Watercolor
rendering of the two new buildings at the Beltsville Human Nutrition Research
Center. Click image for additional information.
ARS dedicated two
new buildings on August 26, 2003 at the Henry A. Wallace Beltsville
Agricultural Reseach Center in Beltsville, Maryland.Click image for additional
information.
Guests head to a
tour of Building 307C, one of two new nutrition research facilities. Click
image for additional information. |
New ARS Human Nutrition Research Buildings
Dedicated By Jim
Core August 26, 2003
WASHINGTON, Aug. 26The
U.S. Department of Agriculture this morning
dedicated two new buildings at Beltsville, Md., that will house research on the
role of food and its components in improving human health and reducing the risk
of nutritionally related disorders.
The new buildings will add more than 100,000 square feet of
high-quality research space to the Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center
(BHNRC). BHNRC is part of the
Agricultural Research Service's
Henry A. Wallace Beltsville Agricultural
Research Center. ARS is USDA's chief in-house scientific research agency.
The new buildings include seven research labs and a human
studies facility. BHNRC had been located in four buildings. Constructed for $25
million, the new facility will house about 121 workers.
"These buildings provide BHNRC with modern laboratory facilities
to replace obsolete 64-year old buildings that no longer meet current research
needs," said Edward B. Knipling, acting administrator for ARS. "Data from BHNRC
human studies are critically important to the recommendations for intake of
various nutrients made by the Food and Nutrition Board of the
National Academy of
Sciences and for other dietary recommendations, such as the
Dietary Guidelines
for Americans issued by USDA and the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services."
U.S. Representative Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland was the keynote
speaker. Rodney Brown, USDA deputy under secretary for
Research, Education, and Economics;
Knipling and other USDA officials attended the ceremony.
USDA has had the fundamental responsibility of characterizing
the nutrient content of the U.S. national food supply for more than 110 years.
BHNRC is the oldest and most comprehensive of six human nutrition research
centers within ARS.
BHNRC laboratories conduct multi-disciplinary basic science and
applied human nutrition research. This work is important to scientists, food
producers, policy-makers, educators and consumers seeking a better
understanding of the relationship between diet and health. BHNRC conducts
national surveys of food consumption by Americans and maintains the
National Nutrient
Database, which is the foundation for most food labeling in this country.
About 1,000 people participated in research studies at BHNRC
last year.
"While animal data are useful and important, ultimately, it is
necessary to test hypotheses about the functions of, and requirements for,
nutrients in humans," said BARC Director Phyllis Johnson. "It is necessary to
use real food, not just pure chemical substances, because people do not
normally consume single nutrients in isolation."
Scientific contact: Beverly Clevidence,
Diet and Human Performance
Lab, BHNRC, clevideb@ba.ars.usda.gov, phone (301)
504-8159. |