Dr. Bohdan Luhovyy
Associate Professor, Applied Human Nutrition
As a professor and researcher of Applied Human Nutrition at Mount Saint Vincent University, Dr. Bohdan Luhovyy’s studies nutrition, food science, and physiology and he involves his students in many of his research projects.
One focus of Dr. Luhovyy’s research is on the nutritional benefits of ingredients that are relatively new to Canadian markets, such as lentils, buckwheat and quinoa. “The health potential of foods like lentil flour is still unexplored,” he said, adding that there is a big gap in understanding of how processing can change nutritional properties of food.
Dr. Luhovyy has helped many industry partners introduce new foods to Canadians. He has worked with local companies to generate pulse flour bakery products, whole blueberry beverages, gluten free beer, and seaweed-based food products. Recently Dr. Luhovyy’s team created recipes to help introduce quail eggs, a new product in the Maritime Provinces, to consumers.
Canadian dairy producers interested in making their products with less sugar contents supported Dr. Luhovyy’s work on lowering the sugar content of popular dairy products while maintaining the flavour and integrity of the products. This research collaboration took him to Europe to present his findings at international food sensory science conferences.
Students in Dr. Luhovyy’s lab have a unique training in food product development, nutrition, and physiology. They conduct research projects on new food products and ingredients, their sensory characteristics, and their potential health effects.
Challenged to prepare foods in innovative ways, his students created new products with peas, beans, lentils and chickpeas for “Mission ImPULSEible,” a national competition designed to raise awareness of pulses, a major crop in Canada. Another competition “Mission Delicious,” started by Dr. Luhovyy and his research associate Dr. Kathirvel, had students present new products to industry judges, who offered valuable feedback on marketing, feasibility, nutrition, shelf life and consumer characteristics.
Most recently, Dr. Luhovvy received support for “Breakfast & Beyond,” a project aimed at the formulation and promotion of healthy breakfast recipes for home and in school breakfast programs.
Dr. Luhovyy has successfully collaborated with major industry partners in the agri-food sector and has secured significant government funding from Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Nova Scotia Business Inc., National Research Council of Canada – Industrial Research Assistance Program and Dairy Farmers of Canada. He strives to achieve an even better understanding of functional foods and food-derived bioactivities which provide physiological benefits beyond nutrition, and in turn to translate this knowledge from the lab to the community.
Visit Dr. Luhovyy’s Faculty Profile