From Silos to Systems: Investing in Sustainable Nutrition Science for a Healthy Future

The document provides the technical appendix for a study on federal investments in sustainable nutrition science. It describes the use of the NIH Federal RePORTER database to identify projects that simultaneously address food production, human nutrition, and environmental or climate impacts. The analysis identified 53 unique projects meeting these criteria, with reported funding totaling $41.1 million over the 2016–2019 period. It also catalogues federal recommendations from 2010 to 2021 urging a shift toward interdisciplinary, systems-based research to integrate sustainability into nutrition policy and food systems.

• The authors define 'sustainable nutrition science' as a specific intersection of three domains: nutrition, food production, and climate and environment. To be included in the analysis, projects had to explicitly incorporate all three areas within their scope of work.
• Using the NIH Federal RePORTER database, the study identified 53 unique projects (resulting in 59 distinct funding records) that met the criteria for sustainable nutrition science between 2016 and 2019.
• Reported federal funding for sustainable nutrition science from 2016 to 2019 totaled $41.1 million, with an annual average of $10.3 million. The authors note this may be an underestimate due to inconsistent agency reporting.
• The analysis highlights a significant gap between general federal research spending and sustainable nutrition science; while all federal research funding grew from $67.1 billion in 2016 to $81.2 billion in 2019, reported sustainable nutrition science funding decreased from $19.3 million to $4.4 million in the same period.
• Between 2010 and 2021, over a dozen federal reports recommended advancing interdisciplinary and systems-based research to address the links between food production, human health, and environmental sustainability.

APA

Union of Concerned Scientists (2021). From Silos to Systems: Investing in Sustainable Nutrition Science for a Healthy Future. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2021-09/From-Silos-to-Systems-Appendix-FINAL_0.pdf

Chicago

Union of Concerned Scientists. From Silos to Systems: Investing in Sustainable Nutrition Science for a Healthy Future. 2021. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2021-09/From-Silos-to-Systems-Appendix-FINAL_0.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Union of Concerned Scientists |title=From Silos to Systems: Investing in Sustainable Nutrition Science for a Healthy Future |date=2021 |url=https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2021-09/From-Silos-to-Systems-Appendix-FINAL_0.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{unionofconcernedscientists2021from, author = {{Union of Concerned Scientists}}, title = {{From Silos to Systems: Investing in Sustainable Nutrition Science for a Healthy Future}}, institution = {Union of Concerned Scientists}, year = {2021}, url = {https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2021-09/From-Silos-to-Systems-Appendix-FINAL_0.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }