Arla Food For Health Newsletter – February 2020

ARLA FOOD FOR HEALTH CALL 2019 

Matrix characterization and effect of different types fermented dairy products on liver fat, cardiometabolic risk and gut microbiome in men with metabolic syndrome (FerMetS) with the objective to characterize the matrix of different types of fermented dairy products and investigate their effects on liver fat, cardio metabolic risk and gut microbiome when compared with a dairy-control in men with metabolic syndrome. Principal Investigator Arne Astrup, Professor, University of Copenhagen. Points of contact Arla Food for Health Steering Committee Peter Langborg Wejse, Arla Food Ingredient Henrik Jørgen Andersen​ and Arla Foods Amba Anja Serena​.  

A randomized controlled trial of effects of DAIry PROtein products on liver disease severity and metabolism in patients with Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (DAIPRO-NAFLD) with the objective to investigate the effects of novel dairy protein products on liver disease severity and metabolism in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). This may procure novel treatments and dietary guidelines for patients with NAFLD and holds potential for extrapolation to obesity and diabetes. Principal Investigator Henning Grønbæk, Professor, Aarhus University. Points of contact Arla Food for Health Steering Committee Jørn Wulff Helge, Arla Food Ingredient Ann Bjørnshave​ and Arla Foods Amba Kasper Faarkrog Høyer​.  

The CutDM mealbox with the objective to examine whether 12 months of provision of a carbohydrate-reduced high-protein (CRHP) diet as compared to dietary counseling to follow a CRHP diet or provision of a conventional diabetes (CD) diet can reduce medication and improve blood glucose control and key risk factors for metabolic and cardiovascular disease in patients with T2D. Principal Investigator Thure Krarup, Professor, University of Copenhagen. Points of contact Arla Food for Health Steering Committee Henrik Jørgen Andersen, Arla Food Ingredient  Henrik Jørgen Andersen ​and Arla Foods Amba Lea Brader. 

ARLA FOOD FOR HEALTH CONFERENCE 

CONTINUATION OF ARLA FOOD FOR HEALTH 

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NEWS FROM PROJECTS 

D-PRO: D-pro – effects of milk protein and vitamin D on children’s growth and health: 200 Danish 6-8-year-old children are now enrolled in the study and all of the baseline visits have been conducted, with measurements of the children’s bone health, height, muscle strength and collection of blood samples for analysis of nutrient status and cardiometabolic health. The children are now eating Skyr (high protein) or yoghurt (medium protein) and vitamin D or placebo tablets daily for 24 weeks. Compliance is monitored regularly when the parents pick up the milk products at the university every second or third week, and they answer a questionnaire about airway infections every month. Meanwhile, the baseline data is being processed. The end-point visits will be held from the beginning of February until Easter, thus concluding the data collection. 

MAINHEALTH: In MAINHEALTH we are still in the early start-up phase, with a current large emphasis on recruiting participants to our clinical observation trial. In recent months, we have accelerated the recruitment of study participants and we are now over half-way to our goal of 200 mother-infant dyads. We believe to be able to finish recruitment in February 2020. The first infants in our study have also arrived. Thus, the project now enters a new phase, as we are now also beginning to collect biological samples. 

OmniSaM: The project focuses on developing a metric to measure the satiating capacity of foods and drinks that has higher predictive value of energy consumption than current satiety measures. The metric is multimodal and made up by the modalities mainly involved in the satiety cascade, composing brain, blood and behavior. From these modalities we will gather: high-resolution neuroimaging data from the hypothalamus, the appetite hormonal and metabolite composition of the blood and subjective sensory indices of appetite as well as measures of eating behavior. The project has entered its final phase and data from each modality is being prepared and analysed. The data will lead to modality-specific reports of the neural-, endocrine- and behavioral response of satiety and a multi-modal metric predicting energy consumption.  

The three Arla Food for Health projects CutDM, InfantBrain and Stimmune have now been finalized and we have had evaluation meetings or have them in the calendar in the near future. 

Research from Arla Food for Health in media headlines 

Patients with type 2 diabetes improve their ability to regulate their blood sugar levels if they eat food with a reduced carbohydrate content and an increased share of protein and fat. This was shown by researchers from the CutDM study conducted at Bispebjerg Hospital in collaboration with the universities in Aarhus and Copenhagen.  

The findings were contrary to the conventional dietary recommendations for type 2 diabetics and this information was the key message in the press release and the additional activities. It was all prepared in a close collaboration between the communication unit at Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports at University of Copenhagen and the Principal Investigator (PI) of CutDM; Senior Consultant, DMSc Thure Krarup, MD together with other researchers participating in the project. 

This approach resulted in substantial coverage in the media led off by the Danish national newspaper Politiken who wrote a large double-paged article, up lining the development of the dietary advices for diabetics since the seventies and saying that ‘Four decades of dietary advices for diabetics are wrong’. 

The national Danish media enterprise Danmarks Radio interviewed Thure Krarup in the early morning the day of the press release and covered the story in their news programs at radio and tv throughout the day. The Danish Diabetes Association published their own version after having interviewed Thure Krarup, and Mejeriforeningen (Danish Dairy Board) interviewed associate professor Thomas Meinert Larsen, who led the dietary interventions at Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports, and published a piece about the dairy ingredients in the diet for diabetics.   

The story also reached media in India, England, Sweden and the United States, among other countries. Since the press release was published the 10th of August there has been at least 150 ‘clips’ in international media and the mentions haven’t stopped yet. This way, new dietary insights from an Arla Food for Health project became relevant for diabetics all over the world. For further information about the communication effort please contact Kristian Levring Madsen from Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports at University of Copenhagen; kma@nexs.ku.dk 

Anne Louise Mørkbak, Director Arla Food for Health