Location: Obesity and Metabolism Research
Project Number: 2032-10700-004-007-N
Project Type: Non-Funded Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Oct 1, 2025
End Date: Sep 30, 2029
Objective:
To advance the assessment of (micro)nutrient intake and nutritional status among pregnant and lactating women and their infants and informing evidence-based dietary guidance and federal nutrition policy. This includes identifying key nutrient inadequacies or excesses, validating and improving dietary and biomarker-based assessment methods, and examining associations between nutrient status and health-related outcomes such as maternal health, birth outcomes, infant growth, cognitive development, and risk of chronic disease. Findings will support USDA efforts to refine nutritional recommendations, enhance national dietary surveillance, and guide nutrition assistance programs targeting vulnerable populations.
Approach:
This approach will integrate dietary intake data, biomarker analyses, and health outcome measures to comprehensively assess (micro)nutrient status among pregnant and lactating women and their infants. ARS will provide the infrastructure for this project, the cooperator the needed expertise for using the analytical equipment, data analysis, and interpretation. The intake recommendations created in this collaborative effort will be used to identify prevalent nutrient inadequacies and excesses. Targeted field studies and cohort analyses will be used to validate and refine dietary assessment tools and nutrient biomarkers relevant to the perinatal period.