Formation
How does CUdN promote education?
Lectures
Lectures by experts in the field of nutraceuticals are organised to offer a more direct way of obtaining knowledge between research and the scientific community, and even the general public.
This activity began when, on 23 April 2021, the director of this chair gave a lecture on Functional Foods, Food Supplements and Nutraceutics at the Official College of Pharmacists of Tarragona. Dr. Begoña Muguerza, lecturer in the Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology at the Rovira i Virgili University. She is part of the Nutrigenomics research group.
She has participated in 96 research projects, with a total of 47 research projects funded by public calls and 49 contracts with companies in the agri-food, nutraceutical or cosmetic sector, of which she has been the project or contract manager, feeling the principal investigator, in 54 of them.
Co-author of more than 95 articles in high-impact international scientific journals and 11 patents. She has supervised 8 doctoral theses, 7 with international mention and 4 of them have been recognised with an extraordinary prize.
She has also been Director of the Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology and Coordinator of the Official Interuniversity Master's Degree in Nutrition and Metabolism. She currently leads the Nutrigenomics research group and is Director of the Uriach Chair in Nutraceutics.
Teaching
The CUdN promotes the teaching participation of professionals from the Uriach Innovation Department in the official Master's Degree in Nutrition and Metabolism (URV-UB) to give students a vision of nutraceutics from an industrial and professional point of view.
The Official Master's Degree in Nutrition and Metabolism is a course offered by the Universitat Rovira i Virgili and the Universitat de Barcelona in collaboration with the Universitat de les Illes Balears. Its pillars are excellence in training and research, including the latest advances in clinical nutrition, nutrigenomics and functional foods, as well as a high level of cooperation with hospitals, research groups and the food industry.
The Master's degree offers three specialisations to choose from:
-
Clinical Nutrition
-
Healthy Food
-
Research
Diccionari de Conceptes
Welcome to the Dictionary of Concepts of the Chair of Nutraceutics!
One of the main objectives of the Chair is to enhance knowledge. Therefore, this resource offers a guide to the different important terms and concepts within the field of nutraceuticals.
Explore this collection of definitions that include the main ideas in the world of nutraceuticals and bioactive compounds. Discover also how these compounds can influence your health and well-being, their applications and their benefits.
-
Nutraceutical
Dietary supplement, presented in a non-food material of a concentrated bioactive natural substance, usually present in food and which, when taken in a higher dosage than that present in these foods, can help prevent or cure diseases.
-
Functional Food
Food that contains a component, nutrient or non-nutrient, with a selective effect on one or more functions of the organism, with an additional effect beyond its nutritional value and whose positive effects justify that its functional nature can be claimed or even that it is healthy.
-
Antioxidants
They are compounds that help protect cells from damage caused by free radicals, unstable substances that can contribute to aging and disease.
-
Polyphenols
They are compounds with phenolic rings in their structure that are present in foods such as fruits, vegetables, tea and black wine, and have been associated with benefits for cardiovascular health and the prevention of chronic diseases.
-
Phytonutrients
They are chemical compounds of plant origin that have antioxidant and/or anti-inflammatory properties, and can benefit human health.
-
Phytosterols
They are plant compounds that have a similar structure to cholesterol and can help reduce LDL cholesterol levels in the blood when consumed in adequate amounts.
-
Resveratrol
It is a polyphenol found in grape peel and other foods, and has been associated with benefits for cardiovascular health and longevity.
-
Probiotic
They are live microorganisms that, when consumed in adequate amounts, can confer health benefits in balancing the intestinal microbiota.
-
Prebiotics
They are non-digestible food fibers that selectively feed beneficial bacteria in the intestine, thus promoting intestinal health.
