01.01.07
The Nestlé Research Center (NRC), Lausanne, Switzerland, and EPFL (one of the two Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology) have signed a five-year agreement to conduct research on the relationship between nutrition and the brain. Under this agreement, Nestlé will contribute a little over $4 million per year to research at EPFL’s Brain Mind Institute, where two Nestlé Chairs will be established. The research will extend from studying the role nutrition plays in children’s brain development to identifying ways of slowing down brain decline in older age and preventing diseases such as Alzheimer’s. The agreement will also include research into taste perception and flavor enhancement. The deal comes in the wake of the 3rd International Nutrition Symposium held at the NRC on October 25, 2006, on the subject of food and the brain. Nestlé triggered this cycle of yearly events three years ago to establish the first world-class scientific forum devoted exclusively to food and health. The latest edition contributed to improving scientific understanding of the importance of food in fuelling the brain and of the brain in choosing food. A key finding was that a good diet has more potential than previously recognized to improve brain function. These findings are likely to help set specific nutritional targets to slow down or even stabilize age-related brain decline.