Our Mission

The mission of the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (HNRCA) is to explore the relationship between nutrition, aging, and health by:

1) determining the nutrient requirements and physical activity recommendations that are necessary to promote health and well-being for older adults; and

2) examining the role of nutrition and physical activity in preventing the degenerative conditions and diet-related diseases associated with aging. 

To accomplish this mission, we perform research to determine ways in which diet, nutritional status and physical activity influence the onset and progression of aging, employing information mined from human and animal genomes to conduct studies with tissue cultures, experimental animals, and human subjects.  This research will determine nutrient requirements and physical activity recommendations during aging and the ways in which an optimal diet, in combination with genetic, physiological, psychological, sociological, and environmental factors, may provide health and vigor over the life span of man.