Funded Projects

Projects Funded by IAFNS

The Institute for the Advancement of Food and Nutrition Sciences catalyzes food safety and nutritional science for the benefit of public health. View projects* funded by IAFNS below.

Soil Factors Driving Uptake of Toxic Elements by Rice and Leafy Greens

Rice and leafy greens are healthy, widely consumed foods but are susceptible to contamination by soil-occurring toxic elements such as arsenic, cadmium and lead. This project will build upon recent work funded by the Food & Chemical Safety Committee that […]

Barriers and Challenges to Estimating Caffeine Intake

There is a need for peer-reviewed literature that provides good guidance on how to determine caffeine intake in individuals consuming caffeine and for research where caffeine intake is a factor that needs to be accurately assessed. The IAFNS Caffeine Committee […]

Tracking the Fate of Additives in Recycled Plastics through Multiple Simulated Life Cycles

Research question: What are the technical, quality, safety, and migration impacts of recycling Polypropylene multiple times? Most companies have made sustainability commitments that will require a rapid adoption of higher concentrations of recycled plastics. This will eventually result in plastics […]

Exposure Characterization of Micro- and Nanoplastics in Foods

The volume of plastics produced globally every year has steadily increased over the last few decades and shows no signs of tapering. As of 2017, an estimated total of 8.3 billion tons of resins and fibers had been produced globally […]

Sodium, Potassium & Blood Pressure: Evidence Map and Systematic Review

It is proposed that modest reductions in sodium intake coupled with increases in potassium from a variety of sources including potassium chloride and/or other supplemental potassium salts may achieve the public health goals of reduced hypertension and cardiovascular risk even […]

Building a Public-Private Partnership for Data Sharing to Improve Food Safety Capacity Building

There is national interest in protecting public health by reducing foodborne illness from Salmonella in poultry. While industry continues to reduce Salmonella prevalence, the cases of human illness attributable to poultry remained unchanged. There is a need to better understand […]

Scientific Integrity Training Materials for Graduate Students

Scientific integrity is critical as a foundation of trustworthy scientific research. However, while some training programs require an introductory ethics course, they are often not directly related to the food and nutrition field. Through the IAFNS Summer Research Fellowship Opportunity […]

Translation of Nutrition & Cognitive Health Science: Understanding Stakeholder Strategies, Challenges and Needs

It is clear through qualitative investigation that there is an opportunity to bridge the spheres of consumers and science, and help consumers better understand what can be achieved based on existing knowledge, and formulate communications research to meet consumers where […]

Role of Non-nutritive sweeteners in oral health/caries prevention-An Educational symposium for Dental Professionals

Preventing dental caries is an essential skill for all dental professionals yet information from expert interviews conducted by IAFNS and a review of the literature suggest a gap in knowledge around the safety and benefits of LNCS to oral health. […]

Documenting the Continuum of Measures from Health to Disease

“Gut Health: A New Objective in Medicine?” (Bischoff, 2011), noted that gut health is recognized as a “desirable aim and an important physiological condition required for overall good health.” Since the gut microbiome research boom which followed this paper, even […]

Validating Dual Column Food Products in Database

The USDA Global Branded Food Products Database is a public-private partnership between the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Institute for the Advancement of Food and Nutrition Sciences (IAFNS), GS1 US, 1WorldSync and the University of Maryland (UMD), whose goal […]

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 […]

*Projects from 2013 and later are included in this repository. To view projects supported by IAFNS prior to 2013, please visit our Peer-Reviewed Publications page.