Performing Department
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Non Technical Summary
The Berry Health Benefits Symposium (BHBS) is a biennial conference dedicated to providing a forum for the presentation of research into the effects of all berry fruits on human health and wellness. The symposium is designed to give researchers a platform to disseminate their findings to colleagues, with the goals of encouraging collaborative work to further the field of investigation, communicating the latest research to nutrition and traditional media and educating the public on these findings to improve dietary choices and health and wellness.The Berry Health Benefits Symposium has been held since 2005 in several berry growing regions of the United States and is sponsored by the major berry commissions and stakeholders both nationally and internationally as well as companies involved in the distribution and production of berries and berry product manufacturing firms.Scientific presentations at BHBS are divided into areas of interest and study with session chairs and invited speakers. The areas of study include:Berries and the BrainBerries and Cardio-Metabolic HealthBerries and Gut Health / Gut MicrobiomeBerries and Skin HealthBerry Special Topics, Food Technology and ChemistryAn adjunct set of presentations and workshops "The Berry Sessions" is held during the Berry Health Benefits Symposium to focus on stakeholder interests and feature programing on:Marketing with Emphasis on Health Messaging - bringing the science to the consumer to encourage making healthy food choices that include more fruits and berries.Expanding Access to Berries - a panel discussion on how the berry industry is addressing the needs of those living in food insecurity and how the industry can improve outreach and berry inclusion into feeding programs to minority populations.Berry Clamshell Sustainability - the U.S. berry industry is leading the way in clamshell sustainability by partnering with packaging, recycling and berry shipping companies to create full circle programs for sustainable packaging and recycling.The long-term goals of the symposium are:To ensure that the collaborative, scientific investigation into the roles berries play in human health and wellness is supported and made more vigorous.To provide a platform for the presentation of ongoing knowledge in the area of berry consumptions' impact on human health and wellness.To disseminate new information on why berries are an important part of a healthy diet to the public with the goal of reducing the incidence of chronic and age-related diseases and metabolic conditions by increasing berry consumption.To provide a continuous opportunity to collaborate as a U.S. berry industry on projects that support sustainability, food insecurity and access to berries, institutional feeding programs and innovation in berry nutrition communication.To support and increase the production of berries nationally, with the goal of creating a sustainable berry fruit agricultural system for U.S. farmers.
Animal Health Component
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Research Effort Categories
Basic
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Applied
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Developmental
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Goals / Objectives
?Goals of the Berry Health Benefits SymposiumTo ensure that the collaborative, scientific investigation into the roles berries play in human health and wellness is supported and made more vigorous.To provide a platform for the presentation of ongoing knowledge in the area of berry consumptions' impact on human health and wellness.To disseminate new information on why berries are an important part of a healthy diet to the public with the goal of reducing the incidence of chronic and age-related diseases and metabolic conditions by increasing berry consumption.To provide a continuous opportunity to collaborate as a U.S. berry industry on projects that support sustainability, food insecurity and access to berries, institutional feeding programs and innovation in berry nutrition communication.To support and increase the production of berries nationally, with the goal of creating a sustainable berry fruit agricultural system for U.S. farmers.Objectives of the Berry Health Benefits Symposium1. Gather a cohort of scientific presenters in five areas of study to present their newest findings on berries and human health2. Provide a scientific symposium as a platform to present new projects, enlarge the scientific knowledge of that subject and allow maximum dissemination of this knowlededge.3. Create a mechanism to propagate new scientific inquiry into berries and human health to as large a population of the public as is possible to help reduce incidence of chronic and age related disease incidence4. Increase consumption of berries both naitonally and internationally and benefit human health and wellness5. Support the sales of berries and increase agricultural yield of berries nationally.6. Provide a place where national and international scientists might collaborate, learn and increase the amount of research on berries and their role in health and wellness with an objective of facilitating new and important research projects.
Project Methods
Project director and staff of the Berry Health Benefits Symposium will oversee a dedicated committee of the Berry Health Benefits Symposium who will choose speakers for the event based on ongoing research projects that reflect the main sessions of the symposium and their focus. Speakers will be given post presentation evaluation sheets from attendees on their presentations. Student and young scientist participation will be evaluated through post conference survey of attendees regarding posters and oral presentations.Research presentations from the chosen speakers will be the most recent work of each speaker and will concentrate primarily on in vivo studies and human feeding studies. Attendees will fill out pre and post presentation studies to ascertain knowledge gained and impact of the studies on attendees.The symposium location and date isdecided based on input from industry stakeholders looking at the berry industry in the U.S. The upcoming symposium will be held in Tampa, Florida to highlight the Florida Strawberry Industry one of the top strawberry producing regions in the country and focus on their growing practices and extension outreach. A half day tour of berry fields and the University of Florida Research and Extension Center will be held to highlight the group. Pre and post tour surveys will be conducted to determine knowledge gained during the tour.Media representatives will be invited to the symposium and a percentage of these will be provided with conference attendence and housing. Conference director and staff will monitor all print, on air and online articles resulting from media attendence and will compile statistics as to public reached as a result of the created articles. The media statistics will be presented to the Berry Health Benefits oversight committee for evaluation.Journals and scientific gatherings are also used to disseminate information regarding the symposium. Social media channels, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are used to spread information fromthe symposium, announce conference features, provide pertinent updates, and promote the symposium's berry health message.Conference Director and staff will work with the BHBS committee to secure publication of symposium papers in a major scientific journal in order to have maximum exposure for all information presented at the symposium to the scientific community.