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- Major food, hunger and brain study launched
Major food, hunger and brain study launched
Physiologists from the University’s Centre for Integrative Physiology are participating in a major international study determining the links between the gut, the brain and food consumption.
The new €9M European Union funded project brings together scientists from 19 European laboratories to investigate how our bodies respond to food at different stages in our lives.
The five year study aims to fill gaps in our understanding of the relationship between food, the gut and our brain and how this regulates our feelings of hunger and satiety.
As well as leading to a greater understanding of signalling between the gut and the brain, it is hoped that the findings will help inform the food industry as to how food could be formulated to help tackle obesity and under-nutrition.
The University of Edinburgh group, led by Prof Mike Shipston and Prof Gareth Leng, will use state of the art optical, genetic, electrophysiological and behavioural techniques to examine the role of neurones involved in the sensing of energy balance and the initiation of food intake.
The Full4Health project brings together researchers from the University's Centre for Integrative Physiology plus partners in Aberdeen, Cambridge, Leeds, Greece, the Netherlands, Norway, France, Germany and Denmark.
Professor Julian Mercer, of the University of Aberdeen Rowett Institute for Nutrition and Health, is coordinating the study.
"Quite a lot is known about the signalling between the gut and the brain which tells us when we feel full, although research has tended to overlook some parts the brain that are involved in this signal integration. We want to piece together all these different elements and see how they all interact with each other. Ultimately we would like to be able to harness the power of our natural physiology, and our complex interactions with food, to demonstrate the potential of a food solution to the health problems of over- and under-consumption of calories throughout our lives."
Professor Julian Mercer
Rowett Institute for Nutrition and Health
This article was published on Mar 3, 2011