Dr Bianke Loedolff, a post-doctoral research fellow at the Stellenbosch University Institute for Plant Biotechnology, recently presented her research at the 22nd International Functional Foods Conference, held at Harvard University in Boston. Her presentation generated a lot of interest among conference participants from both the medical research and commercial domains. This interest could potentially translate into more collaborative research efforts among colleagues based in the United States and Germany.

Dr Loedolff's research entails a novel approach to developing nutritionally enhanced foods and food products that have the potential to prevent the onset of non-communicable diseases such as cancer. Her main focus is on the bio-fortification of leafy salad micro-green systems (immature plants with two to four true leaves) by using environmental stress to increase the accumulation of bioactive compounds. Her research has successfully demonstrated an increased accumulation of both known and unknown bioactive compounds – as well as an increased anti-oxidant capacity – in wild rocket, kale, mustard greens and radishes.

Dr Loedolff actively collaborates with Prof Sharon Prince, Head of the Division of Cell Biology at the University of Cape Town, to test the efficacy of these bio-fortified products on breast cancer cell lines. She hopes to establish a nutritionally enhanced 'cocktail' of micro-greens that could be consumed as part of a daily diet. In this way, she hopes the dire consequences of malnutrition can be addressed, as malnutrition is a leading cause in the development of non-communicable diseases.