The prevalence of metabolic syndrome is ca 30 % in the Norwegian population. Type 2 diabetes is preventable by beneficial lifestyle - especially by dietary changes. The basic mechanisms by which dietary factors are involved in the pathogenesis of obesity, insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases are, however, poorly understood.
The main objectives of Centre of Excellence SYSDIET are
- to achieve a coordinated effort for exploiting nutrigenomics (systems biology) tools in human dietary interventions, animal and cell culture studies,
- to identify novel mechanisms by which Nordic foods and diets could be modified to promote health and prevent chronic diseases.
The expected outcomes of the Centre of Excellence SYSDIET are
- to build a Nordic consortium of nutritional systems biology platform of genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics and bioinformatics skills with Nordic expertise to carry out multi-centre dietary interventions and associated animal and cell studies,
- increasing the competence and competitiveness of Nordic countries in the break-through nutrition research and develop strategies to prevent and treat chronic diseases that are based on solid knowledge on nutritional factors, and
- education of top-level scientists for this field.
Relevant assumptions are that constituents of the Nordic diet, such as whole grains, fruits, berries, fish and dairy products, will probably reveal novel protective features, and thereby prove to have beneficial and protective effects in preventing illness and the development of metabolic syndrome and chronic disorders. National fundings will be applied to conduct a SYSDIET multicenter human dietary intervention study.
Collaboration brings increased competitiveness
It is mandatory in the future to conduct large dietary intervention studies using nutrigenomics/systems biology approaches to obtain definite answers to the relevant scientific questions. SYSDIET offers a unique expertise Centre for these purposes, combining research groups able to carry out clinical interventions and large scale cohort studies in combination with groups conducting mechanistic animal studies and further, being able to analyse them at different levels of physiology. This expertise and skills are combined with detailed knowledge about the foods, quality of the diet and how the dietary modifications can be translated into products creating commercial potential for the food industry and related industries.
Contributing expertise on dietary compounds, bioactivity of foods on humans, biomarkers and bioinformatics
Nofima Mat is contributing to several areas of the work in SYSDIET. We are contributing with knowledge on how selected factors in food production, storage and processing influence the behaviour of food bioactive constituents. The translation of food composition into intakes of specific dietary compounds is usually achieved using food composition tables and databases. These data are however, very little accurate because the nutrients in the foods are affected by origin, storage and processing and due to limited availability of food composition data and bias inherent to dietary assessment methods.
Measuring food-specific biological markers (biomarkers) of intake of certain bioactive compounds will be performed to strengthen the information of the accurate estimates of the intake. Analysing health effects of foods will be performed using both targeted metabolite analysis, such as blood lipids and urine isoprostanoids. Depending on the physiological response being measured, metabolomic techniques can be used to measure small molecule biomarkers of oxidative stress, inflammation and cardiovascular disease risk.
Our research is focused especially on plant based foods, lipids in oils and sea food products, fibers and selected bioactive compounds such as polyphenols (flavonoids and phenolic acids), polysaccharides, glucosinolates, carotenoids, tocopherols & tocotrienols and vitamins, in addition to lactic acid bacteria and gut microflora.
Nofima Mat's competence in data analysis and statistics plays a key role in the work of obtaining new and more detailed knowledge about how the food we eat affects the body and our cells. Using bioinformatics tools a more global perspective is obtained of the complex results from human interventions studies.
The knowledge built in SYSDIET could give the Norwegian food industry a better basis for further product development.
A systems biology approach
Using a systems biology approach to combine the results from levels of molecules, tissues and metabolites, it is possible to identify early biomarkers and other factors for disease pathogenesis before the classical markers are being altered. This is the level, where the role of beneficial dietary modifications might have the strongest impact with respect to early disease prevention. Modern and novel bioinformatics tools are needed to discover these changes.
Extensive organisation
SYSDIET is divided into four working groups:
Working Group 1 is led by professor Lars Dragsted of the University of Copenhagen. This group will analyse already existing data and samples from the planned multicentre intervention with new "omics" methods in order to search for early biomarkers for disease and health effects of foods.
Working Group 2 is led by professor Ulf Risérus of the University of Uppsala, and its objective is to share materials already collected (human, animal, cell) for joint analysis of diet-nutrition-gene interactions, molecular profiling and mechanistic studies, and plan new animal and cellular experiments.
Working Group 3 is led by professor Matti Uusitupa of the University of Kuopio. This group will organise a multi-centre and multi-national human intervention study based on the results from working groups 1 and 2.
Working Group 4 is led by assistant professor Stine Marie Ulven of Akershus University College. The core of SYSDIET is to organize research training, courses and workshops. SYSDIET will provide positions for visiting researchers, post doctors and PhD-students. The purpose is also to establish a Nordic graduate school for PhD-students at the field.
