Ateneo - UPO

- Regulatory framework in Europe and Italy (food supplements, botanicals, novel foods, food enriched with vitamins and minerals, labelling, nutritional and health claims)
- Bioactivity and bioactive compounds
- Nutraceutical and nutrigenomic studies: case studies
- Bioactive compounds: case studies
- Botanicals
- Food Supplements: classification
- Claims: examples of labels
- Sustainable alternative techniques for estraction/fractionation/sanitization; formulation strategies
- Bioavailability
- Food and ingredient design: strategies.

The slides and material used during the course will be provided by the Teacher. Web sites (EFSA, Italian Health Ministry, EU) .

The course aims to complete the skills related to the knowledge in Food Area. The themes correlated to the bioactivity of natural compounds from foods, especially those already used in the formulation of food supplements and functional foods, the regulatory framework regarding these products, the “claims” of food and food supplements as well as the botanicals criticisms will be the core subject of the Course. Some case studies (from EFSA data base) and some labels will be discussed in class, in order to improve the knowledge of students in this area.

We recommend the acquisition of knowledge about the courses of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry, Food Products, Products for particular nutrition and new services in Pharmacy.

The teaching method used provides lessons on the main topics of the field, completed by the discussion of particular case studies. The discussion of the case studies, aimed at concretizing the student's understanding of the issues in question by critically, will allow the student to independently apply the acquired notions. Specific seminars may be organized in collaboration with teachers and industry experts.

Due to the Covid-19 emergency, lessons will be partially conducted in attendance; all lessons will be streamed online (Google Meet) according to scheduled time. The material used will be published as a pdf file on DIR and made available to the students.
Additional flipped classes (quizzes on DIR on material provided to students) and on-line tutoring calls with groups of students may be organized.

Considering the complexity of the theme as well as the high interest of industry (or regulatory board) towards this field, the teacher will try to discuss deeply the case studies, discussing the most critical sides of the themes in an interactive way with the class. Questions or suggestions by the students will be welcomed, in order to deeply discuss together the case studies. The course takes time to study in addition to the lessons, in order to improve the capacity to manage this field deepening the topics.

The verification of learning is based on a written test, which focuses on the topics of the course. The exam consists of multiple choice questions and two open-ended questions.
The critical discussion of a supplement/food label may also be considered, in relation to the topics covered.

Regulatory framework in Europe and Italy (food supplements, botanicals, novel foods, food enriched with vitamins and minerals, labelling, nutritional and health claims)
Definition of the bioactivity of some compounds (also those obtained from wastes/by-products and biomasses), useful to design and formulate new ingredients, foods (included food for particuar use), functional foods or food supplements.
Discussion of some nutraceutical- and nutrigenomic-based studies. Examples of bioactive compounds from plants, fungi, animal, microalgae, prebiotics and probiotics.
Botanicals and regulatory framework. Classificaton of food supplementes (discussion about different classes for different health targets). Exemples of health claims and claims for botanicals (case studies). Examples of labelling and criticisms.
Discussion about sustainable alternative techniques for the estraction/fractionation/sanitization; formulation strategies (e.g. microencapsulation).
Bioavailability and test for its measurement (in vitro, in vivo methods).
Food and ingredient design: new strategies for the calory reduction, reduction of sucrose, reduction of salt, reductio of lipids. Valorization of “new ingredients”.
Functional foods and enriched foods: esamples of labelling and discussion of some claims.

At the end of the course, the student must demonstrate the acquisition of advanced and specific knowledge on functional foods, novel foods, botanicals and food supplements.
He will also know in detail the regulatory framework related to labeling, food supplements, enriched foods and botanicals, at national and European level. Finally, the student will be able to manage the labeling and the understanding of the nutritional and health claims, to complete the concepts related to the classes followed in the “food” area.