UC Davis and BioInnovation Institute aim to prevent stunting in Africa through nutrition

The US University of California (UC) Davis and Novo Nordisk Foundation’s BioInnovation Institute have launched the Amplified African Foods (AAF) collaborative project. In this partnership, scientists will develop nutrient-rich interventions based on local cultural diets to help prevent malnutrition and stunting among children in Africa. 

In the project, the BioInnovation Institute and UC Davis’ Innovation Institute for Food and Health (IIF) plan to launch a company that delivers precision nutrition across Africa to enhance the nutritional value of culturally favored meals. 

With these interventions, the team aims to address chronic undernutrition in Africa, which contributes to stunting, by enhancing the digestibility of proteins in foods and meals rooted in local culture. 

Stunting is a widespread problem on the continent among children under five, resulting in lifelong cognitive and developmental impairments. According to the institutes, this happens when families and women of childbearing age consume inadequate amounts of nutrient-rich foods or lack access to quality protein diets. 

AAF will base its interventions on scientific advances in enzymes that can enhance the digestibility of protein in all foods. This research is led by Justin Siegel, UC Davis professor of chemistry, biochemistry, and molecular medicine and IIFH faculty director. 

“By launching this company through the BioInnovation Institute, we are applying this cutting-edge science to support better nutrition in Africa — working alongside local teams to ensure traditions, regulations, and networks are deeply integrated and that the foods they love become even better for them,” says Siegel, who is also AAF’s principal investigator. 

“This project exemplifies the power of international collaboration, bridging scientific discovery with real-world impact and making the food we love healthier for all people and the planet.”

Precision nutrition platform launch

While stunting affects 3.4% of children under five in the US, its prevalence averages 30% across Africa. The researchers say malnutrition in the continent underscores “a vast unmet need for effective nutritional interventions.” 

Scientists in Siegel’s lab at UC Davis are developing enzymes to enhance protein digestibility in all foods. Based on these discoveries, the team is developing a “first-in-class” data-driven precision nutrition platform to reduce stunting and its associated long-term detriments. 

The project plans to launch a company to deliver precision nutrition throughout Africa by enhancing foods’ nutritional value.In a previous Nutrition Insight interview, Siegel explained how innovations in enzymes can unlock optimal human health and sustainability, such as improving the efficacy of proteins.

The AAF project will also leverage technologies such as foodomics and AI to amplify protein bioavailability and accessibility. The scientists say this may allow people to access proteins’ full benefits without compromising their cultural or personal connections to food.

The Periodic Table of Food Initiative also uses foodomics tools to map food at the molecular level for transformative innovations.

Key nutritional interventions

AAF is one of three projects in the current cohort of the BioInnovation Institute’s Bio Studio program, which has so far supported 16 projects from universities and hospitals around the world. The program will run for a maximum of three years, during which time AAF will receive an in-kind grant of up to €1 million (US$1.1 million) yearly. 

AAF has four main goals in this time frame. Firstly, the project aims to develop clinically validated, tech-enabled, shelf-stable minimal viable products — products with a small set of features that deliver customer value. 

In addition, the project will compile an in-depth, molecularly defined database of the regional ingredient supply chain and culturally preferred meals throughout sub-Saharan Africa. 

The AAF aims to develop minimal viable products that are clinically validated and shelf-stable.Thirdly, AAF aims to enhance the regional supply and manufacturing capabilities to enable a viable cost model. 

Finally, the scientists will develop a technology and product development pipeline to help fuel the precision nutrition platform and enable the creation of new products for different populations across Africa. 

Science-based company

The project has hired Jan Dideriksen as an entrepreneur in residence, who has experience as a food-tech start-up CEO and in pharmaceutical companies like Novo Nordisk. Dideriksen highlights the “significant societal benefit” of improving the diets of young children and women of childbearing age in emerging markets. 

“I look to create a company that uses cutting-edge science from Justin Siegel’s lab to impact those in need while generating value for investors,” he says. “The aim is to create an ongoing concern that elevates the nutritional supply chain to new heights, with a strong presence in East Africa and beyond.”

He adds that recent studies show how food research and development may be “one of the most impactful” UN Sustainable Development Goals considering the cost-benefit perspective. 

The collaboration follows a partnership between UC Davis and the Novo Nordisk Foundation to develop future food and health leaders. The partners are setting up a program where biotechnology-focused Ph.D. and postdoctoral students can apply their research to companies that accelerate positive societal impact.