National nutrition guidance is becoming much more individualized, thanks to ongoing research at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (HNRCA) at Tufts University.
Designated by the NIH as one of six clinical centers in the country for the initiative, the HNRCA received $8.23 million to participate in an innovative study to develop algorithms that predict individual responses to food and dietary patterns. The funding supports the NIH Common Fund’s Nutrition for Precision Health (NPH), powered by All of Us Research Program to improve the understanding of nutrition and inform more personalized nutrition recommendations.
The goal of this large national research initiative is to combine the many factors that affect how individuals respond to diet into a personalized nutrition regimen. These potential factors include dietary intake, microbiome (the community of bacteria that live in the gut), metabolism, nutritional status, genetics, and the environment.
As part of this study, which is slated to run through 2027, the HNRCA collects data from a cohort of 2,000 people from the All of Us Research Program—an initiative with a goal of building a diverse health database from one million people across the United States—with program partners Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Boston Medical Center. This collaboration of Boston health-care institutions led by Tufts is formally known as the Clinical Center for NIH's Nutrition for Precision Health: The All of Us New England Research Collaborative.
As part of the study’s design, participants first adhere to a prescribed diet in their own living environment and then reside at the HNRCA while on the prescribed diet.
“The ultimate goal is to gain a better understanding of what factors drive the variability of how individuals respond to nutrients and to incorporate that understanding into future dietary guidance, so that people live healthier for longer,” said HNRCA Director Sarah Booth.
Heading the HNRCA’s efforts is Sai Das, a scientist on the HNRCA’s Energy Metabolism Team. “This national initiative will provide the much-needed data to move away from one-size-fits-all diet recommendations and create customized diet plans for people based on individual differences, such as nutritional status, genetics, and metabolism,” Das said.
Pictured above: A scientist at work at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging