McCormick Science Institute

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

Kristina S. Petersen

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MSI Team
June 2026 - 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.
Does adding spices and herbs to commonly consumed foods reformulated to be lower in saturated fat, sodium, and/or added sugars meaningfully improve population-level intake of these overconsumed dietary components and is this approach acceptable to consumers? This program of work included 4 components: (1) identification of 10 leading contributors to US adult intake of saturated fat, sodium, added sugars, and energy using 2015–2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data that could be feasibly reformulated; (2) reformulation of the 10 leading contributors to intake of overconsumed dietary components to reduce saturated fat, sodium, and/or added sugars with the addition of spices and herbs to maintain acceptability; (3) modeling of the potential influence of consumer adoption of the reformulated recipes on total daily intake of saturated fat, sodium, and added sugars, and diet quality using NHANES 2015–2018; and (4) evaluation of the consumer acceptability of the reformulated recipes by blind taste testing. View Full Text

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