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The purpose of this review is to advise the MRC’s Council, through Strategy Board, of the current state of research in this area and opportunities for future development.

Research into nutrition and energy balance is central to addressing major public health challenges of the 21st century, including obesity and the health of an ageing nation.

UK strengths, needs and opportunities

Bibliometric analysis indicates that the UK is an international leader in the field and the impact of UK research is high relative to the level of investment. Particular UK strengths include the study of early life nutrition and its impact on later health outcomes, epidemiology, genetics, molecular biology, biochemistry and micronutrients.

The investment into fundamental ‘classical’ nutrition research has been declining. New developments and innovation are needed in core disciplines of nutrition research, integrating nutrition and modern biological approaches, and developing novel tools and technologies for robust and sensitive measurements of nutritional exposure and energy expenditure.

The UK has a shortage of well-trained innovative nutrition researchers and there is a major need for training of, in particular, clinically-qualified researchers and basic and clinical scientists between post-doctoral and first substantive academic post. Strong leadership is required, and a recognisable centre of excellence that is competitive on the world stage and acts as a magnet for the training of the next generation of integrative1 nutrition researchers.

Research relevant to nutrition and energy balance is supported by the UK research councils, government departments and agencies, charitable organisations and industry. There is a need and opportunity for the development of a national strategy for the entire nutrition field, connecting with the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) strategic lead on obesity, and for the coordination of activities between funders; there is also potential to influence
public health agendas through developing better models of engagement with the food industry, including food manufacturers, suppliers and retailers, as is currently being pursued in other fields with the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries....계속