The main objective of the Action is to spread and improve current basic knowledge on food digestion, on the release during digestion of protein beneficial food components known to have a potential effect on human health and to promote harmonization of currently used digestion models. EU legislation, as advised by EFSA, demands proper scientific data in nutrition and health claims. There is a lot of data being generated on the link between the food digestion and human health and a significant effort continues to be expended separately in each EU country on optimizing food for preventing the development of food-related diseases. This COST Action will gradually build a European network that will spread and improve current basic knowledge on food digestion and promote harmonization of currently used digestion models used including validation with human data from different populations such as infants, elderly, sport professionals etc. A multidisciplinary scientific community will be built on this topic gathering scientists from different disciplines (food science, nutrition, physiology, immunology, cell biology…). The Action will facilitate the transfer of new scientific advances to European food companies (large groups as well as SMEs) for developing new functional foods and reinforcing their competitiveness in a growing world market.
