Maurizio Battino, Director of FUNIBER Italy and Director of the Health and Nutrition area of the Foundation, has been interviewed by the prestigious scientific journal “International Journal of Molecular Sciences”
Maurizio Battino, who has recently been acknowledged by Thomson Reuters among the most influential researchers in the world during 2015, has been interviewed by the “International Journal of Molecular Sciences” for the presentation of the project that he is currently developing together with his research team, “The Bioenergetics Group”, about the natural bioactive compounds and their role in reducing the effects of oxidative stress.
In the interview, Dr. Battino said that he became interested in nutrition 25 years ago, thanks to professors Giorgio Lenaz, of the University of Bologna (Italy), and Jorge Mataix, of the University of Granada (Spain). In this line, the expert in bioenergetics stresses that the first studies that were developed in that field explained the effects of extra virgin olive oil intake on the mitochondrial properties and functions.
Also, the article cites the most important discoveries made by the Director of the Health and Nutrition area of FUNIBER throughout his professional career, such as the role of antioxidants as potential tools for the improvement of chronic diseases and the demonstration that natural antioxidants can intervene in other activities which may not always be linked to their major properties, in example, they can intervene in cells and health welfare, by using mechanisms that are often independent from the antioxidant nature of the molecule as well as in the projects in which he is currently working along with his research team.
The Director of FUNIBER Italy indicates that the forthcoming researches about the natural bioactive compounds will consist in producing food that contain larger amounts of these compounds. In this regard, the research group led by Dr Battino has patented a strawberry variety that has 8 times more folate content than the strawberries that are now being commercialized, which leads to very interesting scenarios for their natural integration in the daily diet.
Finally, Maurizio Battino stresses the need to dedicate more aid to research, in particular for studies of mitochondrial diseases prevention. Moreover, he gives one piece of advice for future researchers in the nutrition and health area, “It is a very competitive field, only those ideas which are innovative, new and creative have a chance to survive: So be rigorous, but imaginative.”
You can read the full interview in the following link:
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