Research Programmes
For a general introduction and overview of our research see About
Scottish Government funded research Healthy, safe diets
Gut Health Theme - Leader Prof. Harry Flint
The gut is a hard-working organ that is primarily the site for digestion of food and absorption of nutrients. From birth, however, it becomes colonised by a diverse collection of microorganisms that reach especially high densities, of more than 100 billion cells /gram, in the adult large intestine. These microorganisms utilise compounds such as dietary fibre for growth, in the process supplying additional energy and nutrients to the body. They can also contribute to disease, however, and the gut mucosa and the immune system provide crucial barriers that prevent access of harmful microbes to the systemic circulation.
Our research is concerned with understanding how different components of the diet, such as plant fibre, influence human gut disorders such as colorectal cancer, inflammatory bowel disease and irritable bowel syndrome. This involves revealing the influence of diet on the intestinal microbiota, and the interactions of key species with the host, using our combined expertise in nutritional chemistry, anaerobic microbiology, molecular ecology and immunology within the Gut Health Division. The aim is to inform the development of foods and dietary advice that will help to prevent and/or treat gut disorders, while also benefiting general health. Related research on gut microbiota of farm animals is concerned with improving the health-promoting properties of food products, while reducing the environmental impact of production.
Obesity and Metabolic Health Theme - Leader Prof. Julian Mercer
Obesity now constitutes a major public health problem across the developed and developing world. Overweight and obesity results when calories ingested as food in excess of energy expenditure requirements are stored as triglyceride, mainly in adipose tissue (body fat). Excess body fat is associated with a number of metabolic diseases such as type II diabetes and cardiovascular disease that have a major impact on longevity and quality of life. Although a number of drugs have reached the market for the treatment of obesity, most of these have subsequently been withdrawn due to the emergence of unacceptable side-effects. This has provided additional impetus to attempts to develop dietary strategies for the obesogenic environment, and specifically for a food solution to address the issue of over-consumption of calories and the consequences of this.
Our research is focussed around mechanisms of hunger and satiety, diets that limit caloric intake and promote metabolic health, and understanding and combating the adverse metabolic consequences of obesity, including the influence of early life nutritional experiences on the programming of these deleterious outcomes. The aims are to help identify sustainable diets that encourage weight loss, and to characterise aspects of the food-gut-brain axis that may be amenable to beneficial manipulation, and how these change across the life course. A key life course issue is maternal and infant nutrition and the programming events that take place in early life, and in particular how to manage nutritionally vulnerable pregnancies. Here our research has direct relevance to public health policy. In addition, it is recognised that effective interventions to limit the progress of the obesity epidemic will have a strong community-based component. Accordingly, we are engaged in evaluating public health policy initiatives and in developing tools to allow accurate assessment of the effects of such interventions on dietary and physical activity habits.
Go to Obesity and Metabolic Health
Life Long Health Theme - Leader Prof. Paul Haggarty
Life expectancy is increasing across the globe but this success comes at a cost. Poor health in later life is putting an increasing strain on health and social care budgets and there is a need to ensure that physical and mental health is maintained as long as possible into old age. Some individuals are genetically predisposed to health and longevity but there is a growing awareness of the importance of diet throughout the life course. Our research is designed to identify the health benefits of foods and food components, and the ways in which diet can promote health and healthy ageing.
Over the life course our nutritional needs change and the way in which we respond to different nutrients is also stage dependent. We investigate the ways in which nutrition at different life stages can determine health, and even how the diet of one generation may influence the health of the next. We study the links between food and health in large scale observational studies involving thousands of subjects, in human dietary intervention studies, and in model systems. We investigate the health effects of specific foods, nutrients and bioactive components such as phytochemicals. We also study the way in which diet and behaviour interacts with genes to determine human health and cognition, and the mediating role of epigenetics. Health and life expectancy are strongly related to socioeconomic status but the causal links are poorly understood; we study the role of diet in this relationship. We also carry out research on the importance of behaviours such as physical activity in promoting health and consider the wider societal implications of food choices, including the consequences for sustainability.