Improvement of the healthiness, quality and nutritional value of food has an important role in the prevention of many diseases.
The Alisal project, promoted and coordinated by the Cra – Centre for cerealculture of Foggia, aims to improve the quality standard of the main vegetable species that enter in the food supply chain” – Paolo Ranalli, director of the Department of transformation and valuation of the agro industrial products of the Cra declares.
In the research – Ranalli continues – a multidisciplinary approach is used to obtain highly quality agricultural products whose safety is entrusted to a reduced/nil use of the chemical products as well as a higher presence of the plants’ phytonutrient and particular, of natural antioxidants (C and E vitamins) whose consumption is tied with the decrease of the insurgence of different stress related diseases, some types of cancer, heart attack, diabetics and obesity.”
“The President of the Cra, Giuseppe Alonzo, introducing the works of the Alisal project, illustrated how, as part of the project’s results are the improvement of the peach, potato and wheat genotypes aimed to improve the contend of carotenoid, whose assumption reduces the risk of eyes pathologies and atherosclerosis, be it of grape, red orange or tomato to have an increased accumulation of phenol composts with antioxidants, anti-inflammatory effects”.
Moreover, Alonzo emphasized the interest of information obtained on the improvement of the composition in fat acids of the vegetable oils and milk proteins whose protective action towards autoimmune diseases and antimicrobic activity is known.”

Source: Agricoltura Italiana Online