Plant food supplements: levels of intake, benefit and risk assessment (PlantLIBRA)

Project website

Summary

PlantLIBRA (PLANT food supplements: Levels of Intake, Benefit and Risk Assessment) is a co-financed project within the EU 7th Framework Program. It aims to foster the safe use of food supplements containing plants or botanical preparations by increasing science-based decision-making by regulators and food chain operators. The project is designed to develop, validate and disseminate data and methodologies for risk and benefit assessment and implement sustainable international cooperation.

Objectives

Plant food supplements (PFS), or botanicals, are well accepted by European consumers and potentially offer significant health benefits safely and at relatively low costs. Although new EFSA guidance and regulations are now in place concerns remain about the safety, quality and efficacy of these products, as do bottlenecks in risk and benefit assessments which must be addressed.

To make informed decisions authorities and food businesses need better tools and access to reliable information. PlantLIBRA's mission is to develop, validate and disseminate data and methodologies for risk and benefit assessment and implement sustainable international cooperation. The project spans 4 continents and 25 partners, uniting leading academics, Small and medium-sized enterprises, industry and non-profit organisations in integrating diverse scientific expertise into a single “science of botanicals”.

The University of Surrey is involved in assessing intake of PFS across Europe; it also leads a work package on consumer and stakeholder perceptions of PFS to be conducted in the UK, Romania and Italy. This will comprise desk research and interviews with key stakeholders involved in the PFS area on the types of information available to consumers. It will also utilise mental model research to study how experts and consumers think about PFS. This will be followed up by a survey across several countries investigating consumer beliefs about PFS and an experimental study on the impact of information about PFS on risk and benefit perceptions.

Team

Contacts

Dr Bernadette Egan

Senior Research Fellow/Deputy Chair University of Surrey Ethics Committee

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Professor Monique Raats

Professor; Director of the Food, Consumer Behaviour and Health Research Centre

Biography

Professor Monique Raats is a senior academic and research leader with more than 35 years of experience in developing interdisciplinary research, securing external funding, and translating evidence into policy, practice and societal impact. Originally trained as a nutrition scientist, she has built an internationally recognised interdisciplinary research portfolio spanning behavioural and social sciences, public health, health services research, healthy ageing, sustainability, governance and implementation.

Professor Raats is an inclusive, evidence-led leader with extensive experience directing large multidisciplinary programmes and fostering collaborations across universities, government, healthcare, social care, industry and international organisations. She previously served as Founding Co-Director of the University of Surrey's Institute for Sustainability and as Associate Dean for Research and Innovation in the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, where she led research strategy, infrastructure development and cross-faculty/university collaboration.

She is Director of the Food, Consumer Behaviour and Health (FCBH) Research Centre, one of Europe's leading centres for interdisciplinary food-related research. Together with the Department of Nutritional Sciences, FCBH was awarded the prestigious 2017/2018 Queen’s Anniversary Prize in recognition of its internationally outstanding research and impact.

Research

Professor Raats' research focuses on understanding how individuals, organisations and systems influence food-related behaviours, health outcomes and sustainable lifestyles. Her work integrates behavioural, social, policy and systems perspectives to address major societal challenges including healthy ageing, obesity, public health, food security and sustainability.

Key areas of research include:

Behavioural and policy interventions that support healthier and more sustainable lifestyles
Social, ethical and governance dimensions of food, health and sustainability challenges
Food systems research that examines the interactions of stakeholders across complex food environments
Innovation in food consumer science through new data sources, data linkage methods and interdisciplinary approaches
Public health nutrition and the implementation of evidence into policy and practice

Her research has employed a wide range of qualitative, quantitative and mixed-methods approaches and has informed policy development, health promotion initiatives and stakeholder engagement across multiple sectors.

Career and Scholarly Contributions

Prior to joining the University of Surrey, Professor Raats held positions at the Institute of Food Research (now the Quadram Institute), Health Education Authority and University of Oxford.

She has published more than 160 peer-reviewed journal articles, numerous professional and policy publications, over 20 book chapters, and has co-edited two influential volumes:

The Psychology of Food Choice (2006)
Food for the Ageing Population (1st edition 2009; 2nd edition 2016)

Her work has contributed significantly to the development of behavioural nutrition, food choice research, healthy ageing and public health policy.

National and International Leadership

From 2011 to 2018, Professor Raats served on the UK Government's Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) and was a member of its Subgroup on Maternal and Child Nutrition, contributing evidence and expertise to national nutrition policy and guidance.

She is also a founding member of the International Society of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity. Between 2001 and 2006 she served on the Society's Board of Directors and was Secretary from 2004 to 2006. ISBNPA has become the leading international learned society for researchers working at the intersection of diet, physical activity, behaviour and health, and supports excellence in research through its annual congress and the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity.

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