World-class cuisine, lively music, and warm hospitality make New Orleans one of IFT’s favorite host cities to visit. Combine that with in-depth, practical scientific education; a food expo showcasing suppliers from around the world; innumerable opportunities to forge new professional relationships, and much more, the 2011 IFT Annual Meeting & Food Expo is an event you won’t want to miss.

Mark your calendar and plan to join us in the “Big Easy.” We look forward to seeing you there!

Frank Hu, Harvard Medical School, noted that coffee contains caffeine, numerous bioactive compounds, chlorogenic acid, minerals, and antioxidants, which may help explain coffee’s health-promoting properties. Hu referred to several studies that suggested that coffee consumption is associated with reduced risks of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. Others studies indicate that coffee consumption does not increase the risk of stroke or mortality. 

Joan Lindsay, Univ. of Ottawa, discussed coffee consumption and brain function, health, and disease. Studies suggest that lifetime consumption of coffee in women was associated with higher cognitive function, better memory, and less cognitive decline with aging. However, there were no beneficial effects observed in men. A large Finnish study of men and women with a 21-year follow-up found that drinking 3–5 cups of coffee per day reduced the risk of developing Alzheimer’s by 65%. The Canadian Study of Health and Aging with a 10-year follow-up found that regular coffee consumption over 50 years resulted in about a 28% reduction in the risk of developing Alzheimer’s. Cognitive decline was seen less in coffee drinkers. The health benefits of coffee on the brain may be due to caffeine, antioxidants, as well as overall vascular wellbeing.

YiFang Chu, Kraft Foods Global Inc., presented research on how coffee may protect against oxidative stress and protect primary neurons in the brain. He also compared the antioxidants levels in green versus roasted coffees.

Part of Institute Merieux, Silliker is moving from its strong base of food safety & quality services to nutrition (with best-in-class chemistry) and ultimately to public health.

We hope that you will join us again next year, when the IFT Annual Meeting & Food Expo® is held in New Orleans, La., June 11–14. In the meantime, if you missed anything at this year’s event, be sure to check out the coverage on IFTLive!

In June 2010, the USDA released the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) Report. The upcoming 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans will draw heavily from this report, which is unprecedented in addressing the obesity epidemic—the single greatest threat to public health in this century, said Post. Every section of the report was developed to address the challenges of obesity. For the first time, the report addresses children, whose prevalence of obesity has tripled in the past 30 years. The report discusses the relationship between dietary intake and childhood obesity and the effects of sodium intake on blood pressure.

Also for the first time, the report addresses eating behaviors, such as breakfast consumption, snacking, and fast foods, particularly in relation to weight control. It recommends that Americans shift food intake patterns to a more plant-based diet that emphasizes vegetables, cooked dry beans and peas, fruits, whole grains, nuts, and seeds.

The DGAC report identifies four nutrients of public concern for Americans: fiber, potassium, vitamin D, and calcium. They are singled out from a longer list of nutrients because of evidence that their low intake is directly related to health issues of public health importance. It also recommends that consumers reduce their sodium intake to 1,500 mg per day from the current goal of 2,300 mg, and it advises Americans to consume less than 7% of their calories from saturated fat. Seafood consumption is recommended; the report encourages consumption of 8 oz or two servings of seafood per week.

“One of the roles of the Dietary Guidelines serve is to stimulate product innovation,” explained Post. “Given what we have learned from the 2010 Advisory Report of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, the formulation for the future means using food science to make more healthier food choices … choices with fewer calories but are flavorful and appealing, less added sugar but are sweet and flavorful and appealing, less salt but are flavorful and appealing and safe, less fat but are savory and appealing, and more fiber but are flavorful and appealing.

“It also means incorporating more vegetables, fruits, whole grains, nuts, seeds, beans, and peas into foods, along with seafood and fat-free and low-fat milk and milk products,” he added.

The food industry has contributed greatly to meeting public health through ingenuity in processing and formulating new foods, noted Post. He mentioned how canning  and freezing alleviated vitamin C deficiencies, how fortification of grains with folic acid offset the problem of neural tube defects, and how processing and preservation increase the availability of products like seasonal fruits and vegetables year-round. “Once again, a public in need is calling on that ingenuity to contribute to a public health solution,” Post concluded.

Since the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion on April 20, in the Gulf of Mexico, the media has been fixated on the oil spill and its effects on the environment and the cleanup process. For the food industry, there has been a lot of concern surrounding the impact on the local Gulf Coast seafood industry. In IFT’s Late Breaking Session (#214) held Tuesday morning, July 20, two industry experts helped separate the media myths from the facts of the situation, and explained the true impact on the seafood industry.

