NIH releases strategic plan to accelerate nutrition research over next 10 years

What

What if each of us had individualized dietary recommendations that helped us decide what, when, why, and how to eat to optimize our health and quality of life? This precision nutrition approach — developing targeted and effective diet interventions in a diverse population — is among the ambitious goals set out by the 2020-2030 Strategic Plan for National Institutes of Health Nutrition Research.

NIH, guided by its Nutrition Research Task Force (NRTF) and armed with the insights from the nutrition science community, practitioners, the public, and others, has created a bold vision to advance nutrition science discoveries over the next 10 years. With a focus on precision nutrition, the plan reflects the wide range of nutrition research supported across NIH – over $1.9 billion in fiscal year 2019. The strategic plan calls for a multidisciplinary approach through expanded collaboration across NIH Institutes and Centers to accelerate nutrition science and uncover the role of human nutrition in improving public health and reducing disease.

The strategic plan is organized around four strategic goals that answer key questions in nutrition research:

Spur Discovery and Innovation through Foundational Research: What do we eat and how does it affect us?
Investigate the Role of Dietary Patterns and Behaviors for Optimal Health: What and when should we eat?
Define the Role of Nutrition Across the Lifespan: How does what we eat promote health across our lifespan?
Reduce the Burden of Disease in Clinical Settings: How can we improve the use of food as medicine?

The plan has five cross-cutting areas relevant to all these strategic goals, including minority health and health disparities; health of women; rigor and reproducibility; data science, systems science, and artificial intelligence; and training the nutrition scientific workforce.

The strategic plan aligns with the National Nutrition Research Roadmap 2016-2021(link is external) created by the Interagency Committee on Human Nutrition Research, a trans-federal government committee charged with enhancing the coordination and communication among multiple federal agencies conducting nutrition research.

As the plan is put into action, NIH will continue to seek input from the nutrition community and others. The task force will guide the plan’s application through implementation working groups that will pursue opportunities to:

advance the priorities identified in each of the strategic goals and cross-cutting research areas
catalyze nutrition research at NIH-funded universities and institutions and in NIH labs

The task force will track the progress of the plan and post information on its website.

Materials: 2020-2030 Strategic Plan for NIH Nutrition Research

Who

Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., director of the National Institutes of Health
Griffin P. Rodgers, M.D., M.A.C.P, director of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases and chair of NRTF

How

To schedule an interview with Dr. Collins, please email nmb@od.nih.gov(link sends e-mail)or call 301-496-5787. To schedule an interview with Dr. Rodgers, please contact email NIDDKmedia@mail.nih.gov(link sends e-mail) or call (301) 496-3583.

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.

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