EU and India to deepen Biotech research ties
EU and India to deepen Biotech research ties.
The EU and India are set to deepen their biotechnology research ties, particularly in the fields of food and health. A delegation from the EU recently visited India to discuss cooperation over issues such as the links between health and nutrition and how these can be exploited to help prevent chronic diseases.
“We went there with a group of leading EU scientists and we wanted to try to establish contacts with the food research community, which we didn’t know very well,” explained Dr Antonio di Giulio, Head of the Food, Health and Well-Being Unit at the European Commission’s Research Directorate- General. One of the highlights of the trip was a joint EU-India day at a major summit on nutraceuticals.
Nutraceuticals (the word comes from combining “nutrition” and “pharmaceuticals”) are dietary supplements made from food extracts, which are designed to have health benefits. They include antioxidants from berries, and oils from certain fish.
The world market in nutraceuticals is worth over 50 billion Euro. The US and Japan currently have the largest market share, but interest in these products is growing rapidly in both the EU and India. Both the EU and India are also interested in promoting research designed to find out more about these products and how they work. EUbusiness
10 April 2008
|
