Inflammatory bowel disease

Obesity as part of metabolic syndrome is a major lifestyle disorder throughout the world. Current drug treatments for obesity produce small and usually unsustainable decreases in body weight with the risk of major adverse effects. Surgery has been the only treatment producing successful long-term weight loss. As a different but complementary approach, lifestyle modification including the use of functional foods could produce a reliable decrease in obesity with decreased comorbidities. Our research includes functional foods such as berries, vegetables, fibre-enriched grains and beverages such as tea and coffee. Our studies also focus on development of animal models of inflammatory diseases such inflammatory bowel disease, chronic kidney disease and arthritis. These models are then used to investigate the effects of functional foods in attenuation of these disorders.

作为代谢综合征（metabolic syndrome）的组成部分，肥胖是全球范围内一类主要的生活方式相关性疾病。当前针对肥胖的药物治疗仅能实现小幅且通常难以持续的体重下降，且存在引发严重不良反应的风险。外科手术则是目前唯一可达成长期成功减重的治疗手段。作为一种差异化且互为补充的干预路径，包括摄入功能性食品（functional foods）在内的生活方式调整，有望实现可靠的肥胖改善，并降低共病发生风险。本研究涉及的功能性食品涵盖浆果、蔬菜、高纤维谷物，饮品则包括茶与咖啡。同时，本研究还聚焦于炎症性肠病（inflammatory bowel disease）、慢性肾病（chronic kidney disease）及关节炎等炎症性疾病的动物模型构建。后续将依托这些模型，探究功能性食品对上述疾病的缓解作用。