September - November 2011
7:00 - 8:30 p.m.
Raymond Building R2-045
Macdonald Campus
21,111 Lakeshore Road, Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue
Free parking available (Horticulture parking lot)
For info: 514-398-7707
This year, join us for a look at "Food Matters." Researchers will look at how what we eat affects us, how certain foods can help us and what is being done to ensure a safe and secure food supply for all.
September 13
What's in YOUR food?
Professor Luis Agellon
Dietetics and Human Nutrition
Today there are a variety of ways used to prepare, manufacture, preserve, pre-package and even enhance many types of food items. Some of the enhancers used are “natural” and others are “synthetic”. Luis Agellon will look at the fundamental composition of foods, how compounds found in our foods interact with our body, how our body reacts to food-sourced compounds, and how some of the modern ways used to prepare our foods have influenced the composition of the foods we consume.
About the speaker: 
Luis Agellon is a Professor in the School of Dietetics and Human Nutrition and holds the Canada Research Chair in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of Nutrition. His research interests are focused on understanding the mechanisms by which nutrients control genes and metabolism, and how genes influence the efficiency of nutrient metabolism.
September 27
Protecting your brain:
using nutrition against toxins in food
Professor Stan Kubow
Dietetics and Human Nutrition
Although banned and no longer used in most countries, low levels of contaminants called Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) and dioxins persist in the environment and food is the main source of human exposure. In this talk, Stan Kubow will discuss the food sources of these toxicants and their potential neurological health risks, including the brain health of infants and children. He will also touch on his research investigating the possible neuroprotective role of nutrition against dietary PCB exposure.
About the speaker: 
Stan Kubow is an Associate Professor of the School of Dietetics and Human Nutrition at McGill University. He has worked at McGill since 1987, teaching nutrition courses both at Macdonald Campus and the McGill downtown Campus. His research interests are focused on how nutritional interventions using functional foods and nutraceuticals can be used towards combating a variety of debilitating diseases such as diabetes, lung and bowel diseases, and neurological disorders. Stan also has long-standing research activities studying the adverse health impacts exerted by environmental contaminants and the protective role of nutrition in that regard.
October 11
Adding value to food
Professor Valérie Orsat
Bioresource Engineering
Food choices have an important effect in reducing the incidence of heart disease, cancer, obesity, and other chronic diseases. With this in mind, food engineering research is now focusing on studying and developing food processing strategies to increase the micronutrient status of our food supply to help reduce the risk of various diet-related diseases, thereby contributing to a healthier society. In this talk, Valérie Orsat will explore the various avenues of interest!
About the speaker: 
Valérie Orsat is an Assistant Professor in Bioresource Engineering at McGill University since 2007. She obtained her PhD from McGill University in 1999 and has pursued international development and research endeavours in postharvest handling and processing of foods. Her research interests target extraction, encapsulation and other processing technologies to add value to the foods we consume.
October 25
Fit for Life:
combatting the childhood obesity epidemic
Professor Hope Weiler and Hugues Plourde
Dietetics and Human Nutrition
Healthy growth shapes future health. Many young Canadian children are overweight or obese and often do not follow Canada's Food Guide to Healthy Eating or Canada's Activity Guidelines. Lifestyle is a critical underlying factory explaining how children eat, become active and grow. Each individual's environment plays a key role in what is available to enable children and families to make healthy choices. Our speakers will talk about their ongoing research on childhood obesity and what they are learning about how families can strategize to improve child health by working within their near environment to arrive at tangible solutions that will last a lifetime.
About the speakers: 
Hope Weiler is an Associate Professor in the School of Dietetics and Human Nutrition at McGill University. She has worked at McGill since 2005, teaching clinical nutrition courses at Macdonald Campus. Her research interests are focused on child nutrition with a focus on body composition at various ages from infancy to adulthood in various populations, including healthy neonates, children of daycare age and recently obese children 8 to 9 y of age. Hope has a keen interest in helping families find solutions to resolving childhood obesity before adolescence.
Hugues Plourde is a Clinical Coordinator and Lecturer in the School of Deitetics and Human Nutrition at McGill University. He teaches nutrition courses at Macdonald Campus and coordinates clinical dietetics placements at the Royal Victoria Hospital. His research interests are focused psycho-social correlates of obesity; assessment of cardiac rehabilitation program participation; nutritional intakes of university athletes. Hugues also has a keen interest in helping families find solutions to resolving childhood obesity before adolescence.
November 8
Creating food security:
an international perspective
Professor Grace Marquis
Dietetics and Human Nutrition
Food secure households have access to adequate amounts of safe, nutritious, and culturally acceptable food to meet their dietary needs for an active and healthy life. This talk will look at the global evidence on food security, explore what we know about access to food in diverse communities, and examine factors that influence the availability of food to households and use of food within households. Our speaker will discuss on-going research to improve food security among rural communities in Ghana.
About the speaker: 
Grace S. Marquis is Associate Professor of Nutrition and Canadian Research Chair in Social and Environmental Aspects of Nutrition at McGill University. Her research in South America and Africa focuses on improving maternal and child nutrition by understanding the diverse barriers to healthy diets and optimal child-feeding behaviors. Projects are designed to address barriers which may range from individuals' understanding of nutrition to local agricultural practices to national fortification programs.
November 22
How safe is the food supply?
Professor Vijaya Raghavan
Bioresource Engineering
The pressures on the global food supply system are increasing as a result of the needs of an ever expanding global population, and by the demands for foods that are not only nutritious but that also sustain good health. Issues relating to food security and food safety must therefore be addressed. This talk will present past and present technologies and methodologies used to ensure food safety, and will cast an eye towards future developments and trends in this field especially within the context of implications to the health of populations.
About the speaker: 
Vijaya Raghavan is a James McGill Professor in the Department of Bioresource Engineering, having joined McGill University in 1974. His research focuses on postharvest technologies, specifically the drying and storage of crops and produce. He has pioneered work on controlled environment storage, developing new technologies for the drying and thermal treatment of agri-foods in industrial and agricultural processes. Currently, he is investigating the use of electro-technologies (microwaves, radio-frequencies, and pulsed electric fields) for the heating and processing of produce and grains. He has shared the benefits of his research efforts and expertise globally, participating in developmental activities in parts of Africa, India and South America.