Food for health maintaining at Prodexpo 2022

The Conference on the Food of the Future: Specialised and Fortified Food – a Path to Health Protection, held within the Prodexpo 2022 conference programme, has aroused great interest among dieticians, nutritionists and food industry professionals. 

The event was organised by EXPOCENTRE AO and the Federal Research Institute of Nutrition and Biotechnology within the Health, Nutrition, Demographics Consortium. 

"The Consortium's work is aimed at increasing the provision of the population with vitamins and minerals through the introduction of innovative scientific developments in the field of specialised and fortified food products into the diet of the Russian population," said the conference moderator Natalia Zhilinskaya, Head of the Vitamins and Minerals Laboratory at the Federal Research Institute of Nutrition and Biotechnology. 

"We all understand the importance of a healthy lifestyle. If we look at the structure of a healthy lifestyle, almost 50% of it is the healthy eating factor. If we violate it, it leads to one disease or another. In the structure of mortality and morbidity in the first place are cardiovascular diseases. Proper nutrition can prevent obesity, diabetes, osteoporosis, gout, and cancer," said Inna Tarmaeva, Scientific Secretary of the Federal Research Institute of Nutrition and Biotechnology, who devoted her presentation to the Consortium as the most effective mechanism for implementing innovative technologies in the food industry. 

The nutritional factor, she believes, is important at all stages of ontogenesis. The main nutritional deficiencies are a lack of carriers of important amino acids: eggs, dairy products, fish products, vegetables and fruit. A daily intake of 400 g of these essential foods is required. The inclusion of specialised enriched and functional foods, vitamin and mineral complexes and other biologically active supplements in the diet is an important factor in shaping health and improving quality of life. 

Margarita Korosteleva, Senior Researcher at the Laboratory of Sports Anthropology and Nutritiology of the Federal Research Institute of Nutrition and Biotechnology, spoke about sports nutrition as a "vanguard of food of the future". According to her, optimisation of nutrition is particularly significant for sports performance, as it requires the highest physical, nervous and mental stress, which affects the health of athletes and their professional performance. A balanced, functional diet therefore creates the prerequisites for maximising activity, endurance and resistance to stress. 

One of the preventive measures to reduce the risk of disease development is the reduction of fat consumption. The use of oleogels as the fat base of food products of the future was discussed by Varzhan Sarkisyan, Senior Researcher at the Laboratory of Food Biotechnology and Specialised Products of the Federal Research Institute of Nutrition and Biotechnology. 

Tatyana Savenkova, President of the Union of Food Ingredient Manufacturers and Director of the Research Institute of Quality, Safety and Technology of Specialised Food Products at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, gave a report on trends in food ingredients, as well as technology integration and innovation practices in modifying the internal profile of food products. According to the expert, the key food trends are: specialised and personalised nutrition; use of dietary fibres and natural ingredients; products for beauty, health and wellness; plant-based nutrition and alternative food sources; food safety and sustainability. 

Presentations by other speakers focused on dietary fibres and sweeteners in the production of new foodstuffs, turkey meat leadership in choosing a source of complete protein, innovative developments for food fortification, specialised foodstuffs for child athletes and other topical subjects. 

View a video streaming: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kn-xSdgDf-U 

Press Service, EXPOCENTRE AO