Location: Food Components and Health Laboratory
2024 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 is the final report 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.
Multiple research projects were completed during the five-year life of this project. One dietary intervention study on manipulation of dietary sweetness (Objective 1), two dietary intervention studies with beef were conducted (Objective 2), and one dietary intervention study on the role of nuts and free-choice food intake (Objective 3). Additionally, research on dietary quality and health outcomes using artificial intelligence was initiated and is ongoing (Objective 1).
For Objective 1, a large dietary intervention study was initiated to determine if manipulation of dietary sweetness may result in acclimation over time to reduced sweet products (by reducing added sugars) that eventually becoming more palatable or even preferred. Leading health organizations around the world, both governmental and non-governmental, have recommended substantial reductions in consumption of sugars, in particular added sugars, to enhance human health. Unfortunately, due to the inherent appeal of sweet foods and beverages, together with the relatively low cost of sugar, sugars, especially added sugars, pervade the food supply. Indeed, sugar and its sweetness are the primary drivers of consumption for many popular foods and beverages. Accordingly, recommendations to reduce sugar intake, especially added sugar intake, have met with very little success, and it is widely believed that over-consumption of sugar continues to contribute to the epidemic of obesity. To date, a dietary intervention study was conducted and data analyses are ongoing.
Also, in support of Objective 1, an overview of reviews on the association of low calories sweeteners consumption with body weight and adiposity was conducted to highlight how different populations, intervention/exposures, comparators, and study designs produce varying conclusions regarding the efficacy of low calories sweeteners for body weight management. This project was initiated since systematic reviews investigating the effect of low calories sweeteners on body weight implement different approaches, methodologies and criteria to answer the same research question; these yield disparate results and conclusions. Systematic reviews investigating the effect of low-calorie sweeteners on body weight use different methodologies to answer similar, but different, research questions, resulting in different results and inconsistent conclusions.
For Objective 2, one study of lean beef was conducted and demonstrated that consuming lean beef in a Mediterranean diet pattern reduces heart disease risk. Eating red meat has a reputation for being bad for the heart. However, when consumed in a healthy dietary pattern, lean beef may reduce heart disease risk factors such as bad cholesterol. In this study, volunteers consumed 0.5, 2.5, or 5.5 oz of lean beef each day as part of a healthy Mediterranean diet pattern and 2.5 oz as part of a typical American diet. At all intake levels, lean beef as part of the Mediterranean diet pattern reduced bad cholesterol and other risk factors for heart disease. While the traditional Mediterranean diet is low in lean beef, this study demonstrates how people can incorporate lean beef into a healthy diet and benefit further from beef's other key nutrients. A second study was conducted examining to role and interaction between meat and the quality of the diet. Minimally processed and further processed meat were fed as part of either a diet quality of the typical American diet or a diet that meets the food and nutrient goals of Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Indicators of health related to heart disease and cancer are being measured.
For Objective 3, a study was conducted investigating how dietary components can influence voluntary food intake. In this study, an intervention with mixed nuts was used. Consumers of tree nuts have lower body weights and body mass index values than individuals who do not consume tree nuts. It is possible that tree nuts convey greater satiety than other foods, leading to lower food and energy intake. In this study, mixed nuts were consumed by volunteers who could then choose what other foods, and how much, they wanted to eat for three weeks. When nuts were consumed, energy intake of the rest of the diet was reduced.
Accomplishments
1. Ultraprocessed foods may increase risk for diseases. Food processing is vital to United States and global food systems to increase food safety, food and nutrition security, nutrient needs, and serves to decrease food waste from farm to table. Food processing may also have negative consequences on health. ARS researchers at the Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center, Beltsville, Maryland, lead a multidisciplinary group of government, academia, and industry scientists to develop a research roadmap to promote generation of a stronger and more diverse evidence base to inform future dietary guidance in the United States. This research map focuses on causal, mechanistic, and methodological research investigating if and how ultraprocessed food impact risk for disease in the United States. This roadmap has been used to guide ongoing Federal research.
Review Publications
Kirkpatrick, S.I., Troiano, R.P., Barrett, B., Cunningham, C., Subar, A.F., Park, Y., Bowles, H.R., Freedman, L.S., Kipnis, V., Midthune, D., Rimm, E.B., Stampfer, M.J., Willett, W.C., Potischman, N., Rosner, B.A., Spielgelman, D., Thompson, F.E., Baer, D.J., Schoeller, D.A., Dodd, K.W. 2022. Measurement error affecting web- and paper-based dietary assessment instruments: insights from the Multi-Cohort Eating and Activity Study for Understanding Reporting Error. American Journal of Epidemiology. 191(6):1125-1139. https://doi.org/10.1093/aje/kwac026.
O'Connor, L.E., Higgins, K.A., Smiljanec, K., Bergia, R., Brown, A., Baer, D.J., Davis, C.D., Ferruzzi, M., Miller, K., Rowe, S., Rueda, J., Andres, A., Cash, S.B., Coupland, J., Crimmins, M., Fiecke, C., Forde, C.G., Fukagawa, N.K., Hall, K., Hamaker, B., Herrick, K.A., Hess, J.M., Heuven, L.A., Juul, F., Malcomson, F.C., Martinez-Steele, E., Mattes, R.D., Messina, M., Mitchell, A., Zhang, F. 2023. A research roadmap about processed foods, food processing, and human health in the context of the US food system: Proceedings from an interdisciplinary workshop. Advances in Nutrition. 14(16):1255-1269. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.advnut.2023.09.005.
Ye, Q., Devarshi, P.D., Grant, R.W., Higgins, K.A., Mitmesser, S.H. 2023. Lower intakes of key nutrients are associated with more school and workplace absenteeism in US children and adults: a cross-sectional study of NHANES 2003-2008. Nutrients. 15(20):4356. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu15204356.
Hill, E.B., Reisdorph, R.M., Rajery, S.R., Michel, C., Khajeh-Sharafabadi, M., Doenges, K.A., Weaver, N., Quinn, K., Sutliff, A.K., Tang, M., Borengasser, S.J., Frank, D.N., O'Connor, L.E., Campbell, W.W., Krebs, N.F., Hendricks, A.E., Reisdorph, N.A. 2023. Salmon food-specific compounds and their metabolites increase in human plasma and are associated with cardiometabolic health indicators following a Mediterranean diet intervention. Journal of Nutrition. 154:26-40. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tjnut.2023.10.024.
Hill, E.R., O'Connor, L.E., Wang, Y., Clark, C.M., Mcgowan, B.S., Forman, M.R., Campbell, W.W. 2022. Red and processed meat intakes and cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes mellitus: an umbrella systematic review and assessment of causalrelations using Bradford Hill’s criteria. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition. 64(9):2423-2440. https://doi.org/10.1080/10408398.2022.2123778.
O'Connor, L.E., Martínez-Steele, E., Wang, L., Zhang, F., Herrick, K.A. 2023. Food processing, according to the Nova classification system, and dietary intake of US infants and toddlers. Journal of Nutrition. 153:2413-2420. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tjnut.2023.06.020.
O'Connor, L.E., Hall, K.D., Herrick, K.A., Reedy, J., Chung, S.T., Stagliano, M., Courville, A.B., Sinha, R., Freedman, N.D., Albert, P.S., Loftfield, E. 2023. Metabolomic profiling of an ultraprocessed dietary pattern in a domiciled randomized controlled crossover feeding trial. Journal of Nutrition. 153:2181-2192. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tjnut.2023.06.003.