Oct 10 2011 --- Should we be confident enough to recommend whole grain as a key part of our diet? Why should a portion of berries be a basic part of your weekly diet? Should we consume 27 glasses of beer or 50g of chocolate to obtain the same amount of anti-oxidants? With discussions on the importance of food and diet on health and accurate consumer information, key speakers gave an innovative perspective on how the content of food should be evaluated. Thoughts on what information should be passed on to the consumer provoked symposium attendees to re-evaluate their thoughts at a very pertinent time in the European calendar. Session 2 of ILSI Europe’s International Symposium on the Health Benefits of Foods kicked off with fascinating contributions and practical advice.

Cutting-edge research was combined with forward thinking as Professor Kaisa Poutanen of the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland began the conference’s second session by evaluating the way in which the effects that different foods have on the body is generally examined. Professor Poutanen insisted on the need for adequate information on food composition including chemical, physical and processing data to ease the comparison between studies and their reproducibility. On the other hand the variability of foods does not impair the value of epidemiological studies. There is a need for both sources on information to generate dietary guidelines. Using “whole grain” as an example, Professor Poutanen concluded that despite the lack of precision on its composition, we should be brave enough to consider and interpret existing science and thereby recommend the inclusion of whole grain in our daily diets.

Professor Aedín Cassidy from the University of East Anglia highlighted the importance of individual variability with the example of dietary flavonoids. She reported that bioavailability is different in young infants and that soy eaters should be clustered into equol- and non-equol producers to better explore the benefit of soy products. Professor Cassidy concluded the session by focusing on the role of flavonoids in managing Parkinson’s disease, cardiovascular diseases as well as the beneficial effect of chocolate on Type 2 Diabetes. She illustrated the diversity of flavonoids in the diet and emphasised the part of berries providing half (500mg) the recommended amount, hence recommending a minimum of one serving of berries per week. The use of endogenous labelling with stable isotopes to perform human studies was mentioned as a very useful tool in that complex area.

A new perspective on anti-oxidants was presented by Professor Barry Halliwell from the National University of Singapore explaining the role of oxidation and the reduction-oxidation (redox) system in balancing the oxidative challenges we have to live with. He presented the newly discovered role of oxidative damage in neurodegenerative diseases and cancer, pointing out that efficient experimental doses are not the large dose of a specific compound, but rather lower doses of multiple compounds in human studies. He presented a table of equivalence from C. Rice-Evans, where the same amount of anti-oxidant is provided by 6 apples, or 4.5 cups of tea, or 28 glasses of white wines, or 27 glasses of beer or 2 glasses of red wine, or 1.1 l of blackcurrant juice, or 50 g of dark chocolate, or 15 orange juices, or 7 onions. He ended by emphasising the impact of foods rich in anti-oxidant on the brain functions and suggesting that this involved a brain axis that is worthy of new exploration and research.