WSFAAS-2026

Machteld Huber (1951, The Netherlands) was originally a general practitioner, but when she experienced several illnesses herself, she discovered that she could actively and positively influence her recovery and well-being. She decided to focus her work on ‘increasing health’, as researcher at the multidisciplinary Louis Bolk Institute (LBI). There she saw much agricultural research pass by, which raised her interest in food quality and in possible health effects from organic agriculture. She participated in several different research projects on possible health effects and led the largest animal study so far on this topic. As a follow-up she developed a new concept of health, which she elaborated into the broad and practical concept of Positive Health, which is embraced broadly in The Netherlands as well as increasingly abroad.