TERATROFO EURECAT

New ingredients, food supplements and medical foods capable of positively influence the health of people at risk of developing colorectal cancer (CRC) or who are diagnosed and undergoing therapy.

The CIEN TERÁTROFO project investigates and experimentally develops new food consumption products and more effective, safe and beneficial ingredients to prevent the risk to suffer colorectal cancer (CRC), as well as positively contribute to the nutritional response to CRC treatment, in order to alleviate possible secondary nutritional deficits of the treatment and improve the quality of life, the nutritional status and the well-being of the patients, thus favouring the response to treatment of people with such pathology.

The ingredients and formulations developed during the TERÁTROFO project will be evaluated in preclinical models to determine the functionalities of the ingredients and products, and clinical intervention studies to evaluate their efficacy in the area of disease prevention and treatment adjuvant.

During the project, work will be also done in order to advance on the knowledge of the mechanisms of action and behaviour of biomarkers related to colorectal cancer, in addition to the identification and detection of new biomarkers modulable through nutrition that are correlated with the risk to develop the disease and with the side effects of pharmacological therapies.

The project counts with the participation of seven companies: Indukern (coordinator), Laboratories Grand Fontaine, Ametller Origen Obradors, Biopolis, Feiraco, Dcoop and Supracafé, two technology centers (LEITAT and Eurecat), and 6 organisations and public research centres: CSIC-CIAL, the Hospital of Vall d’Hebrón, the Health Research Institute of Aragón, the University of Santiago de Compostela, the Polytechnic University of Valencia and the Association ANFACO-CECOPESCA. The Technological Unit of Nutrition and Health of Eurecat, together with Leitat, act as scientific-technical coordinators in the project.

Eurecat participates in the project by carrying out several preclinical studies with animal models that simulate, in a very approximate way, the risk of suffering from CRC in humans. These studies will deepen the efficacy and mechanisms of action of the different ingredients and products developed in the project in the prevention of CRC.

For this purpose, among others, metabolomics and metagenomics technologies will be applied to study physiological parameters and biomarkes with possible links to a higher risk of CRC such as inflammation, oxidative stress or the microbiome. The Nutrition and Health Technological Unit of Eurecat will also carry out nutritional intervention studies in patients at risk of developing CRC or patients with CRC who start therapy in order to study the effects of products developed within the project for the prevention of colorectal cancer and on the coadjuvant nutritional response to CRC treatment.

teratrofo logo eurecat

General details

Project 

TERÁTROFO – Generation of new ingredients and beneficial foods addressed to risk conditions and the global well-being of people with colorectal cancer

Programme and call for tender

Project funded under the call “Proyectos Estratégicos Cien” of the Centro para el Desarrollo Tecnológico e Industrial (CDTI) and co-financed by the FEDER Catalonia Operative Programme