Mike Voisin, Motivatit Seafood, began the session offering his perspective as someone dealing first hand with seafood in the Gulf of Mexico. Motivatit is one of the Gulf of Mexico’s largest oyster farming, harvesting, and processing companies. As he elucidated, in Louisiana alone there are over 17,000 commercial fishermen and there are over $2.2 billion in seafood sales every year. While Voisin knows that this is a “significant spill,” he also believes that the “pictures we see on CNN actually make it [the spill] appear worse than it is.”

Currently, 40% of Louisiana’s waters are closed to commercial fishing. What seafood is being brought in from the Gulf is coming back clean, according to Voisin. The seafood “is safe if not safer than it has ever been,” said Voisin. Ronald Klein, Alaska Dept. of Environmental Conservation, explained that due to the depth of the oil spill, the polyaromatic hydrocarbons (the carcinogenic component of oil) are degrading as they rise to the surface, which partly explains why the seafood being tested is not showing any signs of the polyaromatic hydrocarbons. According to Klein, the best way to determine whether the seafood has been affected by the oil spill is through sensory analysis—the appearance, odor, color, feel, and taste of the seafood. However, the lack of trained sensory analysts is slowing the reopening implementation process.

It is obvious that the biggest challenge that the Gulf Coast seafood industry faces now is consumer confidence. The sensationalism of the media is certainly not helping the issue, and there is an increasing need for risk communication and risk assessment. And while it may take the area two to three years to fully recover from this blow, Voisin has no doubt that it will pull through. “I’ve never met a people more resilient in my whole life,” he said.

As most members of the processed food industry would no doubt agree, the industry has a great story to tell but frequently is saddled with responding defensively to a steady stream of misperceptions and miscommunication about the role of processed foods in the American diet. In a session titled “Communicating the Contributions of Processed Foods and Addressing Public Perceptions” on Tuesday morning, July 20, at McCormick Place, four speakers shared their perspectives on the topic.

John Floros, Past President of IFT and Professor and Head of the Dept. of Food Science at Pennsylvania State University, set the stage for the discussion with presentation that highlighted key points from IFT’s recently released white paper, “Feeding the World Today and Tomorrow: The  Importance of Food Science & Technology.”

“Obesity is an epidemic today, but it’s not the only problem we’re facing,” said Floros. “People are looking for more diverse foods. Patterns of consumption are changing. Market conditions are growing. The population is growing, but our natural resources are very, very limited.”

Meanwhile, he pointed out, “There’s a lot of negative publicity about our food system, and particularly food science and technology. The white paper came about after an IFT task force was convened with the purpose of addressing the issue. The report begins with an historical perspective on of the food system, moves into an examination of the modern food system, and, in its concluding section, takes a look at technologies for the addressing future food supply needs,” Floros explained.

“The food system of tomorrow … needs to be science- and technology-based,” said Floros. In addition, he observed, it needs to be consumer driven, assure the health and wellness of consumers, preserve the environment and natural resources, and be sustainable. 

The session’s next speaker, Tom Nagle of Statler Nagle LLC, a Washington, D.C.-based consulting firm, offered a provocative prescription for improving the food industry’s image. It’s a mistake to simply respond defensively to the assault the industry endures from activists and media representatives, he contended. Instead the food industry should work to communicate a message that addresses consumers’ “higher-level” concerns, which tend to focus more generally on issues such as longevity/wellness and weight/health. 

“So much of what the food industry is talking about is ‘here’s the way in which our food won’t hurt you,’” Nagle said. “We need to move ourselves up the benefit ladder to higher level benefits.”   

A third speaker in the session, Victor Fulgoni, Senior Vice President of Nutrition Impact LLC, Battle Creek, Mich., presented an analysis of the contributions processed fruits and vegetables make to the diet based NHANES data from 2003 to 2006.

Processed fruits and vegetables provide about one-third of dietary fiber intake, one quarter of vitamin A, one half of vitamin C, and about 45% of potassium, Fulgoni said. 

The final speaker in the session, David Schmidt, President and CEO of the International Food Information Council (IFIC), shared insights gleaned from some of the organization’s research projects. IFIC worked with a firm to come up with four positive messages about the food supply and found that after consumers were educated about these positive messages, their perceptions of processed foods were substantially more positive than prior to the educational initiative.

IFIC is working now on a communication tool kit designed to help disseminate positive messages about the food industry, Schmidt said.

Eating for health and wellness has become very important to consumers. Yet most people’s diets are deficient in nutrients and lead to high cholesterol, obesity, and diabetes. This reality has led researchers to rethink the conventional one-size-fits-all approach to nutrition and health. In Tuesday morning’s scientific session “Nutrigenomics, Nutritional Phenotype, and Delivery of Personalized Nutrition,” presenters provided logic for personalizing nutrition and health assessments.

