News from NHLBI: Nutrition Research at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and Future Opportunities.

Abstract

BACKGROUND\nNutrition plays a major role in the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular and other chronic diseases; hence, nutrition research is a priority for the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI). The purpose of this analysis is to describe the scope of NHLBI-funded extramural nutrition research grants over the past decade and offer insights into future opportunities for nutrition research relevant to NHLBI s mission.\n\n\nMETHODS\nData were extracted using the Research, Condition, and Disease Categorization spending categories from the publicly available NIH Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tool Expenditures and Results. New 2018 and 2019 grants were coded into categories and mapped to the 2016 NHLBI Strategic Vision priorities.\n\n\nRESULTS\nApproximately 90% of nutrition research funds supported extramural grants, particularly through investigator-initiated R series grants (69.6%). Of these, 19.8%\xa0were classified as clinical trials. Consistent nutrition-related topics, including\xa0physical activity, weight loss, fatty acids, metabolic syndrome, childhood obesity, and other topics such as gut microbiota, arterial stiffness, sleep duration, and meal timing, emerged in 2014-2019.\xa0 Mapping of the NHLBI Strategic Vision objectives revealed\xa0that 32% of newly funded grants focused on pathobiological mechanisms important to the onset and progression of heart, lung, blood, and sleep disorders, with opportunities including developing novel diagnostic and therapeutic strategies and clinical and implementation science research.\n\n\nDISCUSSION\nThe findings show the breadth of NHLBI-funded nutrition research and highlight potential research opportunities for nutrition scientists.