Detailed information concerning intake, micronutrient status, nutritional habitats and knowledge are currently being investigated. Data on height and body mass index for pupils from several schools of Vienna data has now been collected. It is planned to introduce a nutrition programme to teach children and adolescents about healthy nutrition which can be associated with nutrition dependent problems. The effect of mono-unsaturated fatty acids in the diet on lipids and lipoprotein concentration in children with genetic forms of hyperlipoproteinemia is also now being investigated. For that reason the genetic defects are to be analysed on the level of molecular diagnosis and within those groups with genetic forms of hypercholesterolemia a special diet with a high amount of mono-unsaturated fatty acids is being studied.
Research also deals with the increasing allergenic reactions caused by foods.
Therefore initiatives on a national basis are undertaken to promote SMEs in the agro-alimentary field. It is devoted to SMEs, health professionals and consumers. It is run by an Austrian body headed by the head of the Food chemistry Department at the University of Technology Graz, Univ. Prof. Dr. Werner Pfannhauser, who is also in charge as a scientific director at the Food Research Institute in Vienna. It is also responsible for the financial and infrastructural promotion of university research, for the larger part of non-university scientific research and also for academic teaching.