The Institute of Food Research is once again supporting Movember with a twenty strong team of Mo Bros sprouting facial hair, with support from Mo Sistas, to help raise funds and awareness of men’s health issues.

Many of the IFR Mo Team are actively involved in research into how diet affects men’s health. Mo-fessor Richard Mithen and his research team are investigating whether a diet rich in broccoli can help reduce the risks from prostate cancer, the most common cancer in men.

Public event on prostate cancer

As part of the effort to raise awareness of men’s health issues during Movember, we turned the Norwich Research Park into the Morwich Research Park, with a public event where researchers from the IFR, the University of East Anglia and the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital will talk about prostate cancer.

Some of the IFR Mo Team, halfway through November

We invited all of Morwich’s Mo Bros and Sistas along to find out about the sort of research into prostate cancer their moustaches help to support locally, with an opportunity to talk to Norfolk experts on the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of prostate cancer.

Thanks to the generosity of everyone who turned up on the night, we managed to raise an extra £400 for Movember, including a raffle of a Movember cake created by Becky Samworth. And the talks prompted a lot of interesting discussion and questions, not only on prostate cancer and diagnosis, but also on how what we eat may help prevent its development. The Norwich Research Park is emerging as a world powerhouse in this area, thanks to its ability to combine research into plants, food, health and clinical outcomes in one place.

The 2012 Movember team

Professor Colin Cooper from the Norwich Medical School at UEA received funding from the Movember Foundation and Prostate Cancer UK to study prostate cancer progression. He and IFR’s Richard Mithen are working jointly, through $1Million from the US Prostate Cancer Foundation to understand exactly why men who eat diets rich in cruciferous vegetables, such as broccoli appear to have a lower chance of developing prostate cancer, or of progressing from localised cancer to more aggressive forms of the disease. Mr Rob Mills, Consultant Urologist at the Norfolk & Norwich University Hospital, will also talk about the clinical aspects of prostate cancer treatment and research.

The Great IFR Bake Off

The Institute of Food Research held the Great IFR Bake Off on 15^th November, when our food scientists swapped the lab for the kitchen to compete in baking the tastiest cakes and savouries, which were then be sold off, raising over £200 for Movember.

And on the 29th of November, we’ll be having a special Movember lunch, with a menu of dishes made from broccoli. Dietary studies have shown that broccoli rich diets may protect against a number of conditions, including prostate cancer.

We’ll also present the IFR Moscars to the IFR Mo team members with the Most Beautiful, Most Memorable and Most Elaborate Mos.

Contacts:

To book places for the Movember talks on 28^th November talks,

IFR Press Office:

Laura Knight, laura.knight@quadram.ac.uk 01603 255310

Andrew Chapple, andrew.chapple@quadram.ac.uk 01603 251490