Dr. Michel Aliani
Principal Investigator
Nutritional Metabolomics Research, Canadian Centre for Agri-food Research in Health and Medicine
Principal Investigator
Nutritional Metabolomics Research, Division of Neurodegenerative Disorders
Professor
Human Nutritional Sciences, University of Manitoba
Adjunct Professor
Physiology and Pathophysiology, University of Manitoba
Research Focus
Functional food is any food claimed to have a health-promoting or disease-preventing property beyond the basic function of supplying nutrients. Nutritional interventions using functional foods have had a considerable role as legitimate therapeutic strategies to combat common metabolic disorders in Canada and around the world.
Acceptability of functional foods is a constantly evolving challenge to nutritional interventions where compliance is a key factor for success. The incorporation of novel ingredients in functional foods may shift the molecular balance of flavour precursors which can compromise consumer acceptability. Therefore, understanding the molecular interactions among natural flavour precursors and added bioactive compounds is crucial to our understanding of flavour formation in functional foods. Once ingested, the bioactive compounds are susceptible to major changes in the body with the formation of novel compounds engaged in different biochemical pathways. The metabolomics studies of the metabolites derived from functional foods in the body are extremely informative on the effects exerted by these compounds.
The focus of Dr. Aliani’s research is therefore twofold.
- To provide the scientific and molecular basis for the development and successful marketing of functional foods targeted to patients as well as healthy populations in the world and
- To investigate the effect of active compounds on metabolic pathways in animal and human models.
About Dr. Michel Aliani
Michel Aliani is a Professor at the Department of Human Nutritional Sciences at the University of Manitoba and a member of the Canadian Centre for Agri-Food Research in Health and Medicine in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He was educated in France (B.Sc. and Engineering degree in Agri-Food Biochemistry) and in Northern Ireland (Ph.D., and Post-doctoral at Queen’s University Belfast) prior to moving to the University of Manitoba in 2007. His area of scientific expertise includes food science, mass spectrometry and metabolomics.
For more information, contact:
Dr. Michel Aliani
Tel. (204) 235-3048
Fax. (204) 237-4018
Email. michel.aliani@umanitoba.ca or maliani@sbrc.ca
Bitterness
Perception, Chemistry and Food Processing
Michel Aliani and Michael N. A. Eskin provide a thorough review of bitterness that includes an understanding of the genetics of bitterness perception and the molecular basis for individual differences in bitterness perception. This is followed by a detailed review of the chemical structure of bitter compounds in foods where bitterness may be considered to be a positive or negative attribute. To better understand bitterness in foods, separation and analytical techniques used to identify and characterize bitter compounds are also covered.
Food processing can itself generate compounds that are bitter, such as the Maillard reaction and lipid oxidation-related products. Since bitterness is considered a negative attribute in many foods, the methods being used to remove and/mask it is also thoroughly discussed.
You can purchase your own 264-page hardback copy of Bitterness, Perception, Chemistry and Food Processing. Visit http://www.wiley.com/buy/9781118590294.
Life In the Lab
