INTRODUCTION -

During the last decade, in order to contribute to the improvement of food quality and consumer health, new concepts in nutrition emerged in the industrialized countries.

This new idea of human nutrition coupled with the recent advances in biosciences led to a new issue: the functional food and consequently to a new scientific field: the functional food science. The functional food is defined as a diet that may maintain health and well-being and, or, may reduce the risk of diseases. The components that make the food functional can be either, an essential macronutrient, or an essential micronutrient as well as some oligosaccharides and even living microorganisms or plant chemicals. Among the known potential functional food ingredients are the inulin-type fructans. These beta (2-1) linked polyfructosyl sucrose molecules are not digestible in the upper intestinal tract but reach the colon where they are fermented and are supposed to stimulate the growth of bifidobacteria and lactobacilli, connected to health-promoting functions. In addition, fermentable fructans have been reported to have beneficial effects on diabetes, lipid metabolism, prevention of vascular diseases and cancer prevention as well as on magnesium and calcium absorption in human.

Although, the health benefits of fructan diet are increasingly well-documented in rodents and humans, the physiological and molecular mechanisms underlying these effects are poorly understood. Furthermore, systematic studies focussing on potential differences in the effects depending on the structure of fructans (degree of branching, beta (2-6) fructans) are still missing.

THE WORKSHOP - A NEW NETWORK -

The fructan workshop 2003 will be the opportunity to gather people from Switzerland, European and other countries combining different areas of competence in fructans, in cancer and in vascular diseases. The 2-day symposium will be a discussion and brainstorming between medical doctors, academic researchers, pharmaceutical and sugar industry. Plenary sessions and round table discussions will be held for the purpose to design new studies on the effects of fructans on cancer and on metabolic and vascular diseases. The new network should combine centers of fructan production, of enzyme engineering, of laboratories with tissue culture and animal trial facilities and others as well as eventually hospital centers for human trials.

These studies should aim at addressing structure-function issues and at elucidating the physiological and molecular mechanisms of the health benefits. The different contributors will define cost assessments and financial and sponsoring sources should be proposed.

The workshop will take place in Ticino, southern Switzerland at the University of Lugano and will be hosted and co-organized by the BIOPOLO Ticino.

This symposium is coordinated by ADVOLiS Life Science Concepts Ltd. that belongs to the BioValley organization and that is in charge of organizing the International Symposium on Fructans (5th IFS) in Cuba, in December 2004.