The role of the federal government in research on nutrition and aging.

As the population of the elderly will increase 10% within the next 50 years, research on the health problems affecting them becomes pertinent. The major agency supporting biomedical and behavioral aspects of nutrition research and training is the National Institutes of Health. The research it carries out is through grants and contracts, and through a new National Program in the Clinical Nutrition Research Unit. Additional research on nutrition for the aging is performed by the US Department of Agriculture at the Tufts University Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging. The coordination of nutrition research and training at the federal level is accomplished through the Joint Subcommittee for Human Nutrition Research operating out of the Executive Office of the President.