Preparations are well underway for the 2022 International Brain and Ocular Nutrition (BON) Conference to be held 27-29th July at Downing College, Cambridge, UK. Dr Alan Howard, together with Professor John Nolan and other scientists, founded the conference in 2018 following three earlier conferences on Macular Carotenoids in 2011, 2013, and 2015, all held at Downing College.

BON encourages participation by young scientists and has created the Early Investigator Society (EIS) to stimulate and reward any researcher who is a postgraduate student or has five years or less postdoctoral experience. Members of the BON EIS are encouraged to submits abstracts for presentation at the BON Conference. These are then considered for the Howard Foundation Travel Grant award, giving young researchers the opportunity to attend an international conference.

The awards for 2022 have been given to:

• In first place, Emmanuel Kofi Addo, Department of Ophthalmology, Moran Eye Center, University of Utah Health, Salt Lake City, UT, USA. The Lutein and Zeaxanthin in Pregnancy (L-ZIP) Trial – Initial Results – Prize €2000
• In second place, Hao Shi, Nutrition Research Centre Ireland (NRCI), Waterford Institute of Technology, Ireland. The Development of Lutein-enriched Yoghurt to improve Human Health – Prize €1500
• In third place, Mickeal N. Key, Decision Neuroscience Laboratory, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL. USA. Gene-Environment Interactions in Aging: The Moderating Effect of ApoE Genotype on the Relationship Between Nutrition, Functional Brain Organization, and Cognitive Function – Prize €1300

For further information please visit www.bonconference.org

Thursday 2nd December 2021 from 6pm to 8.15pm.

The Royal Society of Medicine, together with the Howard Foundation, presented a lecture in memory of Dr Alan Howard at the Royal Society of Medicine, 1 Wimpole St, Marylebone, London, W1G 0AE on Thursday 2nd December. The event opened at 6pm with the lecture itself starting at 6.30. Following the lecture, there was a panel discussion and Q&A session, ending at 7.30. Guests then networked, relaxed, and enjoyed a refreshing drink in the RSM’s iconic glass atrium. The event ended at 8.15pm.

The event was chaired by Professor Sir John Cunningham – the Queen’s physician. Mr Jon Howard from the Howard Foundation gave a brief outline of the life of Dr Alan Howard.

The main lecture was given by Professor Sir Stephen O’Rahilly, Professor of Clinical Biochemistry and Medicine, Director, MRC Metabolic Diseases Unit, Wellcome-MRC Institute of Metabolic Science, University of Cambridge, UK. The title was Celebrating the centenary of insulin. The lecture reflected on the advances in our understanding of the hormonal control of metabolism and energy balance that has occurred over the past century, and how these advancements have led to improvements in the diagnosis and therapy of metabolic disease.

Mr Chris Askew, CEO, Diabetes UK, also gave a short talk on current patient perspectives and the important work of Diabetes UK. 

This was held in Downing College Chapel, Cambridge UK, on Saturday 23 October 2021 starting at 12 noon.

A seven minute montage of photographs from the life of Dr Howard is shown before the service begins. After the service has ended, a short video is shown using the traditional Irish farewell song A Parting Glass.

Filming and live stream provided by WaveFX, Cambridge.

The 2021 International Brain and Ocular Nutrition (BON) Conference was held online on the 8th September. It was hosted by the Nutrition Research Centre Ireland (NRCI) and chaired by Professor George Perry – Editor-in-Chief Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.

There were three presentations:

Research Background and Rationale by Professor Ríona Mulcahy of the University Hospital, Waterford.

Results from the CARES project by Dr Rebecca Power of the NRCI,
which discussed targeted nutritional supplementation for both healthy older adults and patients with mild cognitive impairment.

Results from the reMIND project by Professor John Nolan, Director of the NRCI,
which discussed targeted nutritional supplementation for patients with Alzheimer’s disease.

Both the CARES and reMIND projects were funded by the Howard Foundation.

The presentations are available for viewing to members of the BON Conference.

The Irish Times and the Irish Examiner carried reports from the presentations. Click on the image of each report to read it on the newspaper website.

In 2009, Dr Alan Howard met John Nolan, then a PhD scientist, at a conference in Florida. Over the next 11 years, Dr Howard and Professor Nolan, as he is now, conducted significant research into eye and brain health. 

On Friday 10th September at 15.30 in Ireland, Professor Nolan, Howard Chair in Human Nutrition at WIT and the founder/director of the Nutrition Research Centre Ireland, presented the inaugural Alan Howard Memorial Lecture at the Waterford Institute of Technology.

The Waterford Institute of Technology have announced that this will be the start of an annual series of lectures, given by invited speakers, in memory of Dr Howard who was awarded an WIT Honorary Fellowship in 2019.

For a review of the events relating to Dr Howards contributions to the work at the Nutrition Research Centre Ireland, read the interview with Dr Howard from 2018.

Research Features is an online service bringing information on current research topics to a general audience. It has recently published an article by Professor John Nolan, the Howard Chair in Human Nutrition and Rebecca Power, a Howard Research Fellow, both at the Nutrition Research Centre Ireland (NRCI) which is part of the Waterford Institute of Technology.

The article The power of diet in protecting the ageing brain summarises both current and ongoing research into how nutrition supports brain health. It states that “It is thought that around a third of Alzheimer’s cases could be avoided if lifestyle changes are implemented“.

Click here to read the paper on the Research Features website from which a PDF copy can be downloaded.

Today, the Intellectual Property Office of Ireland approved the application by Howard Foundation Holdings of a patent for “Prevention and/or treatment of neurodegenerative disease”. The inventors are the late Dr Alan Howard, Professor John Nolan of the Nutrition Research Centre Ireland and Dr Riona Mulcahy of the University Hospital, Waterford.

This follows the granting of the patent in the UK in November 2019 and in the USA in November 2020.

The Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) have announced the creation of a certification process for nutritional supplements containing carotenoids. The team behind Supplement Certified work at the Howard Laboratory in the Nutrition Research Centre Ireland (NRCI) at WIT.

The laboratory is named after Dr Alan Howard who supported much of the early research at NRCI into the use of dietary supplements containing carotenoids to enhance eye and brain health. The idea for testing the actual carotenoid content of nutritional supplements against their label claims came from Dr Howard during the work on the Meso-zeozanthin Ocular Supplementation Trials (MOST) which began in 2010. The trials were showing some surprising results and Dr Howard suggested testing the supplements that were being used. This showed that supplements may not actually contain what the label says and this amount may also decline over time.

The team, led by Professor John Nolan and Dr Alfonso Prado-Cabrero, have been involved in research into nutritional supplements for over 20 years. In the last few months they have analysed some 47 nutritional supplements containing carotenoids and found that 64% do not meet the content described on their labels. The team have also worked with supplement producers to help them improve their products so that they do indeed contain what the label states and what the consumer expects.

Click here for the Press Release and click here for the Supplement Certified website.

For over a decade, the Howard Foundation has supported research into the health benefits of the three macular carotenoids: Lutein, Zeaxanthin and Meso-zeaxanthin. This has led to a number of research trials and scientific papers published in many journals.

The most significant of these papers have now been gathered together on the Publications page of this website. This shows the story of the development of the research, first into eye health and latterly into eye and brain health. It highlights the major trials, sponsored either fully by the Foundation or in conjunction with others: MOST, CREST (the gold-standard trial funded by the European Research Council), CARDS and CARES.

The latest study, the Re-MIND trial, is due to report later in 2021.

Click here to see the Publications page and click here for the personal recollections from the late Dr Alan Howard on how this research developed.

Dr Rebecca Power, a Howard Research Fellow at the Nutrition Research Centre Ireland (NRCI), in the School of Health Sciences at Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT), has been awarded a European fellowship to allow her to continue her research training and career development. She will spend one year at the University of Illinois with Professor Aron Barbey before returning to Waterford to continue her work with Professor John Nolan.

For over five years, the Foundation has funded Rebecca’s research on the role of nutrition in cognitive health. She is the first beneficiary of the MSCA fellowship award from WIT.

Dr Power stated: “The work that I will undertake during the MSCA fellowship will further improve our understanding of the parts of the brain and neural networks that are strengthened by specific foods.“

Click here to read the full press release.