France – EoI 1103

We are a group of chemists and biochemists aiming at improving the organoleptic and nutritional qualities of Fruit and Vegetables (F&V) to propose new sustainable and healthy food products.

Our expertise is on:

  1. the impact of industrial processing on the stability of phytomicronutrients (carotenoids, polyphenols, vitamins) & aroma compounds and on the texture of processed products (pectins)
  2. the impact of digestion on the bioaccessibility of phytomicronutrients (carotenoids, polyphenols, vitamins) in the digestive tract
  3. the protection of essential ω-6 polyunsaturated lipids by antioxidant phytomicronutrients during food digestion in relation with cardiovascular protection.
  4. the interaction between polyphenols, pectins and the intestinal microbiota in relation with the metabolisation of phytomicronutrients.
  5. the chemical mechanisms underlying the properties of phytomicronutrients (ex: antioxidant activity, color expression of natural pigments such as anthocyanins, ..)

Our group can contribute to WP3 Task 2 (bioavailability) : we have a particular interest in the impact of genotype x cultural practices x climate on the development of the plant matrix and the accumulation of phytomicronutrients. This variability can affect fruit and vegetables processing and further the bioaccessibility of phytomicronutrients after food ingestion.

Bioaccessibility is a key step to bioavailability but also to the exercise of a health benefit directly in the GI tract. As a matter of fact, we have showed that polyphenols can protect w-6 polyunsaturated lipids from oxidation by heme iron during digestion. Lipid oxidation products are nowadays recognized as implicated in the development of cardiovascular diseases and colon cancer.

Our expertise on the nutritional and organoleptic qualities of fruit and vegetables has been mainly gained on tomato, peach, apricot, and apple while for others we take advantage of the literature.

EoI responsable
Claire DUFOUR
Research Scientist/Team leader/Deputy Director of the SQPOV Unit
Claire.dufour@inrae.fr

People involved
Carine LE BOURVELLEC
Research Scientist/Team leader
carine.le-bourvellec@inrae.fr

David PAGE
Research Scientist
david.page@inrae.fr

Agnès SABATE-SABATE
Research Engineer
agnes.rolland-sabate@inrae.fr

Sylvie BUREAU
sylvie.bureau@inrae.fr
Research Engineer

Link

https://www6.paca.inrae.fr/sqpov_eng/

SQPOV is partner of the following international projects:

funding agencies