A New Era in Reproducibility | The NIST Gut Microbiome Reference Material

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Recorded April 29, 2025

Description:

Significant investment in gut microbiome research has continued since uncovering the various roles of gut microbes in health and disease. At the same time, due to the dynamic nature and complexity of biological samples, challenges with reproducibility and comparability across studies are among the greatest encountered across research fields. Cross-study comparability is essential for answering questions that support general health and to provide biomedical solutions. Over the past 6 years, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has been working on a human whole stool reference material. This material, “RM 8048 Human Fecal Material” just released in March 2025, and a companion “RGTM 10212 Fecal Metabolite Mixture” under development, have the capacity to serve as gold standards for metagenomic and metabolomic analyses, allowing scientists to understand reproducibility and compare data like never before. In this webinar, NIST scientists will describe the development process and explain the transformative potential of these materials for gut microbiome science.

Speakers:

Scott Jackson, PhD, NIST
Sandra da Silva, PhD, NIST
Stephanie Servetas, PhD, NIST

The event was supported by IAFNS’ Nutrition for Gut Health Committee.

The Role of the Gut Structure and Function in Health and Disease | The Celiac Disease Paradigm

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Recorded February 26, 2025

Description:

The intestine is a critical site for interaction between the host and the external environment. Its complex structure plays key roles in selective absorption of nutrients or other dietary or environmental components, with implications for local and systemic effects. The gut microbiome is also active at the interface between the intestinal lumen and the epithelium, interacting with the mucosa. As consumers and patients seek optimized ‘gut health,’ the science of what this means and how it is measured given these complex interactions is still evolving.

In this webinar, Dr. Alessio Fasano, Director of the Mucosal Immunology and Biology Research Center, Massachusetts General Hospital and Professor of Pediatrics at the Harvard Medical School, shared experience founded in work on celiac disease with implications for the maintenance and measurement of a healthy gut.

Speaker:

Alessio Fasano, MD, Harvard Medical School and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

The event was supported by IAFNS’ Nutrition for Gut Health Committee.

The Past, Present, and Future of the NIH Office Dietary Supplements

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Recorded January 22, 2025

Description:

The National Institutes of Health, Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS) recently released their 2025-2029 Strategic Plan.

This strategic vision builds upon the office’s successful history and positions ODS as the premier organization, authority, and convening body for advancing the study of dietary supplements across the federal government.

IAFNS hosted Dr. Stefan Pasiakos, Director of ODS to provided an overview of this history, including key ODS accomplishments and impact to the field.

Dr. Pasiakos covered several existing program areas, including how ODS interacts with other agencies and identifies funding priorities. The presentation focused on the future, and how ODS is currently advancing in alignment with the updated strategy.

Speaker:

Stefan Pasiakos, NIH Office of Dietary Supplements.

To learn more about IAFNS, contact science@iafns.org.

Host-Microbiota Interactions in Health and Disease

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Recorded Nov. 19, 2024

The mammalian intestine contains trillions of microbes, a community that is dominated by members of the domain Bacteria but also includes members of Archaea, Eukarya, and viruses. The mucosal immune system co-evolves with the microbiota beginning at birth, acquiring the capacity to tolerate components of the community while maintaining the capacity to respond to invading pathogens. The gut microbiota is shaped and regulated by multiple factors including our genomic composition, the local intestinal niche and multiple environmental factors including our nutritional repertoire and bio-geographical location.

Dysregulation of these genetic or environmental factors leads to aberrant host-microbiome interactions, ultimately predisposing to pathologies ranging from chronic inflammation, obesity, the metabolic syndrome and even cancer. We have identified various possible mechanisms participating in the reciprocal regulation between the host and the intestinal microbial ecosystem, and demonstrate that disruption of these factors lead to dysbiosis and susceptibility to common multi-factorial disease. Understanding the molecular basis of host-microbiome interactions may lead to development of new microbiome-targeting treatments.

Speaker: Dr. Eran Elinav, The Weizmann Institute

The event was supported by IAFNS’ Nutrition for Gut Health Committee.

Menopause, Cognition and Nutrition: Understanding the Intersection

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Recorded Sept. 11, 2024

Description:

With the continued focus on incorporating diverse populations into health research, women’s health has received substantial attention with regard to preventing diseases and better treating medical conditions.  As science unravels and provides a better understanding of the physiological changes that accompany menopause, medical research attempts to link these changes with the personal and clinical experiences of this transition, and its relation to aging in general. Join IAFNS in hearing from Dr. Robert Wallace, the Irene Ensminger Stecher Emeritus Professor of Epidemiology and Internal Medicine at the University of Iowa, as he shares his experiences and research about what is known today and suggests future directions.

The event was supported by IAFNS’ Cognitive Health Committee

Low & No Calorie Sweeteners: What Does the Science Really Say

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Recorded September, 10, 2024

Description:

Government agencies and public health advocates around the world recommend reducing added sugar intake for most populations. Low- and No-Calorie Sweeteners (LNCS) — also referred to as non-sugar sweeteners or non-nutritive sweeteners — are common tools for reducing sugar intake while maintaining palatability. However, their use for body weight management remains controversial. This is due, in part, to conflicting conclusions drawn from systematic reviews and meta-analyses published in recent years on LNCS

While these publications aim to systematically and objectively compile evidence to address the question “What is the effect of LNCS consumption on body weight?,” they alternately conclude that LNCS have beneficial, neutral, or detrimental effects on body weight, depending on the study. Therefore, developing dietary recommendations for LNCS and body weight management is challenging, given the underlying studies don’t come to consistent conclusions.

This webinar presents research conducted at the USDA Agricultural Research Service-Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center, describing how systematic review methodologies influence the findings produced when investigating the association between LNCS consumption and body weight.

Speaker: Kelly Higgins, PhD, Exponent (formerly USDA-ARS Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center)

Cognitive Benefits of Nutrition: Aligning Perceptions with the Science

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Recorded June 20, 2024

Description:

Consumers report that cognitive and affective outcomes (such as mood) are key motivations for dietary behaviors. However, the cognitive benefits that patients and consumers seek can be highly individual and may be described in different ways. In addition, these benefits may or may not be impacted by the dietary behavior that they choose to implement. Understanding the specific short- and long-term benefits individuals are expecting is important both for conducting experimental research and for developing and communicating evidence-based nutrition recommendations related to cognitive health.

In this session, qualitative research investigating the perceptions of individuals that seek out foods and other products for “brain benefits” will be presented. Speakers will then describe the degree to which these consumer-articulated “benefits” can be demonstrated using validated cognitive research tools. This work points to connections and disconnects between benefits that individuals seek, the effects they report, and what science demonstrates is possible in the realm of foods, nutrients, supplements and cognitive benefits. It also provides opportunities for education on the science base.

Panelists:
Linda Snetselaar, PhD RD, University of Iowa
Hayley A. Young, PhD, Swansea University
Alyssa Ghirardelli, MPH RD, National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago

This program was organized by the IAFNS Cognitive Health Committee.

Host Microbiota Interactions: A Personalized Point of View

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Recorded April 18, 2024

Description:

The laboratory of Dr. Benoit Chassaing, Team Leader at INSERM located at Institut Pasteur in Paris, focuses on mucosal microbiota in chronic inflammatory diseases. The central objective of his research team is to study the composition and function of the microbiota at the mucosal surface, in both health and disease states, and using both pre-clinical models and clinical approaches. In this presentation, Dr. Chassaing covered recent advances made toward a better understanding of the central role played by mucus-associated bacteria in chronic inflammatory diseases, as well as the extent to which microbiota assessment will enable, in the coming years, precision nutrition and medicine.

The event was supported by the Nutrition for Gut Health Committee.

Myths and Realities of Artificial Intelligence: Setting the Record Straight

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Recorded December 5, 2023

Description:

As the food & nutrition community starts to build a general understanding of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its uses, this webinar address common myths and realities regarding AI. First, there are the subsets – machine, deep, and generative learning, which are terms sometimes used interchangeably or incorrectly. In addition, what can it produce – is it appropriate for every question or only for very technical or futuristic needs? Finally, AI is commonly viewed as a ‘black box’ which challenges trust and brings concerns about bias. What is really going on ‘in there’, and how can users be sure that the output is ready for use?

The Promise and Hype of AI: Where Are We – And Where Are We Going?

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Recorded October 17, 2023

Description:

ChatGPT seems to be everywhere. News outlets tout its promise yet also highlight its potential pitfalls. Yet despite questions around their responsible use, ChatGPT and other AI tools are currently being implemented from education to business to research, with even more transformational advances on the horizon. How can we leverage this technology to enable insightful answers to today’s science challenges and inspire creative thinking? Dr. Andrew Maynard of Arizona State University described the fundamentals of OpenAI’s ChatGPT capabilities, and approaches to effectively using AI (e.g., through “prompt engineering”) to shape inquiries and extract the most insightful and relevant answers for various applications.