Abstract
OBJECTIVES: Recently, the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) unveiled the first NIH-wide Strategic Plan for Nutrition Research (NIH SPNR), which emphasized cross-cutting and innovative opportunities to advance nutrition research across all NIH Institutes under the theme of precision nutrition. This review provides an assessment of nutrition research gaps and opportunities, and alignment with the NIH SPNR and with the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute's (NHLBI) Strategic Vision. The objective is to provide information to investigators and clinicians to stimulate nutrition research discoveries to improve heart, lung, blood, and sleep (HLBS) health. METHODS: We reviewed the scientific literature and summarized seminal peer-reviewed publications of nutrition research in NHLBI cohort studies from 2008–2019 to identify potential areas needing research. We conducted a portfolio analysis of NHLBI funded nutrition research studies and mapped them with the NHLBI Strategic Vision Objectives. To further identify research gaps and opportunities, we engaged NHLBI staff in prioritizing nutrition research as it relates to the NIH SPNR and the NHLBI Strategic Vision. RESULTS: Our findings indicate a strong alignment of the NIH SPNR with the NHLBI Strategic Vision. Nutrition research gaps and potential opportunities as they relate to HLBS include the following: bidirectional translation of nutrition in the basic sciences, epidemiology, clinical, implementation science and dissemination research, inclusion of the lifespan approach, and nutrition disparities in cardiovascular disease (e.g., heart failure). There were relatively fewer studies focused on nutrition across the spectrum of lung diseases (e.g., asthma and acute respiratory distress syndrome), blood diseases (e.g., sickle cell disease) and circadian biology (e.g., chrononutrition). CONCLUSIONS: This review identified marked gaps in our knowledge of nutrition in HLBS diseases and disorders and calls attention to precision nutrition approaches to address research gaps in nutrition to improve cardiovascular, pulmonary, blood and sleep health. FUNDING SOURCES: None.