SOUTH KINGSTOWN – A three-year, $499,427 grant has been awarded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Acer Access and Development program to a team of University of Rhode Island faculty members researching the health care uses of maple syrup.
The late October announcement marks the third USDA grant awarded to URI for maple research.
The initiative, called the Collaborative to Communicate Maple Benefits and targeting New England as well as New York and New Jersey, seeks to raise public awareness of maple products and the potential health benefits of the natural sweetener.
Those URI faculty who are managing the awareness program are Navindra Seeram, professor of biomedical and pharmaceutical sciences in the College of Pharmacy; Christy Ashley, associate professor of marketing in the College of Business; and Yinjiao Ye, professor of communication studies at the Harrington School of Communication and Media in the College of Arts and Sciences.
“While New Englanders appreciate maple trees’ beauty and may enjoy a drizzle of syrup on their pancakes, many are unaware of maple’s potential health, environmental and economic [values],” said Seeram in a statement.
Seeram’s previous research has shown that the chemical composition of maple syrup includes minerals, vitamins, amino acids and upward of 67 bioactive natural plant compounds that may help stabilize blood glucose levels and fight inflammation, among other benefits.
Not only does the ongoing research emphasize URI’s agricultural roots as a land grant university but it also highlights the school’s depth of knowledge and interdisciplinary strengths. Ye’s expertise lies in health outcomes communication and she is responsible for building a mobile-friendly web portal and directing social media outreach for Seeram’s research.
“It’s going to be an exciting journey for me to work with marketing and pharmacy professors, and I believe it will be very fruitful,” she said in a statement. “It is a perfect combination of our specialties.”
Ashley will coordinate marketing promotions and indicators of success, establishing baseline measures of sales and consumer attitudes around maple products, and making promotional material available online. In addition, students in Ashley’s social media marketing class will be given a budget and tasked with creating a promotional campaign for maple products.
“We will generate marketing activities and determine what works,” said Ashley in prepared remarks. “We can then turn over our findings to maple-industry stakeholders.”
In fact, per the university, the International Maple Syrup Institute, North America Maple Syrup Council and the Federation of Maple Syrup Producers of Quebec have all pledged their support of the project.
Emily Gowdey-Backus is a staff writer for PBN. You can follow her on Twitter @FlashGowdey or contact her via email, gowdey-backus@pbn.com.
