Developmental process and early phases of implementation for the United States Interagency Committee on Human Nutrition Research National Nutrition Research Roadmap

Authors: FLEISCHHACKER, SHEILA - National Institutes Of Health (NIH); BALLARD, RACHAL - National Institutes Of Health (NIH); Starke-Reed, Pamela; GALUSKA, DEBORAH - Centers For Disease Control And Prevention (CDC) - United States; NEUHOUSER, MARIAN - Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center

Submitted to: Journal of Nutrition
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/17/2017
Publication Date: 8/16/2017
Publication URL: https://handle.nal.usda.gov/10113/5801892
Citation: Fleischhacker, S., Ballard, R., Starke-Reed, P.E., Galuska, D., Neuhouser, M. 2017. Developmental process and early phases of implementation for the United States Interagency Committee on Human Nutrition Research National Nutrition Research Roadmap. Journal of Nutrition. doi:10.3945/jn.117.255943.

Interpretive Summary: Roadmap, which was publicly released on March 4, 2016. The Roadmap is framed around the following three questions: 1) How can we better understand and define eating patterns to improve and sustain health?; 2) What can be done to help people choose healthy eating patterns?; and 3) How can we develop and engage innovative methods and systems to accelerate discoveries in human nutrition? Within these three questions, eleven topical areas were identified based on the following criteria: population impact, feasibility given current technological capacities, and emerging scientific opportunities. This commentary highlights initial trans-agency efforts to address the Roadmap’s research and resource priorities. We conclude with discussing opportunities for collaborations and partnerships to move forward human nutrition research in the 21st century.

Technical Abstract: The United States Congress first called for improved coordination of human nutrition research within and among federal departments and agencies in the 1977 Farm Bill. Today, the Interagency Committee on Human Nutrition Research (ICHNR) is charged with improving the planning, coordination, and communication among federal agencies engaged in nutrition research and with facilitating the development and updating of plans for federal research programs to meet current and future domestic and international needs for nutrition. The ICHNR is co-chaired by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Under Secretary for Research, Education, and Economics and Chief Scientist and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Assistant Secretary for Health and is made up of more than 10 departments and agencies. Once the ICHNR was reassembled after a ten-year hiatus, the ICHNR recognized a need for a written roadmap to identify critical human nutrition research gaps and opportunities. This commentary provides an overview of the process the ICHNR undertook to develop a first-of-its-kind National Nutrition Research Roadmap, which was publicly released on March 4, 2016. The Roadmap is framed around the following three questions: 1) How can we better understand and define eating patterns to improve and sustain health?; 2) What can be done to help people choose healthy eating patterns?; and 3) How can we develop and engage innovative methods and systems to accelerate discoveries in human nutrition? Within these three questions, eleven topical areas were identified based on the following criteria: population impact, feasibility given current technological capacities, and emerging scientific opportunities. This commentary highlights initial trans-agency efforts to address the Roadmap’s research and resource priorities. We conclude with discussing opportunities for collaborations and partnerships to move forward human nutrition research in the 21st century.