The Carbohydrates Committee addresses outstanding scientific issues through discovery, research tools and translational messaging related to how carbohydrate-rich foods, food components and formulations are associated with consumption behavior, diet quality and health outcomes.
Why is this research important?
Carbohydrates are an important source of energy and nutrients in the food supply. The committee focuses its work on understanding sugar, fiber, and carbohydrate quality as they relate to human health.
Research Focus Areas:
- Advance scientific evidence and research tools to further understanding of how fiber relates to human health outcomes.
- Characterize nutrient intakes and overall diet quality of various carbohydrate restricted or modified diet patterns.
- Clarify and communicate research tools examining causal relationships between energy containing food/ingredients and body composition.
- Promote informed decision-making on food choices - focused on carbohydrate quality.
IAFNS is currently offering graduate student and post-doc stipends for research using the comprehensive database (click here to apply).
Archer Daniels Midland Company
BENEO - Group
Cargill, Incorporated
General Mills, Inc.
The Hershey Company
Ingredion Incorporated
Mondelēz International
Potatoes USA
ACADEMIC ADVISORS
GOVERNMENT ADVISOR
David Baer, PhD, US Department of Agriculture, Agriculture Research Service
Projects Supported by the Committee:
Publications
Rare Sugars and their Health Effects in Humans: A Systematic Review and Narrative Synthesis of the Evidence from Human Trials
Nutrition Reviews, 2022
Scoping Review and Evidence Map on the Relationship Between Exposure to Dietary Sweetness and Body Weight-Related Outcomes In Adults
Advances in Nutrition, 2022
A scoping review and evidence map were completed to characterize the research investigating dietary sweetness and body weight. The aim is to identify and map studies that investigate total dietary sweetness, sweet food/beverage, sugar, or sweetener intake and body weight-related outcomes.
Perspective: Assessing Tolerance to Nondigestible Carbohydrate Consumption
Advances in Nutrition, 2022
Non-Digestible Carbohydrates provide functional attributes to processed foods, including sugar or fat replacers, thickening agents, and bulking agents. Additionally, NDCs are incorporated into processed foods to increase their fiber content. Although consumption of NDCs can benefit health and contribute functional characteristics to foods, they can cause gastrointestinal symptoms, such as bloating. As gastrointestinal symptoms negatively affect consumer well-being and their acceptance of foods containing NDC ingredients, it is crucial to consider tolerance when designing food products and testing their physiological health benefits in clinical trials.
Read more about Perspective: Assessing Tolerance to Nondigestible Carbohydrate Consumption
Gastrointestinal Effects and Tolerance of Nondigestible Carbohydrate Consumption
Advances in Nutrition, 2022
Guidance on tolerable intake levels of different non-digestible carbohydrates is needed because overconsumption can lead to undesirable gastrointestinal side effects, further widening the gap between actual and suggested fiber intake levels. In this review, we synthesize the literature on gastrointestinal effects of NDCs that the FDA accepts as dietary fibers and present tolerable intake dose recommendations for their consumption.
Read more about Gastrointestinal Effects and Tolerance of Nondigestible Carbohydrate Consumption
Quality of Popular Diet Patterns in the United States: Evaluating the Effect of Substitutions for Foods High in Added Sugar, Sodium, Saturated Fat and Refined Grains
Current Developments in Nutrition, 2022
Low diet quality was observed for all popular diet patterns evaluated in this study. Greater efforts are needed to encourage the adoption of dietary patterns that emphasize consumption of a variety of high-quality food groups lower in added sugar, sodium, saturated fat and refined grains.
Events
12th Vahouny Fiber Symposium
December 14, 2020 – December 15, 2020
Virtual, Symposium
IAFNS organized the 12th Vahouny Fiber Symposium. The symposium will be held virtually.
Carbohydrate Forum 2020
January 20, 2020
Event, USA
Low glycemic index foods for metabolic health: fact or fiction: Jeyakumar Henry, PhD, Clinical Nutrition Research Centre, Agency for Science, Technology & Research (A*STAR), Singapore