Use of Spices and Herbs to Reduce Overconsumed Dietary Components, Enhance Sensory Properties of Foods, and Improve Diet Quality

In the United States, most individuals exceed intake recommendations for saturated fat, sodium, and added sugars, and have poor diet quality as assessed by adherence to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. This article summarizes research funded by McCormick Science Institute to assess the potential for spices and herbs to preserve the acceptability of commonly consumed foods reformulated to be lower in saturated fat, sodium, and/or added sugars and meaningfully reduce population-level intake of these overconsumed dietary components. This proof-of-concept work involved reformulation of 10 recipes that represent leading contributors to US adult intake of saturated fat, sodium, and added sugars. Findings show that intake of the reformulated foods, instead of the original versions, by 25% to 100% of current consumers, would be expected to lower daily intake of saturated fat (-2.9% to -11.4%), sodium (-3.2% to -11.5%), and added sugars (-0.5% to -2.7%), and increase diet quality (2.1% to 6.7%). Blind taste testing showed that the overall liking ratings for 7 of the 10 reformulated foods were at parity or greater than the original foods when spices and herbs were used to enhance the flavor of the recipes. This research demonstrates that the use of spices and herbs to flavor recipes lower in overconsumed dietary components has the potential to reduce intake of saturated fat, sodium, and added sugars and is acceptable to consumers.