The Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center (BHNRC) has a history of carrying out food and human nutrition research begun by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and W.O. Atwater in 1893. BHNRC is the oldest and most comprehensive of six human nutrition research centers within the Agricultural Research Service. Its location at the Henry A. Wallace Beltsville Agricultural Research Center makes it the only human nutrition research center located at a comprehensive agricultural research facility in the United States. The other five centers are:

• Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University, Boston MA
• Children's Nutrition Research Center (CNRC), Houston, TX 
• Grand Forks Human Nutrition Research Center, Grand Forks, ND 
• Western Human Nutrition Research Center, Davis, CA 
• Arkansas Children's Nutrition Center, Little Rock, AR