Nutrition research

Germans eat food that is too fatty, too sweet and too salty, but above all, they eat too much. As a consequence, about a third of our health costs are due to diseases which are the result of faulty nutrition. New findings on how to prevent nutritional diseases and positively influence such diseases, as well as on how to prevent chronic diseases by developing novel foods are at the centre of two major BMBF research priorities.

According to official studies, Germans eat food that is too fatty, too sweet and too salty, but above all, they eat too much. As a consequence, about 50% of adults are overweight. Approximately a third of our health costs are due to diseases which are the result of faulty nutrition. The symptoms of these diseases are complex and diverse and differ from one individual to another. Nutrition is also considered to play a major role in the genesis and/or prevention of cancer.

The BMBF is funding nutrition research under two major priorities.

Three competence networks for molecular nutrition research were started in March 2002. They are searching for new findings on how to prevent nutritional diseases or diseases that are influenced by nutrition and on how to positively influence such diseases. Bio and genetic engineering methods provide opportunities for elucidating the complex interactions between nutrition and health as well as individual differences found at the molecular level. BMBF support is not only aimed at obtaining scientific findings regarding the health effect of nutrition, but also at eliminating existing deficits in the structure of the research landscape in the long run. Therefore, networks are being funded and additional professorships and working groups established at universities; they are to be continued even after the end of the funding period. Funding of the networks on molecular nutrition research will be provided for a period of seven years. Approximately €10 million have been made available for the first three years.

The aim of the lead project initiative "Nutrition - Modern Techniques of Food Production", which was launched in October 1999, is to promote the development of novel foods using innovative interdisciplinary research concepts as well as close cooperation between science and industry. By enriching or removing specific biologically active substances contained in food, the functional quality of such food - assuming consumption in normal quantities and with normal eating habits - is to be improved with a view to preventing chronic nutritional diseases (for example specific types of cancer, cardiovascular diseases). In addition, the controversial and emotionally charged dialogue between science, industry, consumers and policymakers on novel food is to be encouraged and put on a more objective basis, by pointing out the direct benefits of green biotechnology for consumers. Three pilot projects with a total of €24 million are being funded by the BMBF until 2004 within the framework of this lead project initiative.