WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) along with Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), sent a letter to Dr. Monica M. Bertagnolli, Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), calling for robust investment into the Metabolic Clinical Research Unit (MCRU) of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, which conducts high-quality research on diet-related disease.

“The toll of diet-related disease is nothing short of alarming. Today, one in five children and 40 percent of adults have obesity. The number of Americans with type 2 diabetes is at a record high, and the rate of type 2 diabetes among children is expected to increase by 700 percent by 2060.  Diet-related chronic diseases are leading causes of death in the United States. Nutrition research is essential to identify ways to reverse declining life expectancy and rising rates of chronic disease in this country,” the Senators wrote. 

The Senators outlined the important role of the MCRU in understanding and reversing the toll of diet-related disease: “The MCRU is the only unit at the NIH Clinical Center that can conduct inpatient randomized controlled nutrition trials, the gold standard for research. Furthermore, the MCRU conducted the landmark study that demonstrated that diets high in ultra-processed food cause weight gain independent of their  nutrient composition.”

“Despite the critical research performed by the unit,” the Senators continued, “the number of inpatient rooms in the MCRU was cut by 30 percent in 2018 after the study’s enrollment ended.”

“It is imperative for the NIH to continue to prioritize this work. In line with the 2025 US Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee’s call for more high-quality randomized control trials on ultra-processed foods, the NIH must robustly invest in the MCRU. This should include, at a minimum, returning the MCRU to its 2017 capacity and staffing,” the Senators concluded. 

To read the full text of the letter, click here.