USDA/ARS Children's Nutrition Research Center
CSREES has a formalized partnership with the Children's Nutrition Research Center (CNRC), located in Houston, TX, though a memorandum of understanding whereby a full-time CSREES national program leader is located at the center. This position demonstrates the commitment to transfer scientific findings to the customer or consumer and supports the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) mission of research dissemination.
CNRC is one of six USDA/ARS human nutrition research centers in the country and the largest federally funded children's nutrition research center, with more than 50 full-time faculty members and approximately 200 technical support personnel. CNRC is a unique cooperative venture between Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Children's Hospital, and USDA/ARS. This cooperation increases the visibility and educational efforts of USDA, gives CNRC scientists access to the resources of USDA. The CSREES partnership demonstrates a positive working relationship between two USDA agencies in areas of research, scientific investigations and extension related to maternal, infant and child nutrition in optimal health, development, and growth pediatric research and outreach.
One of several research areas is the Childhood Eating Behaviors: Prevention of Childhood Obesity and Chronic Diseases program. Research faculty involved in this program are identifying factors that influence the development of children's eating habits, and how best to help children and families adopt healthier habits to avoid long-term health problems linked to poor nutrition, such as obesity, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes, stroke, and osteoporosis.
The quarterly newsletter Nutrition and Your Child is an example of CNRC outreach. The newsletter is free and distributed electronically to more than 10,000 subscribers and to an additional 2,000 clients and customers via regular mail. A variety of other resources for both the professional and the consumer can be found at the CNRC Web site.
Contact Marilyn Swanson, CSREES national program leader for Maternal and Child Health at the USDA/ARS Children's Nutrition Research Center, for more information.
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