Advancing Program
What is Advancing?
To advance means to move forward in a purposeful way(Merriam-Webster, 2025). Advancement is at the core of the USDA Nutrition Hub’s mission as we seek innovative approaches to physical health, wellness, and nutrition. Through our Research Center’s team, our primary objective of nutrition research is to make discoveries that will improve human health, and this is more likely to happen when researchers collaborate and share research findings with clinicians, program and policy makers, and the public. Nutrition research directly informs evidence-based care provided by registered dietitian nutritionists (Landry, 2024). The USDA Nutrition Hub is working with collaborators to build a stronger agricultural, nutrition, and physical activity strategy throughout Louisiana. Some of our progressive research throughout our program is below:
Passion Fruit and Protein Equals a Power Team
Obesity is widely recognized as one of the most critical health threats to families and children across the country. Obesity is a very serious health problem for people in Louisiana and especially in African Americans Children with 40.5% in the State classified as either overweight or obese as compared to 41.2%nationally. African American women have the highest rates of being overweight or obese (79.8%) compared to non-Hispanic whites (57.9%). In the study conducted by F. Malekian et. al, Functional Foods in Health and Disease 2015; 5(8):275-291), at Southern University Agricultural research and extension Center showed that smoothies made with whey protein and resistant starch and following a healthy lifestyle will affect in reducing body fat, waist circumferences and blood pressure. Also, in addition to its refreshing taste ,passion fruit as a great source of fiber, vitamin C and other nutrients. The protein smoothie is a combination of passion fruits, whey protein isolate, different sweeteners (honey, stevia, Splenda and regular white sugar).
Turning Sweets Into Healthy Treats
Type 1 and type 2 can begin during childhood and adulthood. Although Type 2 is more common in older adult, the increase in the number of children with obesity has led to more young people with type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes potentially is controlled by a healthy lifestyle and moderating unhealthy food choices like sweets. Our research team is identifying tasty alternatives that can soothe the sweet tooth and add a healthy power punch to the diet. Sweet potato brownies are a nutrition-packed alternative to sweets. The Nutrition Hub prepares healthy treats and conducts internal sensory evaluations with staff, faculty, and students. Sensory evaluations show participants that incorporating whey protein isolate into shakes, turmeric and ginger into beverages, and sweet potato into desserts such as brownies can boost nutrient content while reducing sugar and calorie levels.
Understanding Diet Quality
Research identified that a large amount of adults do not fully understand the meaning of diet quality (the healthy foods you eat), although they consider themselves as“healthy or well-balanced”. "…Diet quality remains low among US adults despite government agencies continuing efforts to educate the public about what constitutes a healthful diet. Perhaps one issue is that US adults are not able to accurately assess their diet quality, and in fact, most overrate the quality of their diet. This is troubling given that individuals who overrate their diet quality may not be aware of the need to improve their dietary choices.Currently, perceived diet quality is measured with a single question that may not sufficiently capture an individual’s perception of their diet quality or healthfulness of their diet. Thus, research is needed to identify dietary components or foods that adults think about when assessing the quality of their diet. The USDA Nutrition Hub created a questionnaire designed to assess an individual’s perception of their diet – the Perceived Diet QualityQuestionnaire (PDQ-Q) and is currently involved in education and outreach activities to ensure that individuals are informed.
The Most Healthy Sweet Potatoes in Louisiana
Sweet potatoes are a highly nutritious and versatile crop that significantly contributes to food security, public health, and agricultural sustainability. Widely consumed in Louisiana and other parts of the world, sweet potatoes are rich in phenolic compounds, including phenolic acids, flavonoids, and other polyphenols, which exhibit strong antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antimicrobial properties.
Given the limited data available on the nutritional value of Louisiana-grown sweet potato varieties, the USDA Nutrition Hub team is performing research that will identify the most nutritional variety in the state. The study also will address the knowledge gap by evaluating the phenolic content and antioxidant properties of these varieties. Identifying the variety with the highest nutritional content will further enable food scientists to develop functional products derived from that same variety.
Frozen Produce is Healthy Too!
Fresh fruits and vegetables are paramount in maintaining a healthy diet. In some communities, however, there are a lack of farmer’s markets, grocery stores, and markets that sell fresh produce. In addition, some individuals purchase a variety of fresh produce but never utilize it, resulting in food waste. With almost 40% of all food in the United States going uneaten, food waste is an important and relevant concern for many shoppers. Now, two new studies reveal that consumers turn to frozen food to help reduce their food waste footprint at home. Reducing food waste isn’t just good for the planet, it’s good for the wallet (American Frozen Food Institute, 2023). The USDA Nutrition Hub is partnering with the American Frozen Food Institute to conduct research and to raise awareness about freezing fruits and vegetables as a strategy to reduce household food waste from unused fresh produce. Together we will conduct research to identify the main challenges consumer have when freezing at home and develop practical solutions (trainings, manuscripts, fact sheets)to address those needs.
Resource: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39572103/; https://affi.org/new-research-reveals-frozen-foods-role-in-reducing-food-waste/; https://www.uab.edu/news/research-innovation/genetic-variation-common-among-black-individuals-is-associated-with-higher-risk-of-heart-failure-and-death
