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One eye on the plate and the other on the future
Awareness that diseases begin in the womb increases demand for functional foods

LUIZ SUGIMOTO

Professor Valdemiro Sgarbieri: “Our mission is to develop the S&T base”

PNo matter how voracious they are at the table, anyone who passed by the Unicamp Convention Center last week would be influenced to rethink their diet.

For four days, two thousand people crammed into the three halls, hearing practically everything about food trends for the century that is just beginning, with the presentation of recent research involving aroma and flavor, microbiology, technological innovation, bioactive compounds, food quality and safety, biochemistry, projects to combat hunger, genome and transgenics. In one way or another, researchers from 23 countries present at the 5th Slaca – Latin American Symposium on Food Science, fell into a recurring theme: functional foods.

“We know today that health problems in adulthood begin in the mother's womb”, recalls professor Valdemiro Carlos Sgarbieri, from the Faculty of Food Engineering (FEA) at Unicamp. “The main motivation for the development of functional foods, which has increased in recent years, is the recognition of the relationship between nutrition and disease, not only with the current state of health, but with the future state, including the risk of chronic diseases and degenerative in middle age, until old age”, adds professor Franco Lajolo, from the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at USP.

There is still no legislation that provides a definition of what constitutes functional food. The concept that is established in the world is that of a food similar to conventional food, which is part of but does not replace the usual diet, capable of producing proven metabolic or physiological effects for good physical and mental health, helping to reduce the risk of non-communicable diseases. “One objective of the researchers, for example, is to investigate the diet of populations that have a lower incidence of cancer and cardiovascular diseases, looking for foods that are important for reducing risk,” says Lajolo.

In Brazil, according to the professor, there tends to be a separation between functional foods and nutraceuticals – most commonly used in the form of tablets concentrating bioactive ingredients such as fiber, lactobacilli, flavonoids, carotenoids, phytosteroids and fatty acids. The professor highlights the importance of genetic engineering to increase the content of functional components and develop new products. “Despite the controversy, we have a highly effective instrument for the inclusion of nutrients, such as beta-carotene – essential for preventing blindness – in golden rice, increased lycopene and flavonoid content in various fruits, production of milk and vaccine formulation”, he illustrates.
Lajolo notes that despite biochemical, clinical and epidemiological evidence on the importance of such compounds in preventing diseases, whether ingested as food or supplements, there is still a need to establish a scientific consensus that supports government policies for their use. “Today, fewer people die from infectious diseases and more from cancer and cardiovascular problems. As we are living longer, public health costs are increasing, which makes any reduction in these diseases important,” he argues.

Professor Franco Lajolo: recognition of the relationship between nutrition and disease

Omega 3 – The first functional food registered in Brazil was margarine with phytosterol added, capable of reducing cholesterol by around 10%. Professor Jorge Mancini Filho, also from the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at USP, is also paying attention to the introduction of Omega series fatty acids in milk and dairy products. “Eskimos show a low incidence of circulatory problems, despite consuming 45% of lipids [cholesterol and triglycerides] in the diet, when the recommended maximum is 30%. The basis of their diet is fish, which in turn feeds on algae rich in fatty acids”, says the researcher.

Mancini Filho states that fatty acids are important for the development of the nervous system, but the speed of incorporation into the brain is slow, especially during intrauterine life and in the first ten weeks of the newborn, who has not yet formed his enzyme system. “It is essential for the child to receive these acids through breastfeeding, taking care of a diet suitable for the mother, with the consumption of fish and foods enriched with the Omega series, such as milk, eggs, pasta and margarine”, advises the researcher. Fatty acids also act on the retina, increasing its sensitivity to light from the photoreceptors.

C&T – “As gray hair appears, our concern about the usefulness of what we are doing increases”, says professor Valdemiro Carlos Sgarbieri. In a lecture at the 5th Slaca, the researcher spoke about the effort of the Brazilian scientific community to reorganize the Science & Technology system, through funding and development agencies. He regretted, however, that the food sector has not been receiving due priority.

“Today I think of food science, food technology and nutrition more as a mission, and less as areas of individualized, disciplinary research. Our mission is to develop the technological and scientific base so that companies in the sector can develop foods that are truly useful for society”, preaches Sgarbieri. The professor focuses this vision on functional foods, defending collaboration and interaction between Brazilian researchers in multidisciplinary teams. “I visited Coca-Cola's headquarters in Atlanta and heard from marketing professionals that their job was simply to talk, as brilliant ideas emerge even from a seemingly wasted conversation. So in a private company, why don’t we researchers talk?”, he asks.

Professor Jorge Mancini Filho, from USP: introduction of fatty acids in milk and dairy products

Valdemiro Sgarbieri suggests prioritizing three major areas of research in food: phytochemicals, to alleviate the problems of oxidation and free radicals; the development of foods and the study of factors that lead to obesity; and a third, focused on the consequences of obesity, such as cardiovascular diseases and cancer. “I was comforted by the news that the European community, as a whole, organized 73 scientists in an endeavor around functional foods. If health problems in adulthood begin in the mother's womb, there is a need to carry out research that has a beginning, middle and end, forming specialized groups in different areas so that research complements each other, rather than getting lost in the universe of published work. ”, he observes.

According to the FEA professor, Europeans prioritize research with food substrates, verifying how numerous substances modulate our metabolism and how this can result in health benefits. They are also attentive to the cardiovascular system, as most of the disease-triggering agents are known, but not all the important mechanisms and dietary factors.
“Another priority is the physiology of the intestine, through which between 1 and 1,5 tons of food passes each year. The intestine is a highly efficient processing machine, responsible for selecting what should or should not enter the body”, explains the researcher. Finally, the European community is interested in working on behavioral and psychological functions, in the face of diseases of the modern world such as insomnia and stress. “We know little about how food influences these phenomena”, he notes.

Fragments – Valdemiro Sgarbieri states that, in Brazil, a large amount of data has already been generated on factors and control of chronic and degenerative diseases, but it is worrying that they are fragmented, forcing researchers to turn to literature to collect information, which is often not are accessible to the industry. Regarding the development of ingredients and functional foods, the professor cites the delay in relation to a specific group, premature children and early weaning children. “To date, the composition of breast milk has not been safely described, as it varies depending on the mother’s diet during the gestational period. If the concern is the development of babies, we don’t know what to do and we don’t have the technology to produce a substitute,” he concludes.

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