Ben van Ommen, Executive Director of the Nutrigenomics Organisation, presented the European perspective on research in nutrition and health. According to van Ommen, nutrition is not about curing disease; rather, it is about optimizing health. Thus, a group-study approach to nutrition is not conducive to optimizing individual health. For example, for most people, a high intake of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) yields an increase in HDL (the good cholesterol). But for approximately 10% of the population, a high intake of PUFAs causes a decrease in HDL. For those people, consuming foods high in PUFAs would not benefit their health and could lead to adverse outcomes. Van Ommen advised that while genetics plays a role in nutrition and health studies, aspects of an individual’s environment are equally important.

James Kaput, Director of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Division of Personalized Nutrition and Medicine, agreed with many of van Ommen’s revelations. Expounding on the concept of a personalized approach to nutrition, Kaput defined nutrigenomics as the integration of the study of genotypes with nutrition science and lifestyle variables. Most studies on nutrition and health are missing detailed reviews of each subject’s diet and lifestyle. Kaput advised researchers to follow subjects over time, carefully observing the environmental factors that drive diet, nutrition, and exercise: for example, cigarette-smoking, cultural influences, athleticism, etc. Genes may be integral for determining functionalities, but nutrition and lifestyle choices modify gene expression.

J. Bruce German, Professor at University of California, Davis, bridged nutrition and health assessment with food choices. “We should be enjoying the greatest health in the history of humans, but we are not,” German said. One of the greatest successes of the 20th century is that every essential nutrient for human life has been identified. That along with advancements in hygiene and medicine have combined to extend the average human lifespan to three lifetimes, German said. But because of poor dietary choices, more often than not, the quality of that extended lifespan is poor. Humans are not instinctive eaters: They don’t innately detect when they are missing nutrients, and they certainly don’t know what to eat to achieve proper nutrition. As a result, humans eat whatever they want. According to German, humans need to learn proper nutrition, diet, and exercise—beginning at a young age. Instead of offering classes in calculus and philosophy, perhaps schools should have mandatory classes on food and nutrition.

Clearly, with a more personalized approach to nutrition and health, what’s good for the goose isn’t necessarily good for the gander.

An emulsifying starch, EmulTru from Cargill, Booth 4629, reportedly provides food and beverage manufacturers the same functionality in products as gum arabic, while delivering a potential cost savings of 25%. The new texturizing ingredient, made from waxy corn, was showcased in a sports drink prototype at the company’s booth.

“The beverage industry is fiercely competitive, and the instability in the gum arabic market is a serious challenge for many of our customers,” said Wen-Juin Shieh, Technical Manager, Fruits and Vegetables, Cargill Texturizing Solutions, at a press conference held on Tuesday, July 20. Although gum arabic functions as an emulsifier, giving beverages consistent flavor and appearance features such as cloudiness or coloration, the supply of the ingredient has presented challenges in recent years. “The largest supplier of this gum is Sudan, where drought, locust infestations, and conflict have affected the price and supply of Sudanese production,” Shieh said. “Supply is expected to be down in 2010 and beyond while prices will be up. In addition, gum arabic can perform inconsistently because of challenging growing conditions in that country.”

According to Shieh, the emulsifying starch can offer a true replacement for gum arabic, and can help customers manage ingredient pricing and supply chain-related risks. “It delivers the same type of functionality that gum arabic does in flavor emulsion or cloud beverages, but a lower cost, with longer term emulsion stability and with more consistent quality performance,” he noted. Furthermore, it can remain liquid at high solids and in cold storage conditions, which presents a potential for cost saving when shipping concentrated emulsions.

With the starch, the stabilizer usage level can be decreased, pre-hydration becomes unnecessary, and foaming and pre-homogenation waiting time is reduced. Shieh added that overall, this starch outperformed other starches targeted at replacing gum arabic.

And thanks to all the finalist teams that participated.

Product Development Competition, sponsored by Mars:

• 1st place: Ohio State University—Coccobello
• 2nd place: Rutgers—Ruggets
• 3rd place: Cornell—Tamarangles

Developing Solutions for Developing Countries Competition, sponsored by General Mills and McCormick:

• Domestic:
  1st Place National: Penn State University—CalciMelo
  2nd Place National: North Carolina State University—Famille Saine
  3rd Place National: University of Minnesota—Shakti
• International:
  1st Place International: Bogor Agricultural University—Crantz Flakes
  2nd Place International: Bogor Agricultural University—Zuper
  3rd Place International: Brawijaya University—Fighting malnutrition through the production of artificial rice

Nutritious Food for Kids, sponsored by Disney Consumer Products:

• Grand prize—University of California at Davis
• First place—Cornell
• Honorary mention—University of Arkansas
• Honorary mention—University of Illinois

Chapter of the Year, sponsored by PepsiCo:

• Chapter of the Year—North Carolina State University
• Most Improved Chapter—Cornell

Undergraduate Research Paper Competition:

• First place—Rarinthorn Thammakulkrajang
• Second (tie)—Ashley Hart and Ambrose Chan

Thanks again to all of our Sponsors!