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Research towards a healthier, tastier and safer future

We focus on research that plays a vital role in delivering health benefits to society. Our researchers work with government, industry and commerce to improve the processing of raw materials and products to benefit food quality, enhance health and ensure safety.

We are investigating novel ingredients for gut health and immunity, and studying the impact of nutrition on cardiovascular, metabolic and neurodegenerative disorders. We are also focusing on the individual perception of food and its impact on choice and diet.

Our researchers are also interested in the impact of food production on the world around us. We consider environmental impact through areas such as sustainable processing, development of functional foods, reduction of food waste, and exploitation of unavoidable food waste and processing by-products.


Conducting research

Research highlights

Our expertise brings with it significant benefits for society and the economy. Recent research has helped to minimise the impact of a neurotoxin found in some food products, and resulted in the formulation of a novel prebiotic, which is sold throughout the UK. Here are some of our current research highlights:

Pioneering prebiotics for gut health

Researchers at the University of Reading are leading the charge to improve our gut health. Gastrointestinal disorders such as Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Irritable Bowel Syndrome are common and rising, and some experts believe a lack of positive bacteria in the gut are partly to blame. These microbes also help us fight off infection, and are implicated in other processes including sleep and brain function. But they need a healthy gut-environment in which to thrive.

In 1995, Glenn Gibson and Marcel Roberfroid invented the concept of ‘prebiotics’. Since then, Glenn – now Professor of Food Microbiology at University of Reading – has pioneered the development of evidence-based prebiotic products.

Professor Gibson and the team at Reading wanted to develop a prebiotic that beneficial gut bacteria could most readily use, so they harnessed the very tools used by these bacteria in nature. Using enzymes from a strain of Bifidobacterium bifidum, they processed lactose into prebiotic carbohydrates called galactooligosaccharides. The idea was that these bacterial-origin prebiotics would be the optimum fuel for good gut microbes. Read more about this research

Child psychology of eating fruit and veg

Professor Orla Kennedy is leading research into understanding the factors that influence fruit and vegetable consumption in children and adolescents.

Feelings and emotions about food (affective factors) and the role of habit and automaticity (doing something ‘without thinking’) are increasingly recognised as critical in determining the foods we choose to eat. Professor Kennedy's study investigated the association of affective attitude, self-identity and habit with fruit and vegetable intentions and intake in children. Read more about this research

Cocoa for heart health?

Dr Kuhnle Gunter is part of a University of Reading team researching the vascular and circulatory benefits of consuming flavanol-containing foods which has led to a unique collaboration with a multinational food and confectionary producer.

The partnership has funded subsequent studies into the absorption, metabolism and health effects of cocoa-derived flavanols in humans and seen a cocoa-extract supplement drink launched across the USA. Our work has generated interest from further multinational corporations looking to market flavanol and flavonoid-containing health products, and its underpinning research has contributed to the increasing public perception of blueberries as a beneficial "superfood" through widespread dissemination in the mass media. Read more about this research

This adds to a decade of research on flavanols carried out at the Division over the past decade, supported by funding from the Biotechnology and Biological Research Council, European Union and industry, which has shown that consumption of flavanols can improve consumers' memory and cognition, cardiovascular health and digestive health.

Cancer-causing compound in cooked potato and cereal

Pioneering work by the Food and Nutritional Sciences Research Division has empowered the food industry to tackle the presence of a potentially cancer-causing neurotoxin unexpectedly found in cooked cereal and potato products. When acrylamide was detected in 2002, industry experts had no explanation for its origin.

But academics from the University of Reading discovered that the neurotoxin was formed during heating from naturally-occurring sugars and the amino acid asparagine, and were able to work out the mechanism by which acrylamide is formed.

The knowledge allowed investigators around the world to explore the factors affecting the formation of acrylamide, helping the food industry and government agencies to develop crucial mitigation strategies. Read more about acrylamide research.


Additional impact cases

our work with industry

From small- and medium-size enterprises to large multinational companies, we have extensive experience of working in collaboration with industry to carry out commercially-relevant research and development projects.

