Course code:
456B2		 Course name:
Food and Function

Academic year:

2024/2025.

Attendance requirements:

There are no requirements.

ECTS:

4

Study level:

graduate academic studies

Study program:

Biochemistry: 1. year, winter semester, elective (E53B2) course

Teachers:

Tanja D. Ćirković Veličković, Ph.D.
full professor, Faculty of Chemistry, Studentski trg 12-16, Beograd

Dragana J. Stanić-Vučinić, Ph.D.
principal research fellow, Faculty of Chemistry, Studentski trg 12-16, Beograd

Assistant:

Tafadzwa M. Kaseke
research assistant, Faculty of Chemistry, Studentski trg 12-16, Beograd

Hours of instruction:

Weekly: two hours of lectures + two hours of labwork (2+0+2)

Goals:

The student is introduced to the functional aspects of food components and the modern methods used in their testing.

Outcome:

The student has acquired knowledge and practical skills in the field of food function testing.

Teaching methods:

Lectures, theoretical exercises, labwork, colloquia, semmester papers...

Extracurricular activities:

—

Coursebooks:
  • I. Goldberg (editor): Functional food - Designer Foods, Pharmafoods, Nutraceuticals, Chapman & Hall, New York, 1994, pp. 571.
  • M. K. Schmidl, T. P. Labuza: Essential of Functional Foods, Aspen Publishers, Gaithersburg, 2000, pp. 395.
  • G. Mazza: Functional Foods - Biochemical & Processing Aspects, Vol. 1, Technomic Publishing, Lancaster, 1998, pp. 460.
  • J. Shi, G. Mazza, M. Le Maguer (editors): Functional Foods - Biochemical & Processing Aspects, Vol. 2, CRC Pres, Boca Raton, 2002, pp. 409.
  • E. Newsholme, T. Leech: Functional Biochemistry in Health and Disease, Wiley-Blackwell, Chichester, 2009, pp. 543.
  • The materials from lectures and exercises.

Additional material:

—

  Course activities and grading method

Lectures:

10 points (2 hours a week)

Syllabus:

  1. Effects of food on health, function of food.
  2. Nutraceuticals, definition and application.
  3. Basic food components.
  4. Effects of food on the cardio-vascular system.
  5. Food and metabolic syndrome.
  6. Probiotics and prebiotics.
  7. Food and the immune system. Regulation. Stimulation and suppression. Anti-inflammatory effect of food components.
  8. Food and cancer.
  9. Antioxidants and Aging.
  10. Infant formulas and hypoallergenic products.
  11. Phytosterols and phytopreparations (estrogens and antiestrogens).
  12. Obesity and Functional Food.
  13. Food function in malignancies.
  14. Legislation / framework in Europe and worldwide.
  15. The future of functional food development.

Labwork:

30 points (2 hours a week)

Syllabus:

  1. Food and the immune system: food allergens - in vitro tests to determine food allergenic potential. ELISA, immunoblot, BAT and histamine release assay.
  2. Food anti-inflammatory effects. Model system: endotoxin-induced THP-1 monocyte lineage inflammation; determination of inflammasome parameters and oxidative stress of cells by flow cytometry and rtPCR method.
  3. Food and regulation of the immune system. Model system of interference of food components with IL-2 and IL-4 signaling pathways in Jurkat T-cells. Determination of JAK / STAT signaling pathway activation by chemiluminescent detection of phosphorylated JAK and STAT molecules by Western blot technique.
  4. In vitro testing of prebiotics and prebiotic properties of functional foods.

Semester papers:

30 points

Oral exam:

30 points