April 7, 2005
Purdue receives $6 million to keep age-related research vital
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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue University's national center for the study of dietary supplements will receive $6 million in funding over the next five years, the National Institutes of Health announced Thursday (April 7).
The Botanical Center for Age-Related Diseases, in operation since September 2000, is led by Purdue University, University of Alabama Birmingham, Rutgers University, in collaboration with the University of Illinois and the Indiana University School of Medicine. The Purdue center is one of five centers in the country to receive funding from the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine and the Office of Dietary Supplements.
"As the aged population grows, this kind of research becomes more critical for maintaining quality of life," said Purdue professor Connie Weaver, director of the center and head of the Department of Foods and Nutrition. "Our research has produced data in areas such as soy protein, green tea and supplement regulation that need further examination, so we're pleased that the National Institutes of Health recognize the value of our work."
The Botanical Center for Age-Related Diseases studies treatments and prevention for conditions such as osteoporosis, cognitive decline, cardiovascular disease, cancer, cataracts and other age-related diseases.
The center involves research by Purdue faculty from several academic areas, including the Department of Foods and Nutrition, the Department of Physics, the Department of Statistics, the Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology and the Department of Veterinary Clinical Studies. A former faculty member from the Department of Horticulture serves as a collaborator on research.
Weaver is a Distinguished Professor of Foods and Nutrition at Purdue whose research interests include mineral bioavailability, calcium metabolism and bone health. She was a member of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee that gave recommendations to the United States Department of Agriculture to produce the "Dietary