Research

Research in nutrition focuses on determining the state of nutrition and the links between nutrition and diseases. Nutrition is an applied science, and its research methods range from follow-up population studies to cell models.

In the discipline of Human Nutrition, the present research projects include:

Culin­ary cap­ital

  • Cultural and economic resources related to food consumption and eating (Ruokapääoma)
  • The effects of political and cultural tolerance related to food preferences (Ruokapääoma)

Read more about the Culinary capital project

In­no­FoodA­frica

InnoFoodAfrica explores climate-smart African crops in Ethiopia, Kenya, South Africa and Uganda. The emphasis will be to target the new foods to vulnerable people such as malnourished infants, expecting mothers and urban adults under the risk of obesity. This will be done by increasing the diversity of affordable, nutrient-dense and healthy food products made of using local crops as raw materials and supporting the people to eat more healthily. As a part of the project, nutritional status and dietary intakes are assessed in 400 mothers and their small children in all four target countries in urban setting. Human Nutrition at UH is in charge of the survey in Kenya.

Read more about InnoFoodAfrica project.

Psychoso­cial de­term­in­ants of eat­ing be­ha­viour, weight man­age­ment and qual­ity of life 

This Academy Research Fellow (9/2017–8/2022) project aims to provide novel insights for developing personalized approaches to promoting healthy eating as well as improved psychosocial treatment after bariatric surgery by combining information from several internationally unique datasets. 

Mo­lecu­lar nu­tri­tion

  • The effects of plant-based protein sources on nutrient intakes, metabolomics, gut microbiome and risk factors of chronic diseases (Leg4life, SIMBA, ScenoProt)
  • Dealing with legume-derived FODMAPs (Leg4life, LeguComf)
  • Consumer acceptability of plant-based foods (Leg4life, LeguComf)
  • Integrating nutritional quality into environmental impact assessment and communication (NEPGa)

About molecular nutrition group

Links to project pages:

 

Family nu­tri­tion and well­being research group

Read more about family nutrition and wellbeing group

 

Projects:

Food Step – a sustainable health-promoting model for food services and early childhood education and care  https://ruoka-askel.fi/

  • The aim of the Food Step project is to develop a sustainable operating model that will support children’s healthy diets and reduce the climate impacts of food provision in early childhood education and care.

DAGIS - increased health and wellbeing in preschool https://dagis.fi/

  • The general objective is to promote preschool as a setting for healthy lifestyle and wellbeing – for both children and preschool personnel. We assess children’s energy balance-related behaviours (dietary intake, physical activity, sedentary behaviour, screen time, and sleep pattern), and their relations to stress markers and overweight/obesity.

PAMEL  https://blogs.helsinki.fi/pamel-hanke/ 

  • The aim of the PAMEL project is to research the life, work and wellbeing of private sector service workers in Finland

LoCard-study https://locard.fi/inenglish/

  •  LoCard research group focuses on exploring consumers’ purchase behavior and anticipated health and environmental effects through vast amount of loyalty card data 

Sospro - The implementation of food catering, dietary quality, and children’s food engagement in residential childcare units.