The Food Biochemistry group aims to improve understanding of detailed composition of foods, especially food components that have beneficial effects on human health. Of specific interest are reactions of these components that occur in foods during storage and processing, and how they could be modified and further improved. The aim of the group’s research is to reach an understanding of health promoting compounds in plant based foods and the possibility to utilize their characteristic chemical features and reactions to improve food quality from a nutritional, technological, or sensory point of view. The goals of the research are met by bridging traditional gaps between food components and their end products after reactions, and the possibility to steer the reactions to desired directions. Key activities of the research group include utilization of modern chemical and biochemical analytical methods of food components and their reactions, model systems to study their reactions and efficient statistical tools for data analysis to get the maximum informative value out of the data obtained.