The USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) is seeking research grant funding applications for projects that focus on the “… societal challenge to end obesity among children, the number one nutrition-related problem in the US.”  Read more here.

“Decades of research supports the fact that children who are hungry don’t do well in the classroom and suffer from related health issues like obesity, diabetes and other serious chronic diseases. USDA has invested and will continue to invest in our children so that all of them, no matter where they are born or what their parents’ income levels are, have a shot at a healthy and productive future,” said Secretary Vilsack. “Since implementation of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, kids are now eating 16 percent more vegetables and 23 percent more fruit at lunch, more low-income children are benefiting from breakfast and lunch programs, and nearly four million children have access to healthy food in the summer when school is out and meals are scarce. Data show some signs of progress on childhood obesity, particularly among our youngest children, and the projects these researchers are undertaking will ensure we have evidence-based tools to continue moving the dial.”