PHOENIX, ARIZONA, U.S. — Research on the healthfulness of grains completed in recent years and the road ahead for additional research will be the subject of a panel discussion at the upcoming annual meeting of the American Bakers Association (ABA).

Researchers associated with the Grain Foods Foundation (GFF) will participate March 20 in a panel discussion titled, “Harnessing the Power of Research: What’s Next for the Grains Industry?” The panel will be moderated by ABA president and chief executive officer Robb MacKie and GFF Executive Eirector Christine Cochran. The discussion is intended to inform and update bakers about the work that has been completed to date while articulating a vision for generating a strong scientific data pipeline for the next several years.

Two of the panelists are members of the GFF Scientific Advisory Board — Richard D. Mattes, distinguished professor of nutrition science at Purdue University, and Julie Miller Jones, emeritus professor of nutrition at St. Catherine University. The third panelist, Yanni Papanikolaou, vice-president of nutrition research at Nutrition Impact, in recent years has conducted and presented on GFF research.

“The research the Grain Foods Foundation is leading continues to give the industry valuable new data,” MacKie said. “As we learned in the just completed Dietary Guidelines, the baking industry has a great story to tell, but is trailing other categories in developing research. The panel will guide the industry to keep the research pipeline going to hopefully ensure an even stronger outcome in the 2020 Dietary Guidelines.”

Mattes’ research focuses on the areas of hunger and satiety, regulation of food intake in humans, food preferences, human cephalic phase responses, and taste and smell. At Purdue, he is the director of the University Public Health Program and the Ingestive Behavior Research Center.

Jones has been active in the food, nutrition, and grains community, serving as president of the AACC International, chair of the IFT Nutrition Division, and the American Society of Nutrition’s Task Force on Food Solutions.

Papanikolaou previously worked for the Kellogg Co. as director of nutrition marketing in the United States, and associate director for nutrition and regulatory affairs in Canada.

The 2016 ABA annual meeting will be March 20-23 at the Arizona Biltmore, Phoenix, Arizona, U.S. For more information or to register, click here.