The China Study by Thomas Campbell

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GOVERNMENT: IS IT FOR THE PEOPLE? 315

literature. To address various health topics, the NIH is comprised of

twenty-seven separate institutes and centers, including its two largest,

the National Cancer Institute (NCO and the National Heart, Lung and

Blood Institute.l4 With a proposed 2005 budget of almost $29 billion,1 5

the NIH is the center of the government's gigantic medical research ef-

forts.

In terms of nutrition research, however, something is amiss. None

of these twenty-seven institutes and centers at the NIH is devoted to

nutrition, despite the pivotal nature of nutrition in health, and despite

the public interest in the subject. One of the arguments against having a

separate institute for nutrition is that the existing institutes already con-

cern themselves with nutrition. But this does not happen. Chart 16.3

shows the funding priorities for various health topics at the NIH.l6

Of the $28 billion NIH budget proposed for 2004, only about 3.6%

is designated for projects that are related in some way to nutritionl7 and

24% for projects that are related to prevention. That may not sound too

bad. But these figures are seriously misleading.

Most of the prevention and nutrition budgets have absolutely noth-

ing to do with prevention and nutrition, as I have written in this book.

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CHART 16.3: NIH 2004 ESTIMATED FUNDING

FOR DIFFERENT HEALTH TOPICS17

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