On September 27, 2019, Irina Milisav (supervisor) and Barbara Kramar (ESR11) participated in the European Researchers’ Night 2019. The Faculty of Medicine of the University of Ljubljana organized activities within the framework of the European Researchers’ Night 2019-2020.

The organization of Researcher’s night activities on September 27, 2019 in Ljubljana, Slovenia, by Irina Milisav was funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 818237. The participating researchers Barbara Kramar, ESR11, and another PhD student were funded by H2020-ITN-721236 TREATMENT and Slovenian Research Agency (research core funding No. P3-0019, and Young Investigator Scheme). Some participating researchers are members of COST Eurocaroten and Nutredox networks.

Activity: Healthy colours

The goal of the activity Healthy colours was to promote fruit and vegetable consumption for disease prevention. The WHO recommends to consume 400 g of fruit and vegetables every day. This is important, as there are many studies confirming the importance of fruit and vegetable as a part of a healthy diet, on the other hand, many studies are reporting negative effects when substituting the whole fruit and vegetables with supplements containing individual ingredients. As in the year 2018, the activity was organized around the two experiments that are safely performed also by children and the resulting material could have been taken home as souvenirs. Additionally, a magnetic pad »Rainbow of Health« was designed and the children received it as a prize for participation. The children were explained the meaning of the WHO quote »Five a day«, and they can mark the magnetic pad every day they eat a hand full of fruit and vegetables of every colour. One of the parents oraly reported that the magnetic pad encouraged the child to eat more fruit and vegetables.

The activities on the night included:

a) Extraction of antioxidants from selected fruit and vegetables (which are also the colours of fruit and vegetables) to see that fruit and vegetables contain a complex mixture of different substances.

b) Demonstration of the antioxidant molecule modification by the colour changes induced upon interaction of red cabbage juice with various substances that can be found »in the house«. Visitors were observing the colour changes and guessing which substance they added.

c) promotion of fruit and vegetable consumption for disease prevention with explanations for the children and adults.