The USDA has announced the availability of $4.5 million in funding to establish three additional USDA Nutrition Hubs in communities across the country.
The new Nutrition Hubs will provide tailored and scalable approaches to equitably advance food and nutrition security and help prevent diet-related chronic diseases, especially in historically underserved communities, according to a news release.
The additional hubs will create a network that builds on the work of the pilot Nutrition Hub established last year in partnership with Southern University and A&M College under USDA’s Agricultural Science Center of Excellence for Nutrition and Diet for Better Health (ASCEND for Better Health) initiative.
The funding announcement was made during a virtual event highlighting USDA’s effort to prevent diet-related diseases including cancers through precision nutrition research and community engagement as part of the White House Cancer Moonshot Community Conversations week of action, according to the release.
With funding provided by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s Agriculture and Food Research Initiative — the nation’s leading competitive grants program for agricultural sciences — the hubs will focus on providing science-based information tailored to priority communities of interest including Tribal, Hispanic and Insular Areas.
The Nutrition Hubs will complement and increase the impact of USDA’s collective contributions to Extension, education and research communities, and underserved communities at large, to better understand real-world opportunities and challenges around nutrition and diet-related health disparities and to develop coordinated science-based solutions and resources that benefit those communities, the release said
“Equitable access to healthy, safe and affordable foods that promote optimal health and well-being can have a significant impact in reducing rates of diet-related chronic diseases including many cancers,” Dr. Chavonda Jacobs-Young, USDA chief scientist and under secretary for research, education and economics, said in the release. “When people have tailored tools, resources and knowledge, they are empowered to take a more active role in managing their nutrition and health.”
Each Nutrition Hub will address program area priorities through the lens of precision nutrition, which is defined as nutrition tailored to different population subgroups based on integrating data for that subgroup. Findings from precision nutrition research will result in targeted development of nutritional recommendations and messaging for individual subpopulations, rather than a “one-size-fits-all” approach to dietary guidance.
“These Nutrition Hubs present an exciting new opportunity through our AFRI program portfolio to strengthen Extension, research and education efforts of our nation’s Land-grant Universities,” Manjit K. Misra, USDA NIFA director, said in the release. “The goal of this program area priority is to stimulate and catalyze cross-cutting and interdisciplinary work among scientists and stakeholders that will reduce the incidence of diet-related diseases while building current and future workforce capacity.”
Over the long-term, each Nutrition Hub will work with priority populations to develop and share science-based nutrition information and foster research and training opportunities in human nutrition research to advance food and nutrition security, particularly in underserved and underrepresented communities.
Applications for this new competitive award program are being accepted through Oct. 3, 2024. The complete request for applications, including eligibility information, is available online.
