SILVER SPRING, MD. — The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) are launching the Nutrition Regulatory Science Program (NRSP), a joint research initiative to aid in US Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s mission to “make America healthy again.”

The FDA said the issues the NRSP hopes to resolve include the effects of ultra-processed foods on consumer health, how food additives affect metabolic health and contribute to chronic diseases, and how dietary exposure during fetal and infant stages could lead to autoimmune disorders.

The federal program will introduce a comprehensive nutrition research agenda that will “provide critical information to inform effective food and nutrition policy actions to help make Americans’ food and diets healthier,” according to the FDA.

The FDA and Kennedy Jr. have been in close collaboration since he was named secretary of the HHS,  which has led to several shifts  in the agency’s policies, including scrutiny on food colors and the definition of “generally recognized as safe.”

“Nutrition has always been a priority at NIH,” said Jay Bhattacharya, director of the NIH. “By teaming up with the FDA, we’re taking a major step toward answering big questions about how food affects health — and turning that science into smarter, more effective policy. It’s time to tackle the chronic disease crisis head-on. That’s why NIH is making this investment alongside the FDA.”

The collaboration will bring together the two agencies in different roles. The FDA will offer its expertise in regulatory science while the NIH will provide the infrastructure for the solicitation, review and management of scientific research. The program also will bring in experts in various scientific disciplines to further develop the new standard for nutrition and food science in the United States.

The Nutrition Regulatory Science Program is the latest collaboration between the FDA and the NIH. In 2023, the agencies introduced the Tobacco Regulatory Science Program (TSRP), a joint initiative focused on tobacco regulatory research.

“The FDA is focusing resources on the greatest contributors to the staggering health care crisis: chronic diseases,” said Martin A. Makary, MD, commissioner of the FDA. “Mirroring the highly successful FDA and NIH Tobacco Regulatory Science Program, we’re bringing together scientific expertise from both agencies to transform nutrition and food-related research.”