Prevention of Diet-Related Diseases and Disparities

Importance of Preventing Diet-Related Diseases and Disparities

Diet-related illnesses including cardiovascular diseases, Type 2 diabetes, and certain cancers are the leading source of poor health in the United States. These illnesses also negatively affect worker productivity, military readiness, healthcare spending, and health disparities. Food insecurity and diet-related illnesses often co-exist. Both are interrelated with challenges and opportunities in the use of natural resources. Across all life stages, research, education, Extension, and innovation could potentially improve understanding of the various factors contributing to the prevention of diet-related diseases and disparities.

Precision nutrition is a new concept that aims to harness emerging findings from nutritional science into meaningful and clinically relevant dietary recommendations for individuals and population sub-groups. Nutrition science encompasses research examining multiple synergistic levels of influence: dietary habits, genetic background, health status, microbiome, metabolism, food environment, physical activity, socioeconomics, psychosocial characteristics, and environmental exposures, among others. Precision nutrition, like precision medicine, aims to capitalize on the exponential growth that is occurring in technology, genomics, proteomics, and metabolomics platforms along with personalized and environmental sensors and other big-data resources.

NIFA’s Impact

NIFA recognizes that nutrition could be one of the most cost-effective approaches to address many of the societal and economic challenges faced across the globe today. NIFA’s nutrition efforts are grounded in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, and other federal food and nutrition guidelines and priorities. NIFA partners with the Land-grant University System and government, private, and nonprofit organizations to support science to advance understanding of what is in the foods and beverages we produce and how do our products best serve their final users either humans or animals. The agency also invests in developing nutrition scientists across all stages of professional development and building their capacity to work across  disciplines and entities to advance nutritional sciences research, policy, and practice.

Relevant NIFA Programs

• Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI)
  • Foundational and Applied Science Program
    • Food Safety, Nutrition, and Health (FSNH) program area
      • A1343 Food and Human Health
      • A1344 Diet, Nutrition, and the Prevention of Chronic Diseases
      • A1364 Innovations in Food Manufacturing Technologies
  • Crosscutting Programs
    • A1541 Data Science for Food and Agricultural Systems (DSFAS)
    • A1701 Critical Agricultural Research and Extension (CARE)
    • A1712 Rapid Response to Weather Events Across Food and Agricultural Systems
    • A1713 Rapid Response to Emerging and Re-emerging Pest and Disease Events Across Food and Agricultural Systems
    • A1811 Commodity Board Co-Funding Topics
  • Education and Workforce Development
    • A7101 Predoctoral Fellowships
    • A7201 Postdoctoral Fellowships
    • A7401 Research and Extension Experiences for Undergraduate
    • A7501 Professional Development for Agricultural Literacy
    • A7601 Agricultural Workforce Training Grants
    • A7801 Food and Agricultural Non-formal Education
  • A9201 Strengthening Agricultural Systems (SAS)
  • Non-AFRI Programs
    • 4-H Youth Development Program
    • 1890 Institution Teaching, Research and Extension Capacity Building Grants (CBG) Program
    • Alaska Native-Serving and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions (ANNH) Competitive Education Grants Program
    • Capacity Building Grants for Non-Land Grant Colleges of Agriculture Program
    • Children, Youth and Families at Risk (CYFAR)
    • CYFAR 4-H Military Partnership Professional Development & Technical Assistance (CMPC-PDTA)
    • Community Food Projects (CFP) Competitive Grants Program
    • Expanded Food Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP)
    • Equipment Grants
    • Federally-Recognized Tribes Extension Program
    • Food and Agricultural Sciences National Needs Graduate and Postgraduate Fellowship (NNF) Grants Program
    • Food and Agriculture Service Learning Program (FALSP)
    • Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program (GusNIP)
    • Higher Education Challenge Grants Program
    • Higher Education Multicultural Scholars Program
    • Hispanic-Serving Institutions Education Grants Program (HSI)
    • Resident Instruction Grants (RIIA) and Distance Education Grants (DEG) for Institutions of Higher Education in Insular Areas
    • Rural Health and Safety Education Competitive Grants Program
    • Small Business Innovation Research and Technology Transfer Programs (SBIR/STTR)
    • SPECA Grant Program
    • Tribal Colleges Extension Grant Program
    • WIC Workforce Development Initiative (WICWD) 

Relevant NIFA Topic Pages

• Advanced Food Manufacturing 
• Community Nutrition 
• Food and Nutrition Security
• Food Loss and Waste 
• Food Products
• Food Safety 
• Local and Regional Food Systems 
• Nutrition and Food Systems 
• Nutrition Education 
• The Science of Food

Consumer Resources

Nutrition.gov is a USDA sponsored website that offers credible information to help you make healthful eating choices.

Nutrition Professional Resources

The USDA National Agricultural Library’s Food and Nutrition Information Center provides the food and nutrition professional community access to a wide range of trustworthy food and nutrition resources from both government and non-government sources. Another USDA NAL resource is the Historical Dietary Guidance Digital Collection.