increase font size
The Asian middle classes are the target for an AgResearch-led project on gut health.
Associate professor Nicole Roy says there is a substantial market in Asia for food products with substantiated health benefits.
The project has been allocated $3.6 million by the High-Value Nutrition National Science Challenge.
Roy and other AgResearch colleagues will work with the University of Otago, the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research and Plant & Food Research to research the relationship between nutrition and gut health.
The challenge aims to drive innovation in nutrition research, food science and health, to position New Zealand as a world leader in the rapidly increasing food-for-health market.
"In determining what we were going to do, we started with the consumer – the person buying these food products that will be developed and marketed by the NZ food industry based on the results of our work," says Roy.
"We know there is a link between the food we eat, how our gut functions and our brain. Stress is known to trigger poor gut function and discomfort. We want to provide knowledge the industry will use to develop food products to address this.
"We are focussing on the Asian markets because there's already an established culture that understands the benefits of such foods. A large number of these people lead stressful professional lives and experience gut problems as a result, which affects their productivity and quality of life. Gut health is a rising concern for consumers."
The emerging middle and upper classes in Asia who want to excel as their careers and age advance are an important consumer group. They will buy food and beverage products to feel physically comfortable and fit, to stay mentally sharp and to slow cognitive decline.
"Our focus will also consider the increasing evidence that the two-way communication between the gut and the brain is central to these problems."
Roy says the research is aimed at fast-tracking opportunities helping NZ's food and beverage industry to develop and market foods with validated health benefits, such as improved gut function and comfort.
AgResearch staff will also work in four other teams funded by High-Value Nutrition.
One of the most galling aspects of the tariffs whacked on our farm exports to the US is the fact that, now more than ever, US farmers are being propped up by government welfare – a direct result of Trump’s hardline on its trading partners.
China looks set to play a key role in helping the New Zealand wool sector shift away from trading as a commodity supplier.
If you find a new consumer in a developed wine market, you are taking them from someone else, says Blank Canvas co-founder Sophie Parker-Thomson MW.
The large 2025 harvest will exacerbate the wine industry's "lingering" supply from recent vintages, New Zealand Winegrowers Chief Executive Philip Gregan told attendees at Grape Days events around the country in June.
A Chinese business leader says Chinese investors are unfairly viewed as potential security risks in New Zealand.
Waikato dairy farmer Neil Bateup, made a companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (CNZM) in the New Year 2026 Honours list, says he’s grateful for the award.
Another Australian state has given the green light to virtual fencing, opening another market for Kiwi company Halter.
Farmer interest continues to grow as a Massey University research project to determine the benefits or otherwise of the self-shedding Wiltshire sheep is underway. The project is five years in and has two more years to go. It was done mainly in the light of low wool prices and the cost of shearing. Peter Burke recently went along to the annual field day held Massey's Riverside farm in the Wairarapa.
Applications are now open for the 2026 NZI Rural Women Business Awards, set to be held at Parliament on 23 July.
Ravensdown has announced a collaboration with Kiwi icon, Footrot Flats in an effort to bring humour, heart, and connection to the forefront of the farming sector.
Forest & Bird's Kiwi Conservation Club is inviting New Zealanders of all ages to embrace the outdoors with its Summer Adventure Challenges.
President Donald Trump’s decision to impose tariffs on imports into the US is doing good things for global trade, according…
Seen a giant cheese roll rolling along Southland’s roads?
