At the Institute for the Advancement of Food and Nutrition Sciences research serves as the foundation for our actions. See our current grant opportunities below.
Current Opportunities:
Scientific integrity is a core value of IAFNS. Learn how we embed scientific integrity into every step of our research process.
Projects Funded by IAFNS:
IAFNS's mission is to advance food safety and nutrition science for the benefit of public health. View projects funded by IAFNS below, and learn how we embed scientific integrity into every step of our research process.
Investigation of the Relationship Between Live Dietary Microbe Intake and Health Outcomes, Using the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES)
Research has shown that the consumption of live microbes, including and beyond probiotics, is associated with health benefits. Fermented foods, such as yogurt and kimchi, are rich in live bacteria and may help to promote a healthy gut microbiome and support overall health. Consuming fermented foods may be associated with a range of health benefits, […]
Review of EU Novel Food submissions and US GRAS Petitions to identify opportunities for use of New Approach Methodologies for safety determinations of food substances
The IAFNS Food and Chemical Safety Committee is pleased to announce it is accepting applications for the above project. The risk assessment of some food substances have been shifting to adoption of a high-throughput, non-animal method strategy for demonstrating safety. These methods, along with new in vitro, in silico and powerful computer modeling tools, are […]
Development of Nonpolar Liquid Antimicrobial Delivery Systems for Dry Sanitation
A sanitation program is a key component of a food processing facility’s food safety program and is a regulatory requirement for both FDA and USDA regulated products. Many sanitation programs utilize water and aqueous based sanitizers to control environmental pathogens. However, the introduction of water into facilities that manufacture low water activity, ready-to-eat foods could […]
Health and Functional Effects of Dietary Protein Beyond Protein Turnover
As food systems and consumer food preferences evolve toward replacing animal protein with alternative protein sources, it is imperative to understand the long-term health consequences. This project aims to prioritize research approaches and ultimately food decisions that take into consideration evidence linking the impact of dietary protein and amino acid intakes on meaningful functional outcomes […]
Focus Groups Provide Insight into Food Sector’s Sodium Reduction Efforts
Focus Groups Provide Insight into Food Sector’s Sodium Reduction Efforts While providing valuable functions like preserving and leavening to the foods that make up the diet, overconsumption of sodium carries some health risks along with it. Levels of consumption have led to its designation as a nutrient of public health concern. But the limited impact […]
Reconciling Personalized Nutrition and the DGA: Should and Could Dietary Guidelines be Personalized?
Recorded June 22, 2022 IAFNS is a Continuing Professional Education (CPE) provider with the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR). CDR Credentialed Practitioners will receive 1.0 Continuing Professional Education Units (CPEUs) for completion of this recorded webinar until June 22, 2025. Description: The Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) are intended for the US population, which includes […]
Understanding and Advancing Best Practices for Human Nutrition & Gut Microbiome Research
In 2017, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) collaborated with the US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) to develop and document “Considerations for Best Practices in Studies of Fiber or Other Dietary Components and the Intestinal Microbiome” (Klurfeld et al. 2018). The primary recommendation resulting from this exchange was to “describe dietary […]
Understanding Adolescence as a Critical Period for Immediate and Long-term Cognitive Health Impact – Systematic Review
It is well-established that the prenatal period and infancy (the first 1000 days) are critical for cognitive development, and nutrition during these periods can impact cognitive performance later in life. Specific nutrients are therefore emphasized during pregnancy and infancy, to include choline, iron, folate and iodine, with emerging evidence for a role of many other […]
Applying Retrospective Harmonization to the Field of Nutrition and Cognitive Health
The 2020 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) explored neurocognitive health through several systematic reviews and was faced with a literature having “considerable variation in testing methods, inconsistent validity and reliability of cognitive testing methods, and differences between dietary patterns and cognitive outcomes examined,” reducing the ability to draw conclusions (USDA/HHS 2020). The lack of harmonization […]
Logical Fallacies in the Food and Nutrition Conversation: How to Spot Them & Defuse Them
Recorded January 18, 2023 IAFNS is a Continuing Professional Education (CPE) provider with the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR). CDR Credentialed Practitioners will receive 1.5 Continuing Professional Education Units (CPEUs) for completion of this recorded webinar until January, 2026. Description: Talking about food can get complicated. Discussions on nutrition can be even more complex. The […]
Sample Collection, Preservation, and Data Analysis in Gut Microbiome Research: Current Methods and Potential Impact on Results
The development of dietary guidance relies upon the ability to synthesize a body of evidence and arrive at a reasonably well-supported conclusion. Although publications have purported to identify characteristics of a “healthy gut microbiome”, the one certainty at present is that gut microbiome is highly variable across individuals. In addition, the reality is that gut […]