Foods marketed as ‘healthier’ are seen by consumers as a licence to overeat and could actually lead to weight gain according to the interim results of new University of Ulster research.

The safefood funded research, being led by Professor Barbara Livingstone, Professor of Nutrition at the University of Ulster, indicates that products with health and nutrition claims such as ‘low fat’ and ‘reduced fat’ may be contributing to people eating larger than recommended portions.

It also indicates that many people assume that these foods with certain health claims are lower in calories than they are. The aim of the research, conducted among over 180 adults on the island of Ireland who had a range of body weights, was to compare what people thought to be the calorie content and reasonable portion sizes of ‘healthier’ and ‘standard’ foods.

Please vote for Caomhan Logue, 1st year PhD student who has been shortlisted for the CN Awards 2012/13. http://www.nutrition2me.com/cn-awards Good Luck Caomhan!

Leading nutrition and health professionals gathered in Belfast recently to explore some of the latest developments in nutrition science and practice, including those in relation to milk and dairy products.

NICHE PhD student, Katy Doolan received a Commendation prize for her presentation at the recent British Psychological Society, Northern Ireland Branch Conference.

School of Biomedical Sciences students raised a very impressive £740 at the recent BIOMED FORMAL, the largest amount of money ever raised at this annual event.
The fundraising committee was led by final year Human Nutrition student Vicky Hegan, who has been shortlisted for a Recognition Award.

Researchers at the Northern Ireland Centre for Food & Health at the University of Ulster will be piloting food portion size estimation tools as part of a safefood funded research project.
If you are aged between 18 and 64 years and currently live on the island of Ireland, we would like to invite you to participate in this study.

Are you a healthy individual, aged 18-64 years? Was your last sun holiday before September 2012? Would you like to be part of a study to gain a better understanding of vitamin D?

NICHE researchers want to measure how well the body absorbs nutrients from a biscuit-like, honeycomb-textured snack, compared to a conventional food-supplement capsule.

If you are:
 healthy and aged 20 - 65 years
 not pregnant, breastfeeding, vegan or vegetarian
 someone who eats very little oily fish like herring, kipper, salmon, tuna steaks or trout
 not taking supplements containing fish oil or omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA)
.........then why not help us test a new, nutrient-enriched crunchy snack?