This article, by Heidi McKee, is part of a series highlighting members of the Office of Sustainability’s Experts Database. In a collaboration with instructor Hannah Monroe’s course, LSC 561: Writing Science for the Public, students interviewed campus sustainability experts and produced short feature stories.
Millions of Americans suffer from the financial and psychological burdens of chronic disease management with conditions such as obesity, Type II diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, atherosclerosis, and cancer. While genetics and life experiences contribute to risk, poor nutrition plays a major role in diseases associated with chronic inflammation— a prolonged and damaging immune response.
Brad Bolling, PhD, works to address this challenge. He is a Professor in the Food Science department at UW–Madison and a current Sustainability Faculty Fellow. His goal is to increase access to nutrient-dense foods, to support better health and reduce medical costs and resource use. He emphasizes biodiversity, which helps farming systems withstand pests, disease, and climate stress. Bolling’s background in chemistry and immunology informs his efforts to reduce waste, protect ecosystems, and improve public health through food. Following the Wisconsin Idea, he focuses his research on projects that serve the public.
Bolling’s team uses a mass spectrometer to identify beneficial compounds such as antioxidants and anti-inflammatory molecules in aronia berries (black chokecherry), cranberries, and coffee. They also study similar compounds in waste products from whey, peanut, and coffee processing. Bolling then evaluates how these molecules affect metabolism in cell cultures, animal models, and clinical trials.
“Food intake and the provision of food is such a complex topic that you need to approach it from multiple ways: from the land, the environment, the production, the producers, the processors, the consumers to integrating it into health care and prevention and public policy,” Bolling explained.
With that complexity in mind, his research follows the full life cycle of food; from growing conditions to processing and consumption—to ensure the entire system supports sustainability.
To increase biodiversity, Bolling promotes underappreciated crops in Wisconsin. Mainstream crops like corn and soybeans lack genetic diversity and must be replanted each year, which requires high energy input and leaves them vulnerable to climate change and disease. In contrast, aronia berries and hazelnuts are perennial crops that return for multiple harvests. They require less labor, improve soil structure, and prevent erosion (reducing the risk of another dust bowl).
According to Bolling, on the health side, “we know that we just aren’t eating enough whole grains and vegetables” and “part of our goal is to increase fruit and vegetable consumption and encourage better diets.” Later, he added that he incorporates the social sciences to answer the following question: “What are the barriers and opportunities that the community sees for consuming these types of foods?”
An ideal forum to field these concepts is a week-long celebration full of presentations and research related to sustainability. Earth Fest is organized by UW-Madison’s Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies and the Office of Sustainability. The Bolling Lab participates each year; this year, they hosted a booth tasting the biodiversity of foods, where visitors sampled foods their partners in sustainable agriculture wish to promote. Visitors learn the value of crops chosen for sustainable food systems. In return, the researchers gain consumer perspectives and likelihood to incorporate various foods into their diet.
As a UW-Madison and Delta program alum, Bolling passionately invests in the next generation of sustainability experts. He was beaming when describing their collaboration with the Universidad de Manizales. His lab participated in a bilateral cultural exchange, where he, along with program co-leader Andrea Noll, MS, MPH, and six graduate students, traveled to Colombia. They collaborated with students and coffee growers to create a more sustainable workflow that uses the parts of the coffee cherry that are usually discarded.
In Madison, they study antimicrobial compounds in coffee byproducts. Bolling believes research institutions must use resources responsibly and focus on public needs. His work links agriculture, health, and sustainability to improve both ecosystems and human lives.
“Everyone loves coffee,” he said with a smile. And through thoughtful research, Bolling hopes our love of food can help build a healthier future.