stresses on ornamental species, Salvia officinalis var purpurea and Narcissus sp. Study of plant physiology, chemical profiles and cholinergic bioactivities (Chryssa Dimaki)
  • Anticholinesterase activities of Kenyan medicinal plants (Megan Crowch)
Current KTP projects supervised by Karl Christensen
  • To create an independent marketing facility, which will offer comprehensive marketing services backed up by theoretical expertise and capable of modular replication/expansion. Karol Marketing
  • To create high quality educationalist training packages, developing cutting-edge international business communication competencies and ensuring globally consistent programme content and delivery. CISV International

Food quality and health networks:

  • North East Food and Drink CIC - Network of companies in the food and drink sector and academics interested in this sector. The objective is to facilitate support for the companies in the sector and utilisation of relevant expertise where it is needed.
  • Medicinal Plants Research Group - A formal collaboration consisting of the academics in the North East of England with interest in medicinal plants. The objective is to facilitate development and profiling of the research area, knowledge exchange, common interests and international collaborations.
  • Human Nutrition Research Centre -A collaboration to undertake research on the links between nutrition and health and, in particular, on interventions which could reduce the risk of common non-communicable diseases and so improve public health.
Staff

Dr Kirsten Brandt
Senior Lecturer

Dr Iain Brownlee
Lecturer

Karl Christensen
Industry Development Manager

Dr Thomas Hill
Senior Lecturer

Dr Georg Lietz
Senior Lecturer

Dr Edward Okello
Executive Director of the Medicinal Plant Research Group

Professor Chris Seal
Prof of Food & Human Nutrition

Projects