The Technological Mixed Unit (UMT) ALICE (Food, lipidic nutrients and brain) 2006-2016

The Technological Mixed Unit (UMT) ALICE for « Nutrition Lipidique et Cerveau » (Food, lipidic nutrients and brain) was an association between the ITERG team “Nutrition Metabolism and Health” and NutriNeurO lab.

The market of functional food for health and well-being is innovative and continuously growing (+8%/year versus 1-2% for the whole food-processing industry) and is worth 80 milliards €. In this context, NutriNeuro and the ITERG team “Nutrition Metabolism and Health” joined and created the Technological Mixed Unit (UMT) ALICE.

These 2 units involved in ALICE were also part of  the LISA Carnot Institute (LISA for Lipids for the Industry and Health), created in 2007 by ITERG, IMBL (Multidisciplinary Institute for Lipid Biochemistry) and Bordeaux University that are strongly involved in oils, fats and lipids research.

The LISA Carnot Institute was an attractive association of public and private research in the field of lipids, with 120 research scientists and 70 PhD and post-doctoral trainees working on many areas among which health and nutrition. The common aim was to propose and anticipate the industrial and public authorities needs.

The aim of the UMT ALICE was to enhance the functionality, at the nutritional level, of lipidic or lipophilic nutrients (naturally present in seeds, vegetable or marine sources) in regard of cognitive and emotional status in adults. The purpose was to provide scientific arguments to the industrials in order to orientate the innovation of new products (fats, foods or food supplements) towards guaranteed or optimized lipidic or lipophilic nutrient level, targeting emotional and cognitive processes. The following main areas were:

• The study of brain impact of lipidic or lipophilic nutrients such as vitamin D and long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids;
• The development of models to evaluate the biodisponibility and the metabolic feature of lipidic and lipophilic nutrients (omega3, vitamins A and D) in the organism, from their ingestion to their use by the brain during neonatality and adulthood;
• The development of the measure of lipid metabolic derivates (such as prostaglandins, resolvins, iso- and neuro-prostanes, endocannabinoids) that may be involved in cognitive and emotional processes.

The NutriNeuro members involved in ALICE were:

-ALFOS Serge

-JOFFRE Corinne

-PALLET Véronique

-LAYE Sophie

The ITERG members involved in ALICE were:

-VAYSSE Carole

-BUAUD Benjamin

Contact ALICE : veronique.pallet@enscbp.fr and c.vaysse@iterg.com