The FDA and NIH are pushing out a joint research initiative that will explore nutrition issues and infant dietary exposures, fueling US health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s agenda to scrutinize the food supply.
The two federal health agencies announced Friday the Nutrition Regulatory Science Program, a plan that seeks to accelerate comprehensive nutrition research and provide information that will help inform effective food and nutrition policy actions.
The program aims to answer questions about the risks of ultra-processed foods to human health, how certain food additives affect metabolic health and possibly contribute to chronic diseases, and the role of maternal and infant dietary exposures on health outcomes across the lifespan.
“The FDA is focusing resources on the greatest contributors to the staggering health care crisis: chronic diseases,” Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary said in a statement. “Mirroring the highly successful FDA and NIH Tobacco Regulatory Science Program, we’re bringing together scientific expertise from both agencies to transform nutrition and food-related research.”
