Leatherhead Food Research's experienced team of nutritionists and clinical scientists provides high quality human studies to help support food and drink companies' research and claims. The Nutrition Research Unit provides a range of services reflecting the needs of the food industry. These include:
Food intake studies
Weight management, appetite and satiety.
The ability of food to create feelings of fullness and to delay the time in which hunger returns is an area of great interest to the food industry: it is a key factor in current approaches to weight management products.
Leatherhead has developed methodologies for the investigation of both satiation (the feeling of fullness immediately following consumption) and satiety (the influence on subsequent feeding events).
These can be tailored to the precise needs and target outcomes of the client and range from a simple, rapid assessment of satiation, such as using Visual Analogue Scales (VAS) and questionnaires, to the measurement of gut hormones related to appetite following a meal. Energy intake at the next meal (ad libitum meals) and dietary analysis using food frequency questionnaire and food diaries can be used to investigate dietary habits in relation to weight management.
Metabolic testing
Glycaemic Index (GI); glycaemic response and glucose metabolism; insulin response, energy expenditure; cholesterol and triglyceride measurements; 24-hour monitoring of blood glucose and blood pressure.
There is a growing interest in the development of food products that can provide a sustained release of energy and similarly in low GI products that can help weight loss and improve health. Such benefits require accurate and specific testing of health outcomes to substantiate health claims.
Uptake and bioavailability
Vitamin and mineral status, phytochemical metabolism, antioxidant activity assays.
Leatherhead can conduct both short and long term intervention trials to investigate uptake and bioavailability of food products, ingredients and supplements.
All studies are submitted to a local Research Ethics Committee (LREC) and follow, as much as possible, ICH-GCP guidelines. Confidentiality matters and archiving of confidential data take place in accordance with the Data Protection Act (1984).
To learn more about our Nutrition or Health Claims Substantiation services please contact Roberta Re.
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Leatherhead Food Research's experienced team of nutritionists and clinical scientists provides high quality human studies to help support food and drink companies' research and claims. The Nutrition Research Unit provides a range of services reflecting the needs of the food industry. These include:
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