Translational research to identify solutions to the UK's key diet, health and nutrition challenges: The Diet and Health Open Innovation Research Club Innovation Hubs

Unofficial AI-generated summary based on the public title and abstract. Not an official translation.

🔬研究者:Researchers can learn about a structured multi-stakeholder innovation hub model for translating nutrition and food system research into policy and industry practice.

🏢実務担当者:Food and beverage companies may find opportunities to collaborate with research hubs on product reformulation and sustainability-oriented innovation.

🏛政策担当者:Policymakers could consider the OIRC model as a template for fostering cross-sector partnerships to tackle food-related public health and environmental challenges.

The foods and beverages that people consume have a profound impact on their health. Unhealthy diets are a major contributor to the global burden of disease (GBD, 2017). Worldwide, 39% of adults are underweight or obese, 31% are affected by hypertension and 69% of women of reproductive age are affected by one or more micronutrient deficiencies (GBD, 2017). At the same time, undernutrition continues to cause nearly half of deaths in children aged under 5 years and impacts the ability of many more to achieve their full economic, social, educational and occupational potential (WHO, 2021). Our food systems cause substantial environmental destruction, accounting for 34% of greenhouse gas emissions and 70% of freshwater withdrawals (Mbow et al., 2019). To support optimal health and wellbeing, we need to produce nourishing, sustainable food for nearly 8 billion people across the world and this will increase to 9.7 billion by 2064 (UN, 2019). The United Kingdom with its recognised strength in nutrition research, nutrition data and nutrition policy should be an important contributor to the global response to this challenge. But to maximise its impact, research needs to be translatable to public health benefits. To achieve this, partnerships between funders, researchers and industry are needed and such partnerships will unlock greater investment in innovation. New funding from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), with support from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), Innovate UK and the Medical Research Council (MRC) into the Diet and Health Open Innovation Research Club (OIRC) provides such a platform for businesses, researchers, UK Government and wider stakeholders to develop collaborations to address shared barriers to innovation across the food and drink sector. The investment of almost £15 million has created six new OIRC innovation hubs (see below), bringing together leading academics and experts from nutrition, food and behaviour science, tackling key strategic themes to address some of the most pressing topics associated with improving the diets of our nation. This will build on the legacy of the DRINC programme, which brought together the diet and health research community and industry to learn from one another (Buttriss, 2022). Nutrition research has provided invaluable evidence that has shaped our current national dietary guidelines and holds the key to better understanding of how diet may influence the major causes of ill health such as obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancers (Williams et al., 2021). Effective partnerships between academia and the industry sector, including agriculture, retail and food production, are key to ensuring the translation of research advances into healthier and more sustainable products and improved nutrition. The food environment is commonly cited as a major driver of obesity, by providing a large supply of relatively inexpensive, highly palatable, energy-dense foods that are easily accessible, convenient to consume and heavily marketed (Dimbleby, 2021). Although recent policies have driven the reformulation of core products, which is an important part of meeting the challenge, this can only take us so far on the journey to healthier and more sustainable dietary patterns. Concerns have also been expressed about the health effects of ultra-processed foods and there is a need for a better understanding of the role of processing on the physiological response to foods (Berry et al., 2023). Innovation and new product development are crucial contributors to the solution. However, there are challenges in the costs associated with innovation and developing healthier products that respond to consumer demands for palatability, affordability, safety and convenience but are more sustainable and with cleaner labels. Sharing of high-quality research can help ensure that investment in innovation is driven by the best evidence-based nutrition and science, rather than being led by consumer trends. Encouraging wider and more accessible public dissemination and improving nutrition literacy can encourage consumers to make better-informed choices. Knowledge emerging from nutrition science also plays a central role in informing public health programmes, policies and clinical management of health service delivery but stronger cross-sector and cross-disciplinary partnerships are crucial to ensure the research base is better placed to tackle the major global nutrition research challenges. It is also critical to frame future research priorities against the backdrop of rising food insecurity, the cost-of-living crisis and the urgent need to change the way our food is produced to mitigate the worst environmental consequences. Addressing these issues requires a better understanding of the multi-level, interrelated biological, individual, social and environmental determinants of food choice and the corresponding translational solutions. However, the current pace of advances in nutritional knowledge and innovation has been insufficient to address the burgeoning rates of diet-related illness and the associated societal and economic consequences. In 2017, the Office for Strategic Coordination of Health Research (OSCHR) Review of Nutrition and Human Health Research (Buttriss et al., 2018; MRC & NIHR, 2017) set out a future vision for nutrition research and developed a series of recommendations to capitalise on UK strengths and tackle weaknesses to revitalise the UK nutrition research base. However, nutrition research was described as fragmented and lacking in critical mass, and the need for a high-level, national strategy requiring greater leadership was identified (Mathers, 2022). The Review recognised that high-quality, multidisciplinary nutrition research and effective collaborations are key to improving global health and concluded that transformative thinking and action would be needed to ensure that this nutrition research remains innovative and forward-looking. To achieve those goals, several recommendations were made aiming to re-invigorate and strengthen the field, whilst capitalising on existing strengths. One of these was a partnership with industry: outlining that industry should be considered a part of the solution, not least because the sector is key to ensuring the translation of research advances into healthier products or improved nutrition support. OIRC is a continuation of the BBSRC's long-standing support for a scientific area, diet and health, that is vital to the wellbeing of the UK population, and, like previous initiatives, it is structured to engage industry in recognition of their role in progressing shared challenges. Research is a cumulative process, and the interconnected flow of information is key to the uptake of evidence into policy and practice. The British Nutrition Foundation is delighted to have been appointed by the BBSRC to act as a coordinator across the six OIRC hubs, to help facilitate conversations between the research community, industry and policymakers, identify areas where innovation and transformative thinking are needed and support the development of open, transparent collaborative partnerships. It is also hoped to widen the reach to educators (including schools, teachers and health professionals) and investors. The Foundation will extend the engagement of the hubs with the global research community (e.g. via its international working and advisory groups and its peer-reviewed academic journal, Nutrition Bulletin) to ensure that learnings influence health and wellbeing across the world. With its long history of convening, and bringing together academics, government, industry and other stakeholders, it is well placed to support the OIRC hubs to share findings across the food system and help researchers to develop clear policy recommendations. Together the six innovation hubs will provide thought leadership for the United Kingdom through advancing research and innovation and, by building cross-sector collaborative networks, and will help build capacity across the United Kingdom to focus on the most pressing topics associated with improving the diets of our nation. The six hubs cover the breadth of the identified five key strategic research priorities and identify and establish specific challenges within the focus of each theme. Each will offer annual awards including Business Interaction Vouchers (up to £50 000) to strengthen collaborations between academia and industry; Feasibility Awards (up to £100 000 with expected matched cash or in-kind contributions from industrial collaborators) for projects at a more advanced stage to enable translation and commercialisation activities leading to innovation; and Flexible Mobility Awards to support early career researchers, technicians, industry workers and others that wish to expand their skill base. RIPEN Hub: https://www.ripenhub.co.uk. TRanslational Innovation Hub for Population HEalth using Food and Nutrition approaches to enhance Positive Physiology. Lead investigators: Professor Gary Frost, Imperial College London, Professor Susan Lanham-New, University of Surrey, Dr Sue Gatenby, PepsiCo. Hub manager: Dr Katerina Petropoulou, Imperial College London. To join: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/metabolism-digestion-reproduction/research/digestive-diseases/nutrition-research/ripen-hub/. The RIPEN Hub will support research and translation activity that bridges the gap between biosciences research and development to better understand the interplay between food components and human physiology, and to ultimately improve health. It will provide thought leadership, develop partnerships and build critical mass in the areas that affect food and its consumption in relation to human physiology. A specific aim is to develop talent and a vibrant environment for this field, supporting the next generation of young scientists in this area. Biofortification Hub: https://biofor

• openalex https://doi.org/10.1111/nbu.12637first seen 2026-08-02 18:38:44