We provide contract services to industry through the Food Processing Centre, which includes our recently refurbished Pilot Plant, Flavour Centre and Sensory Science Centre.

We also spearhead the Food Advanced Training Partnership (Food ATP), which brings together a unique collaboration with the University of Birmingham, Leatherhead Food Research and Rothamsted Research to provide IFST-accredited high level skills and training (MSc, PhD or Continuous Professional Development) to inspire and educate professionals in the food industry.

And as lead of the Biotechnology and Biological Research Council Biological Research Council-funded FoodWasteNet (2014-2019), we are helping to bring together and support a community of academics and industrialists with the aim of identifying, developing and exploiting means of food processing waste and by-products.

Study Opportunities

The Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences offers regular funded PhD opportunities as well as projects for self-funded students.

Our research students are able to develop research-related and general skills through training courses delivered through the Doctoral and Researcher College and the University of Reading's Centre for Quality Support and Development.

We also lead the Food Advanced Training Partnership, which exists to educate and inspire food professionals.

Postgraduate research

Postgraduate research opportunities

The Food Advanced Training Partnership

Selected publications

Balagiannis, D. P., Mottram, D. S., Higley, J., Smith, G., Wedzicha, B. L. and Parker, J. K. (2019) Kinetic modelling of acrylamide formation during the finish-frying of french fries with variable maltose content. Food Chemistry. ISSN 0308-8146 doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2019.01.075 (In Press)

Harris, S., Powers, S., Monteagudo, A., Kosik, O., Lovegrove, A., Shewry, P. and Charalampopoulos, D. (2019) Determination of the prebiotic activity of wheat arabinogalactan peptide (AGP) using batch culture fermentation. European Journal of Nutrition. ISSN 1436-6215 (In Press)

Alarifi, S., Bell, A. and Walton, G. (2018) In vitro fermentation of gum acacia - impact on the faecal microbiota. International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition, 69 (6). pp. 696-704. ISSN 1465-3478 doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/09637486.2017.1404970

Cook, S. L., Methven, L., Parker, J. K. and Khutoryanskiy, V. V. (2018) Polysaccharide food matrices for controlling the release, retention and perception of flavours. Food Hydrocolloids, 79. pp. 253-261. ISSN 0268-005X doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodhyd.2017.12.023

Amini, A. M., Spencer, J. P. E. and Yaqoob, P. (2018) Effects of pelargonidin-3-O-glucoside and its metabolites on lipopolysaccharide-stimulated cytokine production by THP-1 monocytes and macrophages. Cytokine, 103. pp. 29-33. ISSN 1096-0023 doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cyto.2017.12.031

Bell, L. and Wagstaff, C. (2018) Rocket science: a review of phytochemical & health-related research in Eruca & Diplotaxis species. Food Chemistry: X, 1. ISSN 2590-1575 doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fochx.2018.100002

Athersuch, T. J. and Wijeyesekera, A.(2018) NMR in environmental and nutritional research. In: Keun, H. C. (ed.) NMR-based Metabolomics. Royal Society of Chemistry, pp. 168-182. ISBN 9781849736435 doi: https://doi.org/10.1039/9781782627937-00168

Christoforidou, Z., Burt, R., Mulder, I., Gill, B. P., Pluske, J., Kelly, D., Stokes, C. R., Bailey, M. and Lewis, M.C. (2018) Development of immune cells in the intestinal mucosa can be affected by intensive and extensive farm environments, and antibiotic use. Frontiers in Immunology, 9. 01061. ISSN 1664-3224 doi: https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2018.01061

Abdullah, W. Z. W., Mackey, B. M. and Karatzas, K.-A. G.  (2018) High phenotypic variability among representative strains of common Salmonella enterica serovars with possible implications for food safety. Journal of Food Protection, 81 (1). pp. 93-104. ISSN 0362-028X doi: https://doi.org/10.4315/0362-028x.jfp-17-190

See all recent publications from the Food and Nutritional Sciences Research Division

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