NEW PROJECT: Bioactive compounds from blackcurrant processing waste for brain health

Thursday, 09 April 2009 15:33

The BrainHealthFood -project will address the key bioactive compounds present in blackcurrants that may possess neuroprotective properties, and thus provide novel functional ingredients to formulate berry and fruit juices and other food products which may help to prevent Alzheimer's disease. The consortium includes leading experts from different European countries representing strong experience in bioactive chemistry, metabolomics and neurology.

The project aims to identify the polyphenolic compounds and fractions from blackcurrant possessing the strongest neuroprotective properties in vitro, to determine the ability of these fractions and polyphenolic compounds to improve cognitive behaviour in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease, and to investigate the bioavailability of the major polyphenols from the polyphenolic enriched blackcurrant material in a short-term clinical trial. Furthermore, direct fractionation of a CO2 extract to obtain pure polyphenolic target compounds from blackcurrant processing waste will be developed. Eventually, this project helps SMEs in the development of special berry and other juice products for European and international markets for reducing the risk of Alzheimer's disease.

The two-year project is funded by EU and carried out by University of Kuopio and MTT, in collaboration with partners from UK, Germany, Poland and Spain. It is coordinated by research director Reijo Karjalainen, Department of Biosciences, University of Kuopio.

Project's home page: http://www.uku.fi/brainhealthfood/

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