Researchers' complex knowledge about nutrition must lead to increased health for the population. A network at Aarhus University will take the debate to a higher and more qualified level, and you are invited to the annual meeting if the link between nutrition and health is of interest or relevant to your research.

2021.09.23 | Line Rønn

Photo: Gabriel Gurolla, Pexels.

Most people know someone who experienced difficulty with their sense of taste and smell during the coronavirus pandemic. But although many people have recently gained a completely different understanding of how much the sense of smell and taste are interconnected, there are still plenty of researchers at Aarhus University who are unaware that their talented colleagues are carrying out intense research in the area and have been doing so for a long time.

In the Food and Nutrition Network, dentists and otorhinolaryngologists (ear-nose-throat doctors) can quickly put their heads together to answer a question about e.g. the sense of smell, just one of the advantages of the growing network, which will hold its annual meeting on 13 October.

The network’s members work to qualify the general understanding of the interplay between health and nutrition. The broadness of the field is clear as soon as you skim the list of items on the agenda at the annual meeting in October. Professor Thomas Hummel from The Technische Universität Dresden (TUD) will take the podium to give a presentation on precisely this under the title "Sense of smell and taste" after Aarhus University professor Jens Meldgaard Bruun’s half-hour talk on the question: "Can nutritional changes reduce obesity in children?"

As natural as the air we breathe

There are good grounds to work to clarify the nutritional aspect of an already active field of health research, says chair of the network Niels Jessen. He is head of research at the Steno Diabetes Center Aarhus, clinical professor at the Department of Biomedicine and consultant at Aarhus University Hospital.

"Health and nutrition are very closely interconnected – often so closely that nutrition is not an independent part of the research. We’ve not been good enough at integrating the nutritional aspect in health research, it’s just been treated as so obvious, like the air we breathe," he says.

"One way in which this is reflected is when we’re working with other research fields and are asked: “Is this healthy food?". That does not align with our understanding. What we do is identify an issue and look into the role of nutrition, he explains.

The same challenge arises when dealing with the media.

"Healthy people can't eat themselves healthier, but nonetheless, focus is often on healthy people and nutrition. When we want to move away from the discussion of whether a dietary product is healthy or not, we can easily be viewed as making unnecessary problems. It’s a classic research problem, but in our field it’s very explicit. We ask the question: "What is Health?” - and then things get complicated. That’s why we can find it difficult to be agenda-setting."

Making a strong comeback after the shutdown

The network has more than 150 members, including not only employees at Health and other Aarhus University departments, but also representatives from companies in the industry such as Arla and Danisco.

"Some nutritional issues transcend the otherwise very sensible silos and areas that researchers are divided into. We identify the interdisciplinary issues and make sure that people from different parts of Aarhus University are brought together across medical specialities and departments," says Niels Jessen.

And for the university, there are several advantages in having a well-functioning network in the area, as he points out.

"As a researcher, you can have honorary positions and such where you might e.g. represent Aarhus University in a nutritional forum. In such a context, the network is really good at finalising the mandate you come with. That’s what we’ve been lacking. We’ve simply become better at appearing as an organisation externally, because we have a space where we can work together to qualify answers to various questions."

The Food and Nutrition Network was founded in 2019, and according to Niels Jessen, it has already sharpened the university's profile within health and nutrition. Several researchers have become involved in current issues, both externally and internally – even though the network was founded shortly before the coronavirus shutdown, so the members have had to make do with seeing each other via video meetings every few months.

"Of course, it wasn't the start we were hoping for. We didn’t really get to exploit the interest in the new network, because we were established at a time when it was impossible to meet or arrange guided tours. But now we need to work our way up from here and that’s something we’re looking forward to," he says.

Read more about the Food and Nutrition Network here