Food and Nutrition Science Support

How can Exponent's rigorous food and nutrition science expertise help you shape nutritional guidelines and support product innovation?

Our highly qualified experts offer in-depth food and nutrition science support that empowers clients to make more informed regulatory and food product development decisions based on empirical evidence. We help identify and substantiate the benefits of food products with science-backed research, literature reviews, and design of custom surveys, as well as consult on critical reviews of the literature to support nutritional guidelines development.

Exponent's multidisciplinary food and nutrition science support team executes a wide range of projects to support clients in the food industry. Examples of our work include modeling studies to assess the impact of potential scenarios on dietary intake of nutrients of concern; literature reviews to help clients keep abreast of the science on functional ingredients or to support preparations for dietary guidelines; and the design of custom surveys to understand consumption patterns and inform dietary exposure assessments.

Exponent offers the following food and nutrition science analysis services:

Analysis of survey data

Nationwide surveys such as the U.S. CDC's National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), the European Food Safety Authority's (EFSA) Comprehensive Food Consumption survey, or the U.K. National Diet and Nutrition Surveys provide a wealth of information about food consumption patterns in the U.S., the EU, and the U.K. However, proper analysis of the data from these surveys and surveys from other countries requires the use of specialized methods to adjust for the complex sample designs. Exponent has the tools and experience to help you make sense of these data, and we routinely use these data in nutrition and contaminant risk assessments designed for regulatory submissions, market research, product development, crisis management decision making, and litigation support.

Food consumption and consumer "behavior" surveys

We design and conduct surveys to collect information on food consumption habits and consumer practice. For example, Exponent has teamed up with a market research company to design and conduct a survey to collect data on water consumption patterns in the U.S. and has designed and conducted an Internet-based survey to collect information on the typical consumption pattern of seasonal foods. These surveys can be designed for several purposes, including providing risk assessors with refined data to estimate exposures and to provide serving-size data for nutrition labeling.

Market basket surveys

Our consultants design and conduct rigorous and nationally or regionally representative surveys to collect samples of finished products, such as fresh fruits and vegetables and processed commodities (e.g., milk, juices, potato chips) from supermarkets, and prepared foods from fast-food restaurants across different countries. These samples are then used to perform various analyses from nutritional to contaminant analysis, and more.

Services

For 50+ years, we’ve thrived on solving unstructured problems that require bespoke solutions. Some of our services include:

• Supporting health claims and structure/function claims substantiation

• Food and nutrient intake assessments in the U.S., EU, U.K., and other countries where data are available to support the understanding of dietary consumption patterns, trends, and regulatory needs

• Dietary and nutritional modeling and risk impact assessments of proposed additives, fortification, nutraceuticals, and supplements

• Nutritional epidemiology literature reviews and evaluation of diet and disease relationships

• Literature reviews on food and nutrition science topics

• Preparation and submission of regulatory filings on food and nutrition issues to agencies, including but not limited to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, European Commission, EFSA, and U.K. Food Standards Agency

• Design of custom surveys to support understanding of consumption patterns as well as regulatory needs

Our Capabilities Are Unparalleled

With expertise in over 90 disciplines and hundreds of capabilities, tools, and methodologies — we get to the root of even the most complex challenges and give you the objective answers you need.

Experts

Our global and comprehensive expertise across industries gives us a deep understanding of current challenges, best industry practices, and the implications of emerging technologies.