Spanish Consortium Develops Ingredients and Diets for an Elderly Population

The SENIFOOD project is part of the CENIT Program to support R&D, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. It has a budget of more than 26 million euros and its completion is scheduled for 2012.

3/15/2011 --- Research organizations and companies are working together to help create diets and foods with specific characteristics designed for an aging population.

SENIFOOD is an initiative aimed at designing specific foods for older people in order to maintain balanced nutrition in this part of the population. The developed ingredients and diets are intended to ameliorate the metabolic syndrome, and to improve bone, muscle, gastrointestinal and visual health, in addition to cognitive function and neurodegenerative disorders. The need to address this topic arises, among other reasons, from figures provided from official institutions: in Spain, the percentage of older people accounts for approximately 17% of the population and this trend is expected to increase in the coming years.

The SENIFOOD project (www.senifood.com) is part of the CENIT Program to support R&D, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. Led by NATUREX, the leading manufacturer of natural specialty ingredients, the project has a budget of more than 26 million euros and its completion is scheduled for 2012.

SENIFOOD brings together the efforts of a broad range of Spanish institutions: four manufacturers of functional ingredients (NATUREX, BIÓPOLIS, BIOIBÉRICA and NUTRAFUR), seven food manufacturers (CAMPOFRÍO, CENTRAL LECHERA ASTURIANA, TUTTI PASTA, MUGALA INNOVA, LABORATORIOS ORDESA, BODEGA MATARROMERA and CUSTOMDRINKS), a manager of nursing homes (FUNDACIÓN MATÍA), and a network of 25 technological centers and universities.

From the scientific point of view, the aim of the SENIFOOD project is to advance the understanding of the mechanisms of action of the functional food ingredients targeting the most common metabolic diseases in the elderly.

From the technological point of view, functional properties of these active ingredients will be combined with the physico-chemical (texture, fluidity) and organoleptic characteristics (taste, aroma) of food products to make suitable, simple and enjoyable products for consumption.