Dual approach to dairy research holds promise
by Michèle Nardelli
UniSA’s
Nutritional Physiology Research Centre will be a key partner in
research into functional foods as part of a state to state agreement
with Manitoba, Canada and South Australia designed to spearhead
collaborative research.
The agreement was signed by the Premiers at an official function in February attended by Vice Chancellor Professor Peter Høj.
Director of UniSA’s Nutritional Physiology Research Centre, Professor Peter Howe, says this new research collaboration with the University of Manitoba’s Richardson Centre for Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals will be funded for 3 years under the bilateral agreement, which will be further enhanced by a memorandum of understanding signed between the collaborating universities.
Professor Howe’s team will work with researchers from Manitoba to conduct clinical trials to assess whether increased consumption of dairy protein can improve body composition and counteract disease in at-risk individuals.
"The increase in abdominal obesity and accompanying risk factors for diabetes and cardiovascular disease are placing a significant burden on populations globally," Prof Howe said.
"Early concerns about dairy fat and its association with high cholesterol have taken their toll on the dairy industry, but more recent observations suggest that the protein in dairy may actually offer important cardiovascular and metabolic health benefits. We want to take a closer look at dairy protein and work out what components may deliver these health benefits."
The dual-state 12 month trial to be conducted in Adelaide and Winnipeg will compare the regular consumption of low fat dairy products with a habitual diet which is low in dairy on the anthropometry, body composition, blood lipids, glucose, insulin, blood pressure and other select cardiometabolic risk factors in 100 adult participants.
"Stage two of the project will use technology in Manitoba to fractionate the dairy protein so that we can identify and evaluate the bioactive components in animal studies at the Canadian Centre for Agri-Food Research in Health and Medicine and in further human trials," Prof Howe says.
This collaborative project will parallel other functional food research supported by the bilateral agreement which aims to enhance Brassica (canola). This joint investment in agricultural research is aimed at providing solutions for increased environmental and human health and sustainability for South Australians, Manitobans and people around the world.