Newswise — Washington D.C. – Efficacy and safety are the hallmarks of IAFNS’ recommended approach to bioactive foods, an approach that was recently honored with a prestigious senior investigator award.
IAFNS’ Ad Hoc Working Group on a Framework for Developing Recommended Intakes of Bioactive Dietary Substances is the recipient of this year’s Mary Swartz Rose Senior Investigator Award from the American Society for Nutrition Foundation.
Dietary bioactives are food substances that promote health but are not essential to prevent typical deficiency conditions. The winning project describes a framework to develop guidance based on quality evidence fully vetted for efficacy and safety by qualified experts, and designed to communicate the amounts of specific dietary bioactive compounds with identified health benefits.
“The awards program recognizes outstanding contributions from the global nutrition community,” said Catherine E. Woteki, PhD. “We commend this year’s honorees for their outstanding achievements and applaud their efforts dedicated to nutrition science.”
The 4-step Framework described in the peer-reviewed publication can be adapted by credible health organizations to work within their guideline development process.
Standards of practice used in clinical guidelines are adapted to quantify dietary bioactive intake recommendations from foods consumed by the general public, by taking into account that side effects and trade-offs are often needed for medical treatments but are not acceptable for dietary bioactives.
In quantifying dietary bioactive recommendations, the Framework establishes 4 decision-making steps: 1) characterize the bioactive, determine amounts in specific food sources, and quantify intakes; 2) evaluate safety; 3) quantify the causal relation between the specific bioactive and accepted markers of health or normal function via systematic evidence reviews; and 4) translate the evidence into a quantified bioactive intake statement.
A four-step infographic explaining the process can be found here.
IAFNS would like to recognize and thank the members of the Bioactives Group and Award Winners, including:
Allison Yates PhD, RD, Agricultural Research Service/USDA (Retired)
Johanna Dwyer, DSc, RD, Tufts University School of Medicine and Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University, Tufts Medical Center
John Erdman, Jr., PhD, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Janet King, PhD, University of California, Berkeley
Barbara Lyle, PhD, Lyle, Inc., and Northwestern University, School of Professional Studies
Barbara Schneeman, Ph.D., PhD, University of California, Davis
Connie Weaver, PhD, San Diego State University
Read the full article and infographic.
The study was funded by the Institute for the Advancement of Food and Nutrition Sciences (IAFNS), which is committed to leading positive change across the food and beverage ecosystem. The research above was supported by IAFNS Bioactives Committee. IAFNS is a 501(c)(3) science-focused nonprofit uniquely positioned to mobilize government, industry and academia to drive, fund and lead actionable research. iafns.org
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