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 studies food from its perception to health outcomes. His research facility, known as the Appetite Lab, is a unique research hub equipped for food product development, sensory evaluation, and nutritional research, including food clinical trials. The Appetite Lab provides research and training opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students, dietitians and agri-food entrepreneurs.
One focus of Dr. Luhovyy’s research is on the nutritional benefits of ingredients that are relatively new to Canadian markets or under-consumed by Canadians, such as lentils, buckwheat, quinoa, seaweeds and many others. “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 the nutritional properties of food.
Dr. Luhovyy has helped many industry partners to develop new foods to Canadians and understand the health potential of existing food products. He has worked with local companies to formulate pulse flour bakery products, 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 content supported Dr. Luhovyy’s work on lowering the sugar content of popular dairy products while maintaining the flavour and integrity of the products.
Agri-food and other businesses can learn how consumers perceive their products or marketing. The Appetite Lab tests product perception using sensory evaluation and facial expression analysis to better understand how consumers feel about products or their marketing.
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. Kathirvel: Competition “Mission Delicious,” was started by Dr. Luhovyy and his Research Associate Dr. Priya Kathirvel: they had students present new products to industry judges, who offered valuable feedback on marketing, feasibility, nutrition, shelf life and consumer characteristics.
Recently, Dr. Luhovyy, in collaboration with Dr. Shannan Grant received support from Medavie for their study “Breakfast & Beyond,” a project aimed at the formulation and promotion of healthy breakfast recipes for home and in the school breakfast programs.
Dr. Luhovyy has successfully collaborated with major industry partners in the agri-food sector and has secured significant government funding from Tri-Council Agencies, Invest Nova Scotia, National Research Council of Canada – Industrial Research Assistance Program and Dairy Farmers of Canada. He strives to achieve an even better understanding health benefits of foods and consumer perception, and in turn to translate this knowledge from the lab to the community.
Visit Dr. Luhovyy’s Faculty Profile