Legislative authority for research in human nutrition within the USDA dates to the Agricultural Appropriations Act of 1915-16. The Food & Agriculture Act of 1977 established USDA as the lead agency of the Federal Government for research, extension, and teaching in the food and agricultural sciences, and directed that research into food and human nutrition be established as a separate and distinct mission of the Department. This Act supported USDA's traditional emphasis on the nutritional needs of normal, healthy individuals. ARS has administered in-house human nutrition research since 1953, succeeding the organizational structure called Bureau of Human Nutrition and Home Economics. The strong connection between human nutrition research and the food and agricultural sciences can only be developed as a national effort. There is value to production agriculture tied to human nutrition in that this promotes food-based strategies as the core to health and well-being.

In the first half of the 20^th century the nutritional deficiencies and inadequacies of our food supply were the primary causes of malnutrition and related preventable diseases. This system has evolved during the second half of the 20^th century so that nutritional deficiencies are no longer the primary public health concern in the U.S. to one in which nutrients and non-nutrient components, such as phytochemicals, in foods are being recognized for their ability to prevent certain chronic diseases. The investment in research to determine the metabolism of nutrients, improve the food production system, identify the essential nutrients in foods and insure the nutritional quality of our food supply has had incalculable benefits to the American public and its economy. Our research has shown that the diseases that debilitate older Americans have nutritional components as well as genetic interactions and have their roots in childhood development. The staggering cost of nutrition-related diseases clearly points out the need to develop effective strategies, based on the results of sound human nutrition research, to lower the cost of health care by prevention of diseases. For those diseases strongly linked to diet (i.e. cardiovascular disease, cancer, cataracts, diabetes and obesity), the cost for treatments and care exceeds $200 billion per year.

The National Program Review

A national program review was held March 7-9, 2000, College Park, Maryland, to assess the appropriateness of ARS human nutrition research activities to Performance Goal 3, AA Healthy and Well-Nourished Population Who Have Knowledge, Desire, and Means to Make Health Promoting Choices@, of the ARS Strategic Plan. The review brought together ARS administrators and scientists, and stakeholders and customers from Federal agencies, industry, academia, commodity and trade associations, consumer groups and private consultants. Selected ARS scientists provided a brief overview of the ARS research conducted within the program components, which was followed by stakeholders providing a perspective of their research needs. Breakout discussion sessions allowed further identification of research priorities and concerns.

The Human Nutrition Action Plan is divided into the seven major components comprising the program, which were all deemed as relevant. These include Nutrient Requirements, Diet, Genetics and Lifestyle and the Prevention of Obesity and Disease, Nutrition Monitoring, Composition of Foods, Health Promoting Intervention Strategies For Targeted Populations, Health Promoting Properties of Plant and Animal Foods, and Bioavailability of Nutrients and Food Components (e.g. phytonutrients/phytochemicals). Input received from the stakeholders and customers of the ARS Human Nutrition Program was taken into consideration in the development of this Action Plan. A priority objective that transverses all program components is increased interaction between each of the Human Nutrition Research Centers, and between the Human Nutrition Research Centers and associated laboratories conducting human nutrition research.