The final meeting of the project will take place in Istanbul on May 25-26 at the ITU Foundation Building, Maçka, one of the international partners joining the study.

During the two-days meeting, researchers will show the major outcomes of the project focusing on the main steps ahead in the study on flavonoids, that were shown to protect against a large number of dis-eases, from cardiovascular disease to certain types of cancer.

FLORA started off with a crucial issue: the diet followed by the majority of people living in the Western world does not appear to be sufficient to guarantee an adequate intake of flavonoids and other polyphe-nols , present in many fruits and vegetables. The Western diet model has quickly swapped the good eating habits for more saturated fats and “touch and go” meals, quitting the protection offered by these natural supplements mainly contained in fruits and vegetables.
Thus millions of people lack these helpful natural compounds and need to find new ways to make up for the nutrients they need.

So far, FLORA researchers have tested high-polyphenols content foods on animals obtaining surprising beneficial effects both on cardiovascular disease and cancer. The study has also tested several types of food to evaluate their antioxidant capacity in order to establish new ways to preserve the maximum fla-vonoid amount often lost during industrial processing.
A trial has been performed by the group in Campobasso, Italy, to study the effects of Sicilian blood or-ange juice consumption on the vascular function of human volunteers. Results will be discussed during the final meeting.

AGENDA

FLORA FINAL MEETING May 25-26, 2009 ISTANBUL – TURKEY
Venue: ITU Foundation Building, Maçka, Istanbul-TURKEY

The FLORA Project

Funded by the European Commission within the 6th framework program (FP6-Food-CT-2005-007130), the FLORA Project aims at gaining further evidence on the dynamics triggered by flavonoids, establish-ing a forefront in Europe for the study of association among these compounds and cardiovascular dis-ease, myocardial infarction and cancer. FLORA researchers are involved in the field of flavonoids con-tained in different vegetables, such as corn, tomatoes and an experimental plant called Arabidopsis. Or-anges too are other protagonists of this study. They are rich in flavonoids and phenolics by their own na-ture. FLORA’s vegetables and fruits have something more: the amount of antioxidant has been enriched in order to optimize their natural beneficial effects. Moreover, they are additive free and have been pro-duced in full respect of healthy parameters. There is no risk of unexpected surprises but just a measured increase in terms of nutrition. Promoting health through a balanced and correct diet, in respect for dif-ferent food traditions of European Countries, is the mission of FLORA.
Research Centres from different European Countries participate to the Project.

FLORA Partners

John Innes Centre, Norwich, United Kingdom

Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy

Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research, Gatersleben, Germany

Research Laboratories, Catholic University, Campobasso, Italy

Plant Research International, Wageningen, The Netherlands

TIMC-IMAG, PRETA Coeur & Nutrition, CNRS UMR 5525- UJF- INP, Faculté de Médicine, Université de Grenoble, France

Istanbul Technical University, Turkey

Congenia SRL, Italy

Istituto Sperimentale per l’Agrumicoltura, Italy

Ortogel, Italy

Biopolo SRL, Italy

Posted: 05|24|09 at 11:53 am. Filed under: News.