Location: Food Components and Health Laboratory
2022 Annual Report
Objectives
Objective 1: Determine how changes in dietary food components macro and micronutrients composition affect taste, palatability, food choice and health.
Objective 2: Investigate the effect of food processing methods on nutrient intake and disease risk reduction.
Objective 3: Determine how foods and food components alter food and energy intake (measured over 2 months).
Approach
United States (U.S.) agriculture produces a bountiful array of healthful foods to support the nutritional needs of the American population, providing us vast options to use diet to support health and reduce risk of chronic disease. However, healthful foods are useless if they are not selected for consumption. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) What We Eat in America dietary survey has demonstrated that Americans are not following the Dietary Guidelines, but rather are eating too much salt, sugar, and protein, and falling short on fruits and vegetables. A complex array of factors influences food selection and consumption, including taste/palatability, satiety, convenience, healthfulness, and emotional/psychological factors. This project plan aims to improve understanding of these drivers of food intake and health consequences of consuming certain foods of concern. We will conduct two human feeding interventions to target different factors influencing food selection and consumption. In one study, we will investigate different methods for altering food preference, through either gradual or rapid alterations in the diet. In another study, we will provide a satiating food item twice per day, then measure all other food selected and consumed. We will also evaluate emotional and psychological factors throughout the food selection study. Finally, recognizing that consumers struggle with the balance between convenience and healthfulness, we will evaluate health effects of raw vs. processed meat, to see whether selection of this processed convenience food has negative health consequences. This research will offer paradigms for approaches to improve dietary choices by Americans, and
provide a scientific basis for dietary recommendations and nutrition policy.
Progress Report
This report is for project 8040-51530-011-000D entitled "Strategies to Alter Dietary Food Components and Their Effects on Food Choice and Health-Related Outcomes" which contributes to National Program 107, focusing on Component 1 Linking Agricultural Practices and Beneficial Health Outcomes, Component 3 (Scientific Basis for Dietary Guidance), and Component 4 (Prevention of Obesity and Obesity-Related Diseases) through human studies investigating food choice, food intake regulation, taste, and factors related to risk for cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and obesity.
For Objective 1, research protocols were updated to accommodate changes due to COVID-19 for a study to determine the most effective approach to reduce the amount of dietary added sugar in order to best modulate the perception of sweetness. Recipes and menus were developed, and foods were developed and tested for use in this study. The intervention was suspended due to health concerns related to COVID-19. Also, in support of this objective, an evidence map was conducted to determine the association between dietary sweetness and body weight-related outcomes. Additionally, a project was initiated to investigate sources of added sugars in the US diets to better inform dietary strategies to reduce consumption of added sugars.
For Objective 2, a research protocol was updated to accommodate changes due to COVID-19 to evaluate the health consequences of consuming minimally processed or further processed meat. Recruitment activities were suspended due to health concerns related to COVID-19. In support of this objective, analysis of samples was completed to help identify markers of consumption of processed foods and unprocessed foods. These analyses include samples from dietary interventions with ultraprocessed foods as well as analysis of fecal metabolites from dietary interventions of unprocessed foods. Statistical analyses of these data are ongoing.
For Objective 3, a study was planned and approved, and data were collected investigating how dietary components can influence voluntary food intake. For this initial study, volunteers were provided mixed nuts during one treatment period and provided no additional food during a second treatment period (as part of a randomized crossover study design). In addition to the mixed nuts that had to be consumed, research volunteers are free to choose all of the other foods they wanted to consume each day for 3 weeks (per treatment). Research volunteers could choose the specific foods and any amount. The amount consumed of each food selected was measured. Data analyses are ongoing and focus on how nuts might affect the total amount of food selected and shifts in dietary patterns.
Accomplishments
Review Publications
Abdullah, M.M.H., Vazquez-Vidal, I., Baer, D.J., House, J.D., Jones, P.J.H., Desmarchelier, C. 2021. Common genetic variations involved in the inter-individual variability of circulating cholesterol concentrations in response to diets: a narrative review of recent evidence. Nutrients. 13(2):695-710. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13020695.
Baer, D.J., Althouse, A., Hermann, M., Johnson, J., Maki, K.C., Marklund, M., Vogt, L., Wesson, D., Stallings, V.A. 2021. Targeting the dietary Na:K ratio – considerations for design of an intervention study to impact blood pressure. Advances in Nutrition. 13(1):225-233. https://doi.org/10.1093/advances/nmab099.
