2012 Annual Report 1a.Objectives (from AD-416): This project will benefit the people of the United States by facilitating the production of new knowledge that will significantly improve the evidence base for national food, nutrition and health policies. It will bring together two entities, the USDA-ARS and the University of North Dakota, as represented by the School of Medicine and Health Sciences (UND-SMHS), each with strong scientific and technical capabilities, to produce a combined effort that is unique in its ability to design and conduct human clinical intervention trials addressing the knowledge gaps critical to reversing the national epidemic of obesity and its co-morbidities. This partnering advances the mission of the Grand Forks Human Nutrition Research Center (GFHNRC) in regard to its conducting research with human subjects. 1b.Approach (from AD-416): Partnering with the UND-SMHS will enhance the research mission of the USDA-ARS GFHNRC in the areas of clinical research in human nutrition, metabolism, and physiology. The UND-SMHS will bring necessary expertise in medicine and human health surveillance. Health oversight by UND-SMHS licensed physicians will be a valuable contribution provided for conducting human nutrition research. The combined effort will produce synergy resulting in a unique capability for conducting human clinical trials addressing the prevention of obesity. Those trials will address the following areas: 1. Sustainability of diet/physical activity practices consistent with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. 2. Roles of diet and physical activity in mitigating obesity-related diseases, diabetes, cancer and bone loss. These clinical trials will be among the first designed to test the Dietary Guidelines for Americans in a healthy population. This research will support further enhancement of the dietary guidelines as well as related national policies concerning food, nutrition and health. 3.Progress Report: This project provided clinical research support for several human studies protocols in FY2012. These included a study of the effect of dietary protein on muscle protein and bone mineral retention during negative energy balance in which this project provided the expertise for performing muscle biopsies. This project also provided the health surveillance oversight for that and 9 other active human protocols.