Large-Scale, Sustainable, Nutrient-Dense MicroVeg: Generating Health Evidence & Production Capacity to Support Incorporation into UK Diet

近4500万英国成年人和儿童不符合每天食用5份水果和蔬菜的指南，增加了健康状况不佳和过早死亡的风险。微蔬菜（MV）是发芽到子叶（前2片叶子）的蔬菜种子。它们可以快速生长，是微量营养素的集中来源。高级种植者（AG）是一家总部位于赫里福德的企业，生产冻干MV（FDMV）。FDMV是一种低容量产品，保质期长，易于作为常规饮食的一部分食用。它们可以被整合到膳食中，而不会显著改变味道，从而使FDMV包含在具有低基线蔬菜消费的饮食中。MV被认为具有广泛的健康益处，包括许多炎症性疾病，包括代谢、心血管和认知疾病。这可能对英国老龄人口的健康产生重要影响。MV科学文献不足以支持明确的健康声明。它需要增加与人类相关的高质量研究。为FDMV创建强大的健康证据基础将促进AG在市场上的增长。与此同时，英国需要扩大FDMV的可持续生产。这将使AG能够充分利用改进的证据基础，并促进消费者对FDMV市场的信任。这将促进约4亿英镑的投资和200个就业机会进入农村环境，并在英国创造一个全球领先的MV中心。埃克塞特大学的一个研究小组（BioActivEx，玛丽奥利里博士和乔鲍特尔教授）将与Ecog Pro Ltd的海伦布鲁克博士合作进行一项研究，以改善这一证据基础。他们将研究6周FDMV补充剂对健康老年人（年龄> 60岁）的影响。老年人群的背景炎症增加。该项目将研究这种补充剂对炎症以及脂肪和肌肉健康的影响。项目将使用尖端技术，如蛋白质组学，来做到这一点。这些技术是强大的，并且具有它们可以指示MV对身体的影响的优点，这些影响以前没有被考虑过。他们还将研究MV是否对认知有任何影响，以及任何此类变化是否与血液，脂肪和肌肉的措施有关。同时，AG将通过确保种子供应，开发自动播种和收获，提高作物产量以及为冷冻干燥和混合创造精益和可持续的制造工艺来提高产能。

Nearly 45 million British adults and children don't meet guidelines to consume 5 portions of fruit and vegetables per day, increasing risk of poor health and early death.Microvegetables (MV) are sprouted vegetable seeds to cotyledons (first 2 leaves). They can be grown quickly and are concentrated source of micronutrients. Advanced Growers (AG) is a Hereford-based business which produces freeze-dried MV (FDMV). FDMV is a low volume product with long shelf-life that is easy to consume as part of a regular diet. They can be integrated into meals without substantially altering the taste, lending FDMV's to inclusion in diets with low baseline vegetable consumption.MV are thought to have broad health benefits, including for many inflammatory conditions including metabolic, cardiovascular and cognitive diseases. This could have important implications for the health of an ageing UK population. MV scientific literature is not extensive enough to support definitive health claims. It requires the addition of high-quality studies that are relevant to humans.Creating a robust health evidence base for FDMV will facilitate AG growth in the market. At the same time, sustainable production of FDMV needs to be scaled-up in the UK. This will leave AG well-placed to exploit the improved evidence base and promote consumer trust in the FDMV market. This will facilitate around £400m investment and 200 jobs into a rural environment and create a globally leading MV hub in the UK.An Exeter University research group (BioActivEx, Dr Mary O'Leary and Prof Jo Bowtell), working with Dr Helen Brooker of Ecog Pro Ltd will conduct a research study to improve this evidence base. They will investigate the effects of 6 weeks FDMV supplementation in healthy older adults (aged \> 60 years). This older population has increased background inflammation. Project will look at the effects of this supplementation on inflammation and on fat and muscle health. Project will use cutting-edge techniques e.g. proteomics, to do this. These techniques are powerful, and have the advantage that they can indicate effects of MV on the body that have not previously been considered. They will also examine whether MV have any effects on cognition and whether any such changes have a relationship with measures taken in blood, fat and muscle.At the same time AG will grow production capacity by securing seed supply, developing automated seeding & harvesting, improving crop yields and creating lean and sustainable manufacturing process for freeze drying and blending.