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The Nutrition & Digestive Health division is dedicated to advancing the understanding of how nutrition, bioactives, and gut health influence overall wellbeing and disease prevention. This multidisciplinary division brings together expertise from the fields of nutrition science, bioactive compound research, and gut microbiome studies, creating a holistic approach to improve proactive health and healthy longevity.

Our mission is to identify and optimize dietary strategies that promote metabolic and digestive health, mitigate the risks of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases, and enhance overall quality of life. Non-communicable diseases are heavily influenced by lifestyle, including poor dietary habits, which exert profound impacts on disease risk. With an ageing population facing an increased burden of these diseases, our research focuses on maintaining health status and preventing disease development, in line with a proactive health approach for healthy longevity.

Our capabilities span the use of preclinical tools using cutting-edge in vitro and in silico models, to clinical intervention studies, including randomized controlled trials, to probe nutritional physiology, understand mechanisms and testing interventions using rigorous study designs.

We investigate how different components of the digestive system interact with food and bioactives to impact the bioavailability and pharmacokinetics of bioactives.

• Utilizing advanced models like the Simulator of Human Intestinal Microbial Ecosystem (SHIME®) which accurately mimics digestive physiology, we study liberation of nutrients and bioactives from the food matrix and formulations, under different conditions and use the knowledge to optimize the design of products for maximal bioaccessibility.
• We also investigate the interaction of nutrients and bioactives with the gut microbiota, both in terms of composition and functionality using the SHIME® system. This interaction is bidirectional, and we also assess the modification of said ingredients by the microbiota.
• We employ innovative technologies such as in vitro assays that replicate human physiological processes and in silico modeling, including Physiologically Based Pharmacokinetic (PBPK) models to project beyond the gastrointestinal tract, into the systemic circulation. This allows us to assess bioavailability and the disposition of the ingredients that are ingested.

All the accrued knowledge iteratively guide the optimization of ingredient, formulation and product design prior to clinical testing, to ensure the highest chance of success and accelerate commercialization.

With a focus on the Asian phenotype, we aim to promote the understanding of how diets, foods and nutrients/bioactive compounds, enhance population wellbeing and prevent non-communicable diseases. This is demonstrated in our 2 key focus areas:

(1) Insights on dietary intake and behaviours of Asian populations

• Understanding food and nutrition gaps in Asia
  • Dietary intake analytics, dietetic counselling/management, meal design and planning
• Strategies to combat malnutrition (overnutrition, undernutrition, “hidden hunger”) and enhancing nutrition security
  • Leveraging AI for nutrition assessment and precision nutrition recommendations

(2) High-quality clinical nutrition studies to elucidate the relationships between diet, wellness and non-communicable disease risk.

• Quintessential facilities for world-class clinical nutrition research including dedicated consent-taking room, fully equipped metabolic kitchen, 8 clinical suites and within walking distance from the National University Hospital (NUH) (Singapore)
  • Expertise in conceptualising and conducting (> 150) clinical trials including randomised controlled trials, cross-sectional/observational studies as well as systematic reviews and meta-analyses
• State-of-the-art, deep human analytics with an emphasis on (1) cardiovascular health, (2) energy metabolism and thermogenesis, (3) metabolic health, (4) nutritional status and (5) appetite
  • Body composition by dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA), bioelectric impedance analysis, BodPod
  • Contemporary wearable technologies including ambulatory glucose, blood pressure, heart rate monitoring for real-time measurements
  • The only dual chamber whole-body calorimeter in ASEAN region for precise measurements of energy metabolism and thermogenesis
  • Vascular health assessments with ultrasound technology (carotid intima-media thickness, flow mediated dilation) and peripheral arterial tonometry (Endopat)
  • Biospecimen laboratories for blood, urine, stool, breath and other biological specimen collection and processing
  • Clinical assessments involving appetitie (ultrasonographic gastric emptying), muscular strength and frailty assessment, sleep assessment, general and geriatric wellbeing, physical activity

Focuses on the role of gut microbiota in health and disease, aiming to harness its potential in enhancing metabolic health and creating innovative dietary solutions.