Arla Food for Health Newsletter- December 2017

Arla Food for Health Governance

In agreement with the existing Arla Food for Health Steering Committee and the new members it has been decided that Anders Mikael Sjödin (KU) is stepping in for Karsten Kristiansen (KU), Niels Jessen (AU) is stepping in for Bjørn Richelsen (AU), Peter Langborg Wejse (Arla Amba) is stepping in for Harry Barraza (Arla Amba) and Matthew Walker (Arla Amba) is stepping in for Mette Børsting Hofman (Arla Amba) in the Steering Committee. This has been approved by all members of the Sponsor Group and will be effective as of Jan 1st 2018. On behalf of AFH I want to say a warm thank you for your efforts to Karsten, Bjørn, Harry and Mette.

Call for 2018 expressions of interest

We were very happy that we received sixteen Expressions of Interest for the 2018 call in Arla Food for Health.

The Steering Committee and the Scientific Advisory board are now in the process of evaluating the suggested projects. We expect to have a final decision on funding by end of year 2017. All Principle Investigators will receive information on whether their project is funded or not. The funded projects will also be published on this page.

Update on funded projects

The DAIRYMAT project started  in 2017 and the aim of the project is to deduce the role of the dairy food matrix, when nutrient composition is kept constant in relation to digestion and uptake of lipids with emphasis on postprandial lipaemia. Previous studies have suggested that intake of similar amounts of lipid from semi-hard cheese compared to butter, results in altered lipid digestion and uptake. Different dairy structures ranging from liquid to viscous liquid to semi-solid and solid, but with identical macronutrients, are initially produced in lab and pilot scale at Aarhus University and Arla Foods. These structures are represented by e.g. an analogue milk, a cheese of homogenized milk, a blended cheese, an analogue cheese, and a cheese with fractionated milk fat globules. The reference matrix is decided to be a semi-hard Cheddar cheese, and these initial structures modulates both the protein network as well as the fat globule size and structure. The samples will be studied by in vitro digestion, determination of free fatty acid release, rheological characterization, microstructure by confocal microscopy and solid fat content by low-field NMR measurements. Based on these results, a total of 3 samples of interest will be compared with the reference Cheddar cheese in an in vivo human study in late 2018 carried out at  University of Copenhagen. A range of parameters and metabolites will be analyzed at Copenhagen and Aarhus University in postprandial blood samples, e.g. the difference in triglyceride concentration, free fatty acids, and furthermore, the participants subjective appetite sensation will be registered.

The OmniSaM project has finished a pre-study on satiating capacity of preloads varying in protein to carbohydrate ratio and energy content. The pre-study also included a perspective on the appropriate timespan between pre-load and ad libitum meal when conducting satiety studies using the preload-ad libitum paradigm. Results from the study are used in the multimodal study aiming at conducting a multimodal metric to predict satiety. The project has finished sensory descriptive analysis of preloads varying in protein to carbohydrate ratio and energy content. The work with conducting a multimodal metric to predict satiety has begun and data collection will continue over a year.

The STIMMUNE project, which focuses on a bioactive milk diet to stimulate gut immune defense in infants born with perinatal inflammation, is now half way through the project period. It includes establishment of a prenatal and neonatal infection model in pigs followed by testing of dietary CGMP and osteopontin in the prenatal infection model and colostrum in neonatal infection model, and initial recruitment phase of a preterm infant trial in China. Preliminary results indicate  several gut protective effects of dietary CGMP (e.g. increased gut digestive enzymatic activities and reduced diarrhea) and osteopontin (e.g.  tendency to lower incidence of gut lesions and diarrhea). Global -omic analyses are currently ongoing, and plasma samples are collected from the infant trial until end of 2018. A manuscript about the neonatal infection model has been submitted for publication and manuscripts on the prenatal model and the proteomic analysis are under preparation.

The MAGMAM study investigates the effect of milk protein and milk permeate in acute malnourished children. As the clinical trial is carried out with collaborators in Uganda the finalization of all agreements takes a long time. However, the agreement between AFH partners is in place and there is good progress with the two remaining contracts between UCph and Nutriset and Makerere University, respectively.

The CutDM project on effect of a reduced carbohydrate/higher protein diet on blood sugar control in type 2 diabetic patients is progressing according to the plan. All participants have now finalized clinical examinations and this part of the study in closing down. Proudly, this study had a drop-out of only 2 out of 30 even though the number of examinations and samples were massive. Analysis of samples and results is now intensified as is planning and drafting of manuscripts. The preliminary results look very promising and it is an exciting period the project enters now.

The ENMET project has been extended to run until February 2019. Due to technical problems, ENMET2 suffered a 3 month delay. Fortunately, the delay will have no impact on subsequent experiments, so we expect to finish on time. The first results on the beneficial effects of milk proteins on mice metabolism & gut health should be ready by April 2018. Clamp and MR-Hyperpolarisation experiments will initiate at AU-Health in the beginning of the new year, and we expect to have the first results in June 2018. The final approvals from the Animal Experiments Inspectorate have been acquired, so we can start breeding transgenic mice for the last experiments in the beginning of 2018. All in all, we expect 2018 will bring lots of exciting results and we should be able to write up some really interesting papers by the end of the year.

Update on midway evaluation

We received the The Innovation Capability Assessment results (based on  A Maturity Model for Innovation Management by Garthner) from “The Innovation Board”. As earlier mentioned this evaluation was based on qualitative interviews and quantitative questionnaires with a range of people across different levels of the four entities in Arla Food for Health.

The evaluation included performance within five areas: Strategy and Intent, Processes and Practices, Culture and People, Organization and Infrastructure and Partnerships and Open Innovation. We scored really well in this assessment – a score of 4 out of 5 which brings us on a first place in Denmark and among the top 8% of the 242 organizations assessed using this model. This is a result that we should be really proud of.

Despite the good result the Steering Committee and the Sponsor Group have decided on some actions that we are in the process of implementing to bring Arla Food for Health to the next level.

Arla Food for Health Conference

The venue for the Arla Food for Health conference will be the Mærsk Tower in Copenhagen this year. We will move it to a later date in May due to the Mærsk Tower being closed for accommodation on the 1st of May.

As soon as we have the final date we will send out an invitation.

Arla Food for Health communication group

We have started up the Arla Food for Health communication group and are working on a communication plan for Arla Food for Health. We expect to present this to the Steering Committee in Q1 2018. The communication group comprises communication people from each AFH entity, namely Kristian Levring Madsen from NEXS, UCph, Claus Bo Andreasen, DCA, AU, Anne Høst Stenbæk, AFI and Carina Østergaard, AF amba.