MET is dedicated to advancing the sciences of nutrition and sport in collaboration with industry and to maximising healthy outcomes in the Irish population.
Nutrition and health are important drivers in food sales, driven by the increasing consumer demand for healthy food and drink products.
The concept of medicinal nutrition encompasses functional foods and foods for health. The research team at MET can help the food industry in all aspects of novel food development with particular expertise in testing the effects of food on human health.
Testing Available:
- Metabolic testing: Glycaemic Index (GI assessment and certification, identification and development of low GI foods) and glycaemic response
- Cognitive testing: effects of food and its components on mood, reaction time, concentration, memory, stress tolerance
- Antioxidant assays: bioaccessibility and bioavailability; antioxidant profiles, stability and antioxidant capacity
- Other food assays: quantification and isolation of individual food components; plant-based bioactives (e.g. seaweed extracts, β-glucans and other prebiotics)
- Food intake studies: effects of food and its components on food intake, appetite and satiety
- Sensory testing: Sensory analysis: taste, appearance, flavour, aroma, and texture evaluation; discrimination testing, analytical trials, descriptive analysis, trained panel testing, competitor testing/bench marking and troubleshooting
- Consumer testing: consumer testing, at home consumer testing, packaging, focus group studies
- Product development: recipe development and modification, competitor analysis, benchmarking studies, process analysis, packaging analysis, instrumental analysis, shelf-life studies: optimisation and extension
- Packaging, Branding & Regulation: Nutritional analysis, on package labelling, allergen information, food photography and styling
- Human Interventional Trials: Strictly controlled experiments on human volunteers for one day to several weeks; long-term studies of up to 6 months or longer on human volunteers, with measures taken either in-house or amongst free-living populations; randomised controlled trials
