Abbott Nutrition invites second wave of research proposals on diet and cognition

02-Aug-2012 - Last updated on 17-Oct-2023 at 10:40 GMT

Target groups for studies include full-term and premature infants, pre-adolescent children, healthy adults, elderly adults, cancer patients and traumatic brain injury patients

Abbott Nutrition and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign are inviting researchers to bid for cash to fund new diet and cognition-related projects that could help Abbott develop the next generation of brain foods and supplements.

The Center for Nutrition, Learning, and Memory, a collaboration between the two partners, is seeking pre-proposals by Sept 7, 2012 in its second annual research challenge.

Last year, the center awarded nearly $10m in funding for interdisciplinary research projects involving nutrition, the brain and cognition.

This year’s funding will be announced by December 17, with the amount awarded based on the quality of proposals.

Cognition research is one of Abbott's top glocal priorities

Speaking to NutraIngredients-USA in May, an Abbott spokeswoman said: “Cognition research is one of Abbott’s top global priorities."

She added: “The research collaboration is intended to help uncover relationships between nutrition and cognition, and carry those discoveries to innovative nutritional products across all of our categories including pediatric, adult and performance nutrition.”

Nutrients of interest include the long chain omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA, Beta-hydroxy beta-methylbutyrate (HMB), flavonoids and lutein, while target groups include full-term and premature infants, pre-adolescent children, healthy adults, elderly adults, cancer patients and traumatic brain injury patients.

Click here for more details about the collaboration with UIUC.

Click here for more on recent developments in 'brain food'.