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A discovery that a tomato extract could help with healthy blood flow has been translated into a functional food ingredient now marketed globally via the spin-out company Provexis plc. Fruitflow® — Provexis' lead product — is the result of findings by researchers at the Rowett Institute of Nutrition and Health, now part of the University of Aberdeen, that biologically active constituents in tomatoes inhibit blood platelet aggregation: a known cause of heart attack, stroke and venous thrombosis. In 2009 Fruitflow® was the first food ingredient to meet the requirements of the European Food Safety Agency for products with a specific health claim. Provexis — the University of Aberdeen Rowett Institute spinout — is listed on the AIM market — the London Stock Exchange's international market for smaller growing companies — has seen values of £14 - £60 million and secured co-development agreements with major international partners, including DSM, Unilever and Coca-Cola. This case study demonstrates the direct translation of research to produce a functional food ingredient of interest to global market players.
The claimed impact therefore relates to development of new product, which has received the first ever novel health claim (Article 13.5) from the European Food Safety Authority, and is being marketed as novel food ingredient globally by a multinational company.
Prebiotics are dietary ingredients selectively fermented by populations of gut bacteria seen as beneficial to health. Following the development of the concept of prebiotics by Professors Glenn Gibson and Marcel Roberfroid, research at the University of Reading has developed, pilot- manufactured and tested in humans, a novel prebiotic that shows greater selectivity for beneficial gut bacteria. The prebiotic has been commercialised through formation of a new Small Medium Enterprise (SME) company, Clasado. A range of functional food product formulations of the prebiotic is available over the counter at a variety of supermarket and high street outlets in the UK, as well as products containing it as a branded ingredient in North America. Research on Bimuno conducted at Reading has therefore had impact on human health through alleviation, or attenuation, of symptoms of common gut disorders and on the economy through the formation of a new SME company.
This study outlines the nationwide impacts of a community reading programme, `Get into Reading', pioneered by The Reader Organisation, which has grown out of research and praxis carried out in the Department of English at Liverpool and Continuing Education (Professor Phil Davis, Dr Josie Billington, Dr Jane Davis).
The Reader Organisation became a spin-out organisation in 2008, continuing its close working collaboration with English staff (Davis, Billington) whose research has continued to underpin its trajectory. It has grown significantly since then, developing a high profile geographic and social reach, employing 78 staff and 125 volunteers, and delivering over 360 groups nationally for shared reading aloud for health and well-being in hospitals, prisons, care homes, GP surgeries, libraries, community and mental health centres, with 30% of its employees being graduates of the Department of English. The Reader Organisation's activities benefit large numbers of care and therapeutic service providers and their client groups: training has been provided to 900 health and social care staff and `Get into Reading' has been delivered to thousands of individual participants in a wide range of settings in the UK, and is also now influencing practice in other countries.
Health inequalities are recognised as a critical UK policy issue with life expectancy gaps of up to 28 years between the least and most deprived areas. This case-study demonstrates how Durham University research has led to: (a) changing health service commissioning (with County Durham and Darlington Primary Care Trust [PCT]): (b) influencing NHS funding policy (by generating Parliamentary debate); as well as (c) contributing to the development of the new public health system in England and Wales (as part of the Strategic Review of Health Inequalities in England post-2010 [Marmot Review]).
Our impact has been to protect the public by informing and influencing both the international policy debate on health claims associated with soy consumption, and the relevant regulatory risk assessment authorities.
Our research formed a key component of dossiers that resulted in the rejection of health claims by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA, the EU agency responsible for the scientific substantiation of health claims) relating to soy isoflavones and a number of health endpoints including bone health, heart health and menopausal symptoms. Earlier work had underpinned decisions on comparable health claims in the US and UK.
Our soy isoflavone research also provided key scientific data on the absorption of isoflavones by the body (and dependence on age and food source) to the UK Government Committee on Toxicity (COT) policy review on the toxicity of chemicals with a specific focus on soy infant formula. This expands on COT advice in 2003, which used earlier Cassidy research and helped to inform the UK government's (Food Standards Agency) research programme on phytoestrogens /isoflavones.
Research at the University of Nottingham (UoN) has had influence on development of health policy in the UK and internationally. It is recognised that the risk of diseases related to obesity and insulin resistance, is partly determined by the nutritional environment experienced during early life. Against a background of scepticism researchers at the UoN have generated data that has been critical in demonstrating the biological plausibility of such associations. This has influenced expert panels and non-governmental organisations in framing their current recommendations for nutrition in pregnancy and infancy, which benefit women and children worldwide.
In November 2008, Professor Sir Michael Marmot and his team at UCL were asked by the Secretary of State for Health to chair an independent review to propose the most effective evidence-based strategies for reducing health inequalities in England. The Marmot Review, published in 2010, has fundamentally shifted discourse on health inequalities in the UK and internationally. It has shaped public health services across England and around the world, guided government and international policy, and has given rise to a new commitment from service providers and health professionals to reducing health inequalities and addressing the social determinants of health.
Globally, many health research-funding organisations, public and charitable, felt the need to demonstrate to policymakers and the public how their investments in research were benefitting society. HERG's research on developing techniques for assessing the payback (or impact) from health research tackled this need. The payback stream of research itself has had significant, wide- reaching and cumulative impacts. First, internationally, health research funding bodies adopted the framework in their evaluation strategies, including to provide accountability. Second, many stakeholders made extensive use the findings of payback studies in public debate and private lobbying for public expenditure on health research. Third, governments, public research funding bodies and medical research charities, from the UK to Australia, used the findings from payback studies to inform decisions regarding the levels and distribution of health research funding, with the aim of increasing the health and economic benefits that come from investments in research.
Evidence about the need for and provision of health visiting services generated through research undertaken at King's College London (KCL) has underpinned major changes in national policies for health visiting. Our findings about health visitors' practice, availability and distribution of services and effectiveness in terms of parenting/child outcomes, revealed both shortfalls in provision and opportunities for improvement and led to the development of a new caseload weighting tool and funding model for service planning. The accumulated evidence from this research helped convince the UK Government in 2010 to commit to 4,200 more health visitors by 2015 — a workforce expansion of nearly 50% — in a time of austerity and restraint elsewhere in the public sector.
Adults with learning disabilities (LD) often cannot adequately report illness and there is evidence that treatable illnesses go undetected. As a direct result of Cardiff University research on health checking adults in primary care, the Welsh Government and the Department of Health now provide funding for all adults with LDs across England and Wales to receive an annual health check that employs Cardiff University methods. Current data on take-up (N=78,000 per year) and evaluation of results show that nearly 250,000 adults with LDs have had new health needs identified and treatments initiated during the REF assessment period (2008-2013). Nearly 40,000 adults per year will have new health needs identified and treatments initiated as a result of the health checks, with approximately 3,500 of these being potentially serious conditions.