Kellogg’s finances fundamental cereal science and nutrition research
How do cereal-derived prebiotics benefit human health?
“This is the first time in its hundred-year history that Kellogg’s is financing fundamental research at a university,” Margaret Bath, Vice President Research, Quality and Technology at Kellogg’s tells us. “We chose K.U.Leuven because the university conducts the best research in cereal fibres and their metabolites in human nutrition.” Professors Jan Delcour of the Centre for Food and Microbial Technology and Kristin Verbeke of the Gastroenterology Section have been appointed joint holders of the W.K. Kellogg Chair in Cereal Science and Nutrition.
From left to right: Jan Delcour, Kristin Verbeke, Margaret Bath and rector Mark Waer
Margaret Bath: “We produce high-fibre cereal products for the general public. As far as we are concerned, co-operation with Kristin and Jan is the perfect choice for in-depth research into prebiotics extracted from wheat bran.” Prebiotics are carbohydrate components in food that are neither digested nor absorbed in the human small intestine and which selectively stimulate beneficial colon microbiota to the detriment of harmful micro-organisms.
“Cereal-derived prebiotics are indeed beneficial to human health,” Kristin Verbeke says. “What we don’t know is which metabolic processes play a role in this regard. Our objective is to discover the most important basic mechanisms of action in the digestive system, which explain how these processes work.” Nelson Almeida, Vice President of Global Nutrition and Regulatory Sciences at Kellogg’s: “Hitherto, nobody has unravelled these fundamental processes. Greater insight into the mechanisms of action behind the physiological processes that bring about nutritional and health benefits in the long run will enable us to make our products more effective and increase their nutritional and health value for our consumers. We believe that the research group led by Jan Delcour and Kristin Verbeke will successfully reveal these basic mechanisms.”
The academic chair has been named after one of the two brothers who laid the foundation for the Kellogg Company over a century ago. Throughout his life, William Keith Kellogg was particularly interested in the health effects of cereals.
Professor Jan Delcour first met Margaret Bath when they were both members of the Board of Directors of the American Association of Cereal Chemists International. “I soon came to value his knowledge and insights and invited him to become a member of our Science Advisory Board, which makes recommendations concerning our research policy. There are only two American members of the Board, besides five Europeans, one member from Japan and one from Australia. Our headquarters may be located in America, but we are a truly multinational organisation and are only interested in the best research, irrespective of where it is conducted.”
Jan Delcour: “Kristin and I had been considering the idea of exploring this line of research for a while, but we lacked the financial means. I mentioned our research approach to Margaret and within three weeks we had reached an agreement to establish an academic chair for five years. We have received full support from Kellogg to conduct this fundamental, foundational research that has no immediate commercial applications because of its potential for applied investigations that will enable the development of fibre-rich cereal foods with greater nutritional and health benefits in the future.” Academic Fundraising Kellogg’s finances fundamental cereal science and nutrition research.
Jaak Poot
