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UL Food Scientist, Dr Ioannis Zabetakis is formulating nutraceuticals and functional foods to prevent #cardiovasculardiseases (CVD) using nutrients found in salmon, yoghurt and cheese.
He has identified nutrients in salmon and fermented dairy with strong anti-thrombotic activities which inhibit platelet aggregation, thrombosis, inflammation and hence the onset of CVD.
His research seeks to understand the links between CVD and inflammation.
CVD takes an estimated 17M lives each year, according to the World Health Organization. The use of statins to lower blood cholesterol in humans does not decrease cardiovascular risk. Also, omega-3 supplements are ineffective against CVD.
There is a clear market gap for novel products against CVD, such as supplements and functional foods, which not only provide nutrition but can also positively affect bodily functions and act like medicine.
Dr Zabetakis is Head of the Department of Biological Sciences in UL and Senior Lecturer in Food Lipids. He has co-authored 6 books on food sciences (HACCP, food chemistry, food technology, crisis management and food legislation) in Greek, has edited a book on marine oils in 2015, co-authored a book on the impact of nutrition and statins on CVD (Academic Press, 2019), co-edited a book on functional foods and their implications for health promotion (Academic Press, in press) and has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles (Scopus h-index 31).
University of Limerick Enterprise Ireland #Research #SDG3 #GoodhealthandWellbeing #FunctionalFoods #Nutraceuticals
