National Honey Board seeks honey–food pairings to encourage consumption of Mediterranean diet

The National Honey Board (NHB) is currently accepting pre-proposals for honey–food pairings to help Americans consume a Mediterranean diet pattern.

The Mediterranean diet pattern recommended by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as part of U.S. dietary guidance is appealing to consumers, but it is unknown how people translate this recommended diet into food choices. The NHB believes that honey, as a culinary tradition in Mediterranean diets, offers an opportunity to pair with and encourage consumption of many foods recommended in a Mediterranean diet, including fish, fruit, nuts, yogurt, and whole grains. The overall purpose of this request is to develop specific culinary pairings with honey that will help American consumers adopt a Mediterranean diet pattern consistent with the U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommendations.

Specifically, the NHB is looking for pre-proposals that identify specific food pairings with honey that can help Americans meet energy and nutrient targets (including macro and micronutrient targets) within the context of a Mediterranean diet pattern, based on quantified evidence from dietary intake modeling. Recommendations should be relevant to differing consumer groups in the United States and be supported by evidence from up-to-date dietary intake assessments.

The outcome should be to publish modeling results demonstrating efficacy of specific honey–food pairings relative to dietary guidance in a peer-reviewed journal that reaches a health professional audience.

Interested researchers need to submit a short pre-proposal by November 13, 2020. Only pre-proposals submitted using this template (pdf) and following NHB nutrition research guidelines will be reviewed by nutrition experts and NHB staff to determine which will be invited to submit proposals. More information is available at honey.com/nutrition/nutrition/research and questions should be sent to [email protected].