dr.ir. M (Monica) Mars

Research interest
Non-nutritional properties, such as taste and texture, are essential in food intake, and despite the fact that the evidence for their role in food intake is growing, more fundamental (mechanistic) data and well-designed intervention studies are needed put these food properties on the (research) agenda of nutritionists. Potential opportunities for cooperation between food design and nutrition research need to be exploited better. Food technologists and nutritionists need to understand each other’s needs and drivers better by talking to each other and work together towards healthy and sustainable foods.

Three research lines
My research focuses on a better understanding of the relation between food properties, eating style, oral and gastric physiology, and human food intake. My research is structured in the following 3 research lines:

1. Better understand physiological mechanisms in cephalic, oral, and gastric responses to foods in relation to satiation and satiety
2. Study effects of changes in eating style or food properties longer-term outcomes, such as food intake and weight status
3. Assess relations between non-nutritional food properties with food intake and weight status

Within these research lines, I also develop and integrate new research techniques to measure eating behavior with digital tools (apps and sensors) and other novel approaches such as citizen science and big data.

• Nederlandse Academie voor Voedingswetenschappen (10-6-2020/31-12-2099)
  
• Wetenschapswinkel WUR (1-1-2018/31-12-2099)
  Wageningen University & Research (WUR) ondersteunt met de Wetenschapswinkel onderzoeksprojecten op initiatief van maatschappelijke organisaties en van ondernemende groepen burgers. (http://www.wur.nl/nl/Onderwijs-Opleidingen/wetenschapswinkel.htm) De wetenschappelijke adviesraad heeft de volgende taken: Bewaken van de grote lijnen d.m.v. beoordeling van het jaarverslag; Adviseren van de Wetenschapswinkel; Optreden als ambassadeur van de Wetenschapswinkel; Rapporteren en adviseren naar de Raad van Bestuur over de Wetenschapswinkel.
• het Streek Lyceum (1-9-2010/31-12-2099)
  Expert voor verschillende groepsopdrachten voor het Technasium. Vraagbaak voor leerlingen en beoordelen van presenaties.
• ILSI Europe (1-1-2008/31-12-2099)
  ILSI has various taskforces on Satiety, Sensory and Regulation of Food Intake. Particpated(ing) in the role of academic expert, contributing to scientific review papers for publication in public domain scientific journals
• Stichting FENS 2027 (1-12-2024/31-7-2028)
  Bestuurslid en penningmeester van de Stichting FENS 2027, een stichting die opgezet is om het FENS congres (Federation of European Nutrition Societies) te organiseren in Rotterdam November 2027. Deze wordt georganiseerd door de Nederlandse Academie van Voedingswetenschappen (NAV), waar ik in het bestuur zit.