The Director of the University’s Centre for Nutraceuticals’ Professor M.Gulrez Zariwala was invited to participate at an expert roundtable to share his perspective on how to communicate the science behind supplements and generate consumer trust and acceptance with industry experts at NutrEvent 2024, Europe’s leading food and nutrition-themed innovation and partnering event.
NutrEvent is a leading partnering event dedicated to innovation in food, human and animal nutrition, organised by Eurasanté, an economic development agency who have been dedicated to tech transfer and business development in the health and life sciences sector for over 30 years. It takes place once a year and gathers over 500 key actors from 25+ countries ranging from research to market.
This year’s event took place in Lille, France, between 2-3 October, and included a variety of panel discussions. Professor Zariwala was invited to join a lively and insightful panel which explored how to communicate the health benefits of supplements using validated clinical studies. This panel evaluated efficacy in preventive care and discussed how to ensure transparent messaging is given to consumers and healthcare professionals.
As well as speaking as part of the panel, Professor Zariwala was invited to be part of a distinguished jury alongside other international experts and industry leaders for the real-world competition Start-up Slams. In the competition companies pitched exciting projects across categories for an opportunity to raise funding and support from investors. These categories included plant-based food, food supplements and personalised nutrition, and feed.
Professor Zariwala said: “This was an important platform to highlight the Centre’s role as a leading voice to promote trust, transparency and integrity in the area of supplements and nutraceuticals, by integrating high quality research. Our participation at leading events at the interphase of research and commercialisation such as this underlines our commitment to promote science-based innovation and knowledge exchange in the industry.”
The Centre for Nutraceuticals is a first-of-its-kind initiative in the area of nutraceuticals, supplements and functional foods. It is a globally recognised source of scientifically validated knowledge and acts as a catalyst for improving health and wellbeing guided by research and innovation.
The Centre has recently presented at the world’s leading nutraceutical industry event, Vitafoods 2024, and has hosted the Student Health and Nutrition Conference 2024, bringing together students from across the School of Life Sciences to share perspectives, network with peers and external experts and learn more about the vast field of health and nutrition.
Participating at this event directly contributes to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 3: Good Health and Wellbeing, 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure and 17: Partnerships for Goals. Since 2019, the University of Westminster has used the SDGs holistically to frame strategic decisions to help students and colleagues fulfil their potential and contribute to a more sustainable, equitable and healthier society.
Learn more about the Centre for Nutraceuticals at the University of Westminster.
