Adequate consumption of high-quality dietary protein is necessary for optimal human health.

United States hungry for protein expertise

20 May 2025 - New Zealand’s reputation in protein research is so significant Kiwi scientists have been asked to organise an international conference, not once, but twice.

On 30 May researchers from the Riddet Institute at Massey University are replicating a New Zealand-led European protein conference in the United States, just so American scientists can get a taste of it.

The Dietary Protein for Global Human Health conference is a satellite programme held the day before the four-day annual Nutrition 2025 conference in Orlando, Florida, hosted by the American Society of Nutrition. It is being co-organised with the University of Illinois. 

Riddet Institute protein expert Distinguished Professor Paul Moughan said the invite was a demonstration of New Zealand’s expertise in the specialised area of protein digestibility and metabolism.

“It garners us a lot of attention. This is a very high level of recognition of our prowess in that area.

“Why not ask Harvard or Oxford? They asked us.”

The conference comes after the Riddet Institute co-organised a protein symposium in Utrecht, along with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and Wageningen University, in 2023.

               “Why not ask Harvard or Oxford? They asked us.”

Dist. Prof Moughan chaired the Utrecht meeting and said the considerable impact of that conference had led to this year’s conference.

“We held the high-profile international protein symposium in the Netherlands, which was sponsored by the FAO.

 “And subsequent to that, a number of bodies in the USA asked if we could put on a similar conference in the US in conjunction with the annual meeting of the national Society of Nutrition.”

He said it was rare for a conference to be repeated somewhere else.

“To be invited to replicate the earlier conference in the United States – at the behest of the United States – that’s not usual. It shows we have a real influence on both sides of the Atlantic.”

Dist. Prof Moughan said the May conference was a testament to the quality of the research and leadership of the Riddet Institute in New Zealand.

The Riddet Institute is a Centre of Research Excellence (CoRE) focusing on fundamental and advanced food research. It is hosted by Massey University on the Palmerston North campus.

For more on the earlier conference see: New Zealand protein experts feature at international protein conference.

Distinguished Professor Paul Moughan

Protein needs
and human health

  • Adequate consumption of high-quality dietary protein is necessary for optimal human health.

  • The global food system is stressed by the demands of a rapidly growing population to provide sustainably produced, high-quality protein for all.

  • The number of people aged 65 years or older worldwide is projected to double by 2050, which some experts argue creates an even greater demand for high-quality dietary protein.

  • A shift toward plant-based protein sources may improve some environmental metrics, but could also reduce protein quality, negatively affecting vulnerable populations, such as the young, elderly, and pregnant/lactating women.

  • Precise and accurate determination of protein quality is of the utmost importance in developing sustainable eating patterns with optimal nutrition. 

  • Dist. Prof Moughan and the Riddet Institute are world-leaders in protein quality research.

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