BENEO-Group to Highlight New Scientific Findings

29/02/08 The BENEO-Group will be hosting its first European Scientific Symposium about the impact of functional carbohydrates on energy metabolism at the Sodehotel, Brussels on 11th April 2008.

Solid scientific research is one of the main drivers within the BENEO-Group, which consists of BENEO-Palatinit, BENEO-Remy and BENEO-Orafti. Individually the companies within the group have a long tradition of organising scientific events, most notable being BENEO-Orafti's research conferences and symposia which have been run for over 10 years.  The BENEO-Group's 1st Asian Research Symposium also took place in December 2007 and offered a forum for the latest cutting edge scientific findings on functional carbohydrates and prebiotics within the region.

The European Scientific Symposium will bring together a panel of international experts and scientists, working in the area of functional carbohydrates, prebiotics and their interaction with energy metabolism and health. It will be chaired by Prof. J. Blundell, Director of the Institute of Psychological Sciences at the University of Leeds, United Kingdom and Prof. A. Astrup, Department of Human Nutrition, Faculty of Life Sciences from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Speakers include Prof. J. Henry, Food Science & Human Nutrition, School of Life Sciences, Oxford Brookes University, United Kingdom, Dr. R. W. Welch, Northern Ireland Centre for Food and Health, School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Ulster, Coleraine, United Kingdom, Prof. N. Delzenne, Unit of Pharmacokinetics, Metabolism, Nutrition & Toxicology, School of Pharmacy, Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium, Dr. D. König, University of Freiburg, Department for Internal Medicine, Division of Rehabilitation, Prevention and Sports Medicine, Germany and Dr. K. M. Tuohy, Department of Food Biosciences, School of Chemistry, Food Bioscience and Pharmacy, University of Reading, United Kingdom.

As obesity continues to be viewed as a serious and growing public health problem, the focus of this symposium is how functional carbohydrates impact on energy metabolism.

Carbohydrates are the major part of our daily diet, however, up to now, not much attention has been given to the diversity of their physiological effects, depending on the specific type of carbohydrate.  The same is true for dietary fibres and prebiotics.  Topics such as glycemic response, prolonged energy release, sports nutrition, appetite and food intake regulation, and body weight management will be discussed.

Yves Servotte, BENEO-Group Board Member, commented: "The organisation of Europe's 1st Scientific Symposium about the impact of Functional Carbohydrates on Energy Metabolism is highly significant.  It is an important first step in making this research available to the wider community.  Solid scientific research is one of the main drivers within the BENEO-Group and to have the opportunity to showcase some of the latest research results in the area of functional carbohydrates, prebiotics and their interaction with energy metabolism and health is a great and exciting privilege for us."