Location: Responsive Agricultural Food Systems Research
Project Number: 3093-51000-002-000-D
Project Type: In-House Appropriated
Start Date: Jul 15, 2024
End Date: Jul 14, 2029
Objective:
Objective 1: Develop innovative data strategies to advance precision nutrition; link and analyze large and diverse datasets using cutting edge Data Science/Data Engineering approaches such as AI and machine learning; and more clearly define the requirements for and the role of human nutrition in public health, focusing on subgroups and underserved populations.
Objective 2: Conduct multi-disciplinary research to understand the complex interactions within the food system and their impacts on human health.
Approach:
Research will be focused on how precision nutrition can refine dietary needs more carefully for the U.S. population and how the food environment can supply those needs. Diet-related chronic diseases such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis, and some cardiovascular diseases and cancers are major public health concerns in the United States. Six in 10 Americans have a diet-related chronic health condition. In addition, more than 70 percent of U.S. adults are overweight or obese, which increases risk for diabetes, some cardiovascular diseases, and cancers. Moreover, racial, and ethnic minority groups, as well as those living at lower socioeconomic levels, are disproportionately affected by diet-related chronic diseases. There is a need to investigate the mechanisms by which diet and physical activity can influence chronic diseases so that effective diet-, activity-, and science-based policy solutions to these problems can be developed. There is also a need to understand the complex interactions within the food system and their impacts on human health.
