Translating Carbohydrate Quality Into Evidence-Based, Consumer-Relevant Approaches
Consumer confusion about carbohydrates can lead to restriction diets with low overall healthfulness. This project aims to help consumers select healthier choices among food sources of carbohydrates by merging the scientific evidence with consumer perspectives. Research by NORC at the University of Chicago to understand how consumers make decisions about the healthfulness of carbohydrate foods - including descriptive terminology from the consumer perspective - can be applied by health professionals communicating with consumers about carbohydrate food choices consistent with healthy diet patterns.
View three videos below on this Carbohydrate Committee projects aimed at understanding carbohydrate foods in terms of how they are perceived by both consumers and food rating systems developed by experts.
1. Consumer Perspectives:
Carbohydrate Quality-Related Beliefs and Behaviors
This presentation explores findings from consumer focus groups conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago. Results reveal how Americans perceive the healthfulness of carbohydrate foods and navigate trade-offs in their dietary choices. If you are a health professional or communicator, these insights can inform your messaging strategies.
2. Comparing Expert Food Ratings Systems:
A Tool to Compare How Experts Rate Carbohydrate Foods
Discover a novel tool designed to compare how various food rating systems evaluate carbohydrate foods. The tool can be used to identify inconsistently rated foods, highlighting areas for improving rating systems. This resource is invaluable for those involved in updating or applying food healthfulness criteria.
3. Insights into Food Rating Discrepancies:
Insights from the Tool Comparing Expert Food Rating Systems
Learn how commonly consumed carbohydrate foods are ranked across different systems. The presentation highlights examples—such as grain foods—that provoke discussion on harmonizing healthfulness ratings. Experts will find this resource particularly useful for addressing discrepancies in food rating systems.
Joint IAFNS-IFT Webinar: Food Innovations Using Fiber and Non-Digestible Carbohydrates for Health Benefits
The webinar is a collaboration between the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) and the Institute for the Advancement of Food and Nutrition Sciences (IAFNS).
Presenters in the webinar include:
Joanne Slavin, University of Minnesota
Paula Trumbo, Retired FDA
Bruce Hamaker, Purdue University
Nicola McKewon, Boston Univ &
Kara Livingston Staffier, Consultant
Hannah Holscher, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
This webinar enables food product developers to formulate using fibers that deliver human health benefits. Experienced academic and regulatory experts will address how to determine whether a specific “added” fiber has a human health benefit and can be counted as fiber on the label, whether it has a “prebiotic” effect. The webinar also explores the advantages of blending fibers such as for a medical food application, as well as introduce tools to help you evaluate digestive tolerance and select a fiber with demonstrated human health effects through randomized clinical trials.
The webinar is a collaboration between the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) and the Institute for the Advancement of Food and Nutrition Sciences (IAFNS).
This project was supported by the IAFNS Carbohydrates Committee.
Metabolic and Physiological Effects of Added Fibers for Children Across the Age Spectrum
Fibers added to foods may provide specific health benefits, but these relationships would benefit from research specifically on children rather than extrapolated from adults. This project will prioritize research needed to understand the relationship between fibers added to foods and support specific health outcomes at varying stages from young children through teens. The long term goal is to improve dietary fiber recommendations for children across the age spectrum.
Institution: Tufts Medical Center
Principal Investigator: Nanguneri Nirmala, PhD
Year Awarded: 2021
View this project on the Center for Open Science’s Open Science Framework.
Read more: Physiologic Effects Of Isolated Or Synthetic Dietary Fiber In Children: A Scoping Review
This work was supported by the IAFNS Carbohydrates Committee.
Evidence Map on the Relationship Between Exposure to Dietary Sweetness and Body Weight-Related Outcomes in Adults
Dietary recommendations from numerous governmental and health organizations recommend reduced intake of added sugars due to the health risks, including the risk of overweight and obesity. Some recommendations include avoiding dietary sweetness - regardless of the source - based on the hypothesis that reduced exposure to dietary sweetness will reduce the preference and desire for sweet foods/beverages. Given the limited or lack of association between dietary sweetness and food choice, it is unclear whether reducing dietary sweetness would result in beneficial changes in body composition. Before a conclusion on the association between dietary sweetness and body weight could be determined, it was necessary to determine the availability of evidence in the published literature. This evidence map was conducted to characterize the evidence on the association between dietary sweetness and body weight-related outcomes. The objective of this work was to determine whether there was sufficient evidence to conduct a systematic evidence review and identify future research priorities.
Institution: USDA Agricultural Research Service
Principal Investigators: Kelly Higgins, PhD; David Baer, PhD
Year Awarded: 2021
View a recording of IAFNS' April 20 webinar "Dietary Sweetness & Body Weight: What Do We Know and Where Do We Go From Here?"
View this project on the Center for Open Science’s Open Science Framework here.
This work is supported by the IAFNS Low- and No-Calorie Sweeteners Committee and Carbohydrates Committee.
Assess Macronutrient Intakes and Diet Quality for Contemporary Consumer Diets
A wide range of self-selected contemporary diets restrict or eliminate specific foods or food groups (e.g., gluten free). Health professionals advising consumers may be unaware of the relationship between specific diets and nutrient insufficiency as well as low diet quality overall. Restriction diets may be inadvertently putting consumers at risk for low quality diets or even specific nutrient inadequacies. This research will examine diet quality and nutrient insufficiencies.
Institution: William & Mary
Principal Investigator: Zach Conrad, PhD
Year Awarded: 2021
This work is supported by IAFNS Carbohydrates Committee.
View this project on the Center for Open Science’s Open Science Framework.