PHYTOGENial! With secondary plant substances in the fast lane
Due to their nutritional content in macronutrients (carbohydrates, lipids and proteins) and micronutrients (such as the comparatively high contents in vitamins and minerals) plant-based foods play an essential role for human nutrition. In addition, plants also contain non-nutritive compounds such as fibres and secondary plant substances (SPS). SPS can be credited with health-promoting properties which have a positive effect on metabolic processes.
The seminar “PHYTOGENial!“ examines secondary plant substances. To this day thousands of substances are known whose primary tasks are to protect against predators and pests, and contrarily, to encourage animals and insects to eat them. “Superfoods“ are also often linked with SPS as special ingredients. In particular, the food producers will be provided with an overview about the substance classes which SPS are divided in (e.g. carotenoids, phytosterols, flavonoids, etc.), and the positive effects of individual SPS on the human organism will be illustrated.
Participants will actively engage in scientific dialogue as well as analyse both in the training kitchen and in the laboratory which of these substances have health-promoting effects and, consequently, how they can be applied in the food industry. The aims are to raise awareness for the significance and contents of SPS, and to identify possibilities for the extraction of SPS and their marketing in order to encourage innovative product developments in the field of SPS. For this reason, legal, marketing-related, food analytical and practical aspects will be discussed.
Projectteam
Klaus Nigl MA
Head of Degree Programme, Marketing Coordinator
