Isaac Amoah

Faculty Biography

Dr. Isaac Amoah is a Lecturer at the Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology and specifically with the Human Nutrition and Dietetic program. He has a PhD in Human Nutrition and Food Science from the Auckland University of Technology (New Zealand) and an MPhil in Human Nutrition and Dietetics from KNUST, with research experience from the Department of Food and Environmental Sciences (DeFENS) of University of Milan (Italy). He also has a BSc. Biochemistry degree from KNUST and was once a Teaching Assistant at the same Department.Dr. Amoah is a Riddet Institute Scholar (New Zealand) and a Fellow of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) Food Innovator Program (Belgium) and AfricaRice Centre (Benin).Dr. Amoah is fascinated by the interplay between food and its impact on health. Using a systematic approach, he researches into the bioactive composition, antioxidant properties and nutritional profile of commonly grown food crops. He builds on this by conducting clinical trials in humans leading to the validation of potential health effects of high value nutritious food products, with more emphasis on the effect of food intake on postprandial indices of metabolic and vascular health.Aging comes with its attendant challenges including difficulties in chewing and swallowing, sarcopenia and malnutrition. These challenges could be addressed through food reformulation with a focus on food texture modification. For his PhD research, Dr. Amoah objectively using the Texture analyser, investigated the effect of vegetable enrichment in bread on its textural attributes (hardness, cohesiveness, gumminess etc). He subsequently engaged New Zealand older adults to subjectively evaluate how easier it was to chew and swallow the vegetable-enriched bread. Dr. also investigated acute effect of the vegetable-enriched bread consumption on glycaemic and satiety responses.The last part of his PhD research investigated the effect of vegetable-enriched bread intake on carotenoid stores and lipid profile parameters over a 2 week period. Carotenoids are a reliable biomarker of consumers fruit and vegetable intake. Dr. Amoah was privileged to be the first in New Zealand to use the novel point-of-care device called the Veggie MeterTM which objectively measures skin carotenoid non invasively, to investigate carotenoid bioavailability in a clinical trial. Dr. Amoah, as part of his service to the academic community, makes time to review manuscripts for peer-reviewed journals. He reviews for journals including:RESEARCH INTERESTS1. Food reformulation 2. Clinical trials leading to the validation of health effects of food and its associated health claims 3. Life course health with a specific focus on older adult nutrition4. Public health interventions5. Vegetables6. Systematics Reviews and Meta-Analysis