For Immediate Release:

April 20, 2015

  Media Contact: Stacie Spector

858-914-5403  stacie@nusi.org


 

Nutrition Science Initiative receives $7.5 million grant

from Robertson Foundation

 

 LA JOLLA, CA--The Nutrition Science Initiative (NuSI) is proud to announce that it has been awarded a $7.5 million grant from the Robertson Foundation. The gift will help to facilitate scientific innovations and advance research, providing critical insights into the role of diet composition and calories in fat storage, energy metabolism, and appetite, the effect on weight gain and loss--and ultimately what causes obesity. 

 

"We are pleased and honored to gain the support of the Robertson Foundation," said Dr. Peter Attia, NuSI president and co-founder. "This gift comes at such a crucial time because it enables us to move forward with the research necessary to inform a science-based course of action to confront the challenges of the rising epidemics of obesity, diabetes, and their related health conditions in the United States and beyond."

 

The three-year grant will support NuSI's Phase II Energy Balance Consortium Trial which seeks to distinguish the effects of dietary macronutrient composition versus calorie content on energy expenditure and body fat deposition. Building off of NuSI's just completed pilot study, the new full trial is designed using rigorous controls of diet composition and intake to establish whether the fat and carbohydrate content of the diet influences body fat storage and/or appetite independent of calorie intake. 

 

"We need the best minds to help solve today's obesity epidemic. We are excited to partner with the Nutrition Science Initiative as they take an innovative approach to answer fundamental questions in obesity research" said Julian H. Robertson, Jr.

 

The funding towards the development of robust scientific innovations will help solve a crucial problem in nutrition research: assuring that clinical trial participants adhere to their prescribed diets. To address this issue, both technological and biotechnological methods will be developed that help trial subjects comply with dietary instructions and allow researchers to objectively determine their adherence.

 

"The results from the trial will have a profound impact on nutritional science as a whole and form the foundation for future studies to test the long-term safety and efficacy of these metabolically beneficial diets. These research findings will be essential in providing a clear scientific foundation for dietary recommendations," added Attia.  

About the Nutrition Science Initiative 

Founded in September 2012, the mission of Nutrition Science Initiative is to reduce the individual, social, and economic costs of obesity, diabetes, and their related diseases by improving the quality of science in nutrition research. By applying first-of-its-kind rigorous scientific experimentation on nutrition NuSI seeks to communicate its findings to the public and decision-makers alike in an effort to significantly advance the quality of nutritional guidance, dietary recommendations, and policies. NuSI is supported by funding from private citizens and like-minded organizations.

 

About the Robertson Foundation

The Robertson Foundation aspires to utilize a pro-active, disciplined grant-making approach to measurably affect significant social change in the principal areas of education, the environment and medical research.  To learn more visit: www.robertsonfoundation.org.

 

For more news and information about Nutrition Science Initiative please visit 
www.nusi.org