Latest Institute of Food Research Stories
Our gut is home to trillions of bacteria, numbering more than the cells in the rest of our body, and these bacteria help us to digest our food, absorb nutrients and strengthen our immune system. This complex bacterial ecosystem, called the gut microbiota, also helps to prevent bad bacteria from colonizing our bodies and making us ill. As part of the symbiotic relationship between the gut microbiota and our bodies, the bacteria derive nutrition from our food and convert it into compounds...
A new technique based on atomic force microscopy was developed at the Institute of Food Research to help ‘read’ information encoded in the gut lining. The lining of our gut is an important barrier between the outside world and our bodies. Laid out, the gut lining would cover the area of a football pitch. It must let nutrients from our foods through, but prevent invasion by disease-causing bacteria, at the same time hosting the trillions of beneficial bacteria needed for proper...
Norwich BioScience Institutes [ Watch The Video ] A rumbling tummy is our body's way of telling us "it's time for lunch". Likewise, bacteria need to know when it's time to eat. Researchers at the Institute of Food Research on the Norwich Research Park have uncovered how the food-borne bacterial pathogen Campylobacter jejuni can change its swimming behavior to find a location with more food. Campylobacter is the most common cause of bacterial food-borne illness in the UK, with...
Researchers at the Institute of Food Research have tested a new technique to ensure fresh produce is free of bacterial contamination. Plasmas are a mix of highly energetic particles created when gases are excited by an energy source. They can be used to destroy bacteria but as new research shows, some can hide from its effects in the microscopic surface structures of different foods. Eating fresh fruit and vegetables is promoted as part of a healthy lifestyle, and consumers are...
University of Notre Dame network physicists Mária Ercsey-Ravasz and Zoltán Toroczkai of the Interdisciplinary Center for Network Science and Applications, in collaboration with food science experts, have recently published a rigorous analysis of the international food-trade network that shows the network's vulnerability to the fast spread of contaminants as well as the correlation between known food poisoning outbreaks and the centrality of countries on the network. Together with food...
Shoppers looking for heart-healthy vegetables are now able to choose a new variety of broccoli with increased levels of a key phytonutrient. The new broccoli, which will be known as Beneforté, was developed from publicly-funded research at two of the UK’s world-leading biological research institutes, the Institute of Food Research (IFR) and the John Innes Centre. Scientists at the two institutes are working to develop our understanding of what it is about broccoli that makes it a...
Researchers from the Institute of Food Research and The Genome Analysis Centre have published the genome sequence of a gut bacterium, to help understand how these organisms evolved their symbiotic relationships with their hosts.The relationship between gut bacteria and the gastrointestinal tract is one of IFR's main research areas. Key to understanding the role of bacteria in establishing and maintaining gut health is knowledge of how the very close relationship between the bacteria and their...
Scientists on the Norwich Research Park have sequenced the genome of a novel strain of Clostridium botulinum, one of the most dangerous pathogens known to man. The strain produces an unusual botulinum neurotoxin, known as type A5 neurotoxin, which was isolated by the Health Protection Agency (HPA), following a case of wound botulism.Professor Mike Peck and his research group at the Institute of Food Research (IFR) study Clostridium botulinum. Their expertise is crucial for preventing food...
Step towards designing fats that are digested more slowlyInstitute of Food Research scientists have discovered an unexpected synergy that helps break down fat. The discovery provides a focus to find ways to slow down fat digestion, and ultimately to create food structures that induce satiety."Much of the fat in processed foods is eaten in the form of emulsions such as soups, yoghurt, ice cream and mayonnaise,"" said Dr Peter Wilde from the Institute of Food Research, an...
Scientists have crystallised a protein that may help gut bacteria bind to the gastrointestinal tract. The protein could be used by probiotic producers to identify strains that are likely to be of real benefit to people."Probiotics need to interact with cells lining the gut to have a beneficial effect, and if they attach to surfaces in the gut they are more likely to stick around long enough to exert their activity," says Dr Nathalie Juge from the Institute of Food Research. IFR is...
