Interest Group in Food Lipidomics

Why food lipidomics?

Lipids are crucial nutrients and functional ingredients in food, yet they have not received as much attention as proteins and carbohydrates. This oversight is largely due to a limited understanding of their composition and significance to food quality and human health. The food lipidome is complex, featuring a diverse range of lipid molecules with specific compositions, which poses significant challenges for lipid analysis and results in a gap in our knowledge about these components. Advancing research on food lipidomes and accurately integrating lipidomic information into food and nutrition science is crucial for formulating precise dietary recommendations and health assessments. Additionally, a robust science-based foundation is essential for enhancing food production, improving nutritional science, and meeting consumer expectations for informed dietary choices.

Food lipidomics encompasses a wide array of topics related to the study of lipids in food and their impacts on human nutrition and health, which is vital for leveraging knowledge on food lipids, supporting dietary recommendations and consumer choices, and promoting more sustainable food production from a broad societal perspective.

Goals

  • Build a Collaborative Network: Assemble a network of researchers and professionals across Europe with a shared focus on advancing research in food lipidomics.
  • Enhance Lipidomic Understanding: Improve the understanding of food lipidomics through advancements in lipid analysis techniques, lipid metabolism, lipid biochemistry, and their applications in food science and nutrition.
  • Advance Scientific Innovation: Drive innovation and research development in the industry to contribute to improvements in food quality, safety, and human health.

Main lines of interest

Optimize lipid analysis techniques for food samples and standardize protocols to ensure consistency and reproducibility.

Fully identify and quantify all lipid types in various food sources to support healthy dietary choices.

Investigate the health benefits and bioavailability of specific bioactive lipids for wellness and chronic disease management.

Explore sustainable alternatives like algae, insects, and special crops for dietary lipids to diversify food sources.

Study how processing and storage affect the lipid content and nutritional value of foods.

Research the chemical and biochemical reactions of lipid oxidation in foods, its impact on food quality, and health implications.

Understand how lipid molecular structures influence the sensory properties of fats, oils, and food products.

Use lipidomic techniques for food product authentication, detecting adulteration, and tracing food origins.

Activities

  • Website
  • Regular meetings of Board or core group
  • Webinars, seminars, and symposia within conferences
  • Joint research, joint funding application, COST actions
  • Joint researcher training (doctoral researchers and postdocs)
  • Promote researcher mobility, student & teacher exchange (ERASMUS, EC2U, and other)

Who we want to target

  • Academia

    Research and education/training

  • Stakeholders

    Food industry, food producers, nutrition, quality analysis & control labs, regulation, and standardization agencies

Main Contacts

Rosário Domingues

mrd@ua.pt

Baoru Yang

bayang@utu.fi

Laura Righetti

laura.righetti@wur.nl

Zipora Tietel

tietel@volcani.agri.gov.il

CA19105 – Pan-European Network in Lipidomics and EpiLipidomics

CSO Approval Date: 24 March 2020
Start Date: 13 October 2020
End Date: 12 October 2024
EpiLipidNET aims to build and maintain a multidisciplinary pan-European network of researchers, clinicians and enterprises working in the field of lipidomics and epilipidomics to boost a hub of research excellence, advanced knowledge and technology transfer, to promote high level of training for young researchers and facilitate clinical translation.