Healthy Food Unit

Seeks the development of foods that prevent and combat obesity and other comorbidities associated with metabolic syndrome.

What does this unit do?

It selects the varieties of plant, animal, and single-celled species relevant to a diverse, healthy, and sustainable diet. Additionally, the interactions among nutrients and other chemical compounds during food processing, storage, and digestion are validated to design better foods for different populations.

Healthy Food

In Mexico, healthy food production is very variable due to the wide range of climatic conditions and migratory movements that have occurred and continue to occur in the national territory. On the one hand, traditional production systems focus on the diversity of vegetable crops and collecting local fruits and seeds that encourage a diverse diet. On the other hand, in some regions of the country, there is a greater degree of technology to increase the yield and quality of food, advancing the fulfillment of Sustainable Development Goal #2 (SDG 2): zero hunger. Finding a balance in these approaches would move us toward fulfilling SDG 12: Responsible production and consumption.

Your food is your medicine

For centuries, it has been recognized that the consumption of healthy foods has a close relationship with good health in the present and future. Today there is a wealth of scientific evidence supporting the prevention of non-communicable diseases.

Hippocrates' phrase "Let your food be your medicine and your medicine your food" leads to three grand challenges:

1. How to design food for population groups already suffering from certain chronic-degenerative diseases?
2. How to design foods that help prevent these diseases?
3. Understanding the reactions between a food's components and an individual's state of health

Currently, there are advances in understanding nutritional needs and the relevance of consuming antioxidant compounds, immunostimulants, and other beneficial health effects, but further research is required to support each individual to make the best choice based on their habits, customs, traditions, and specific needs. That is one of the challenges of this unit.

Janet Alejandra Gutiérrez Uribe
Unit leader. Full Research Professor

Sustainable and healthy food, discovery of active molecules in Mexican foods, development of functional ingredients
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Diego Armando Luna Vital
Assistant Research Professor

Study of proteins, bioactive peptides and natural pigments. Development of functional products. Nutrigenomics of foods endemic to Latin America.
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Marilena Antunes Ricardo
Assistant Research Professor

Characterization of phytochemicals in plant matrices for the development of health foods with immunoeoeutical and/or cosmetic potential.
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Daniel Alberto Jacobo Velázquez
Associate Research Professor

Design of effective mixtures of bioactives in the form of food, beverages and dietary supplements for the prevention and treatment of metabolic syndrome.
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Cristina Elizabeth Chuck Hernández
Full Research Professor

Extraction and modification processes of vegetable proteins for the production of functional ingredients, study and development of dairy products and analogues.
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Anayansi Escalante Aburto
Research Professor Instructor

Characterization of nutraceutical foods of plant origin. Nutrition, eating habits and health.
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Iván Andrés Luzardo Ocampo
Research Professor Instructor

Cereals and legumes-based functional food products. In vitro, ex vivo, in vivo and in silico approaches on studying the impact of food matrices and metabolites on inflammation and obesity models.

• Biopolymer nanoparticles: a strategy to enhance stability, bioavailability, and biological effects of phenolic compounds as functional ingredients.  Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture.  102:41-52. 2022
• Deglycosylation of isoflavones in selenized germinated chickpea flours due to convection drying.  LWT - Food Science and Technology.  153. 2022
• Immunomodulatory effect of metabolites from digested and fermented fractions from irradiated pineapple (Annanas comosus L.) snack-bars.  Food Chemistry.  373. 2022
• Modulation of gut microbiota by Mantequilla and Melipona honeys decrease low-grade inflammation caused by high fructose corn syrup or sucrose in rats.  Food Research International.  151. 2022
• Advances and prospective applications of 3D food printing for health improvement and personalized nutrition.  Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety.  20:5722-5741. 2021
• Anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects of peptides released from germinated amaranth during in vitro simulated gastrointestinal digestion.  Food Chemistry.  343. 2021
• Chemical genetics applied to elucidate the physiological role of stress-signaling molecules on the wound-induced accumulation of glucosinolates in broccoli.  Plants.  10. 2021
• Common bean baked snack consumption reduces apolipoprotein b-100 levels: A randomized crossover trial.  Nutrients.  13. 2021
• Improving the health-benefits of kales (Brassica oleracea l. var. acephala dc) through the - application of controlled abiotic stresses: A review.  Plants.  10. 2021
• Physicochemical and nutritional evaluation of bread incorporated with ayocote bean (Phaseolus coccineus) and black bean (phaseolus vulgaris).  Processes.  9. 2021