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.

Bacteriophage Engineering for Rapid Pathogen Detection

The development of pragmatic rapid detection methods benefit the food manufacturer, retailer and consumer. It has been estimated that cost of foodborne illness from sickness, hospitalizations and deaths reaches $152 billion annually in the United States. Although the United States has one of the safest food supplies, there exists significant potential for improvement. The rapid […]

Systematic Review of the Health Effects Associated with Consumption of Caffeine in Humans

To date, one of the most heavily cited assessments of caffeine safety in the peer-reviewed literature is that issued by Health Canada (Nawrot et al., 2003). Since then, >10,000 papers have been published related to caffeine. An update to this review will serve the public health by providing an updated based on all the literature […]

Perinatal Choline Status and Cognitive Function

Perinatal nutrition plays a critical role in neurodevelopmental patterns, and specific periods of sensitivity have been identified during which deficiency of even a single nutrient can negatively impact long-term cognitive and behavioral measures. Recent human and rodent studies suggest provision of choline may help to not only support structural neurodevelopment, but also promote cognitive function, […]

Evaluation of Arsenic-Induced Intracytoplasmic Inclusions

Intracytoplasmic inclusions have been observed in various cell types in individuals exposed to high levels of inorganic arsenic in the drinking water or diet and have been classified as micronuclei. However, in our laboratory, we have observed identical types of inclusions in mice exposed to arsenicals and in patients treated with arsenic trioxide for promyelocytic […]

Evidence Mapping of Low-Calorie Sweeteners and Health Outcomes

As concerns regarding the link between added sugars and obesity risk rise, there is increasing interest in low-calorie sweeteners (LCSs) as a common replacement of added sugars to help reduce total energy intake and reduce excess body weight. In 2012, a joint scientific statement from the American Heart Association and the American Diabetes Association (AHA/ADA) […]

Development of a Fortification Database

The aim of this project is to develop a database of enriched, fortified, and intrinsic nutrient levels for all foods reported consumed in the 2007-2008, 2009-2010 WWEIA, NHANES, and also the2011-2012 WWEIA, NHANES, which provides the most recent nationally representative food consumption data for the U.S. population at this time. The database can be used […]

Evaluating the Association between Dietary Exposure to Inorganic Arsenic on Health Outcomes for the US Population

Chronic adverse health effects have been observed with exposure to high levels of inorganic arsenic. The health effects related to lower levels inorganic arsenic exposure have not been established. The aim of this study is to evaluate longitudinal cohort studies for their utility in estimating dietary inorganic arsenic exposure and quantifying statistically reliable associations with […]

Partially Hydrogenated Oils: Dose Response Evaluation

There is evidence of a significant dose-dependent linear relationship between industrial trans fatty acids (iTFA) intake from partially hydrogenated oils and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), a validated surrogate marker of coronary heart disease risk. The aim of this study is to conduct a meta-regression of controlled clinical trial data to investigate quantitatively the relationship between dietary […]

An Approach to Standardize the Concepts of Low Dose and Nonmonotonic Dose Response in Toxicological Research and Regulatory Science

The IAFNS Food and Chemical Safety Committee invests in the training and education of future scientists and leaders in the fields of food and chemical safety and food toxicology by supporting a Summer Fellowship Program for doctoral students. This project focused on An Approach to Standardize the Concepts of Low Dose and Nonmonotonic Dose Response […]

Quantitative Modeling for Biomarker Assessment of Carbohydrate Metabolism

It is now appreciated that the many pathways leading to oncogenesis result in changes in cellular metabolism and the ability of the tumors environmental nutritional state to directly couple to its capacity for growth. One of the first molecularly defined differences between normal tissue and cancerous growth was the observations that the tumor tissue exhibited […]

Identifying Genomic and Microbiome Influence on Response to Dietary Interventions for Improved Lipid Parameters

Metabolic syndrome, whose clinical manifestations include central obesity, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and elevated glucose levels, results in greatly increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Changes in diet and physical activity can prevent and even reverse manifestations of metabolic syndrome, but current dietary recommendations fail to account for important factors, such as the individual’s genome […]

Sodium and Potassium in the Food Supply: A Model to Predict Intakes and Health Outcomes

The dietary sodium-to-potassium ratio is shown to be more strongly associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and CVD-related mortality than either sodium or potassium intake alone. The aim was to estimate the sodium-to-potassium ratio in the diet of US adults. Institution: USDA Agricultural Research Service Principal Investigator: Alanna Moshfegh, MS, RD Amount Awarded: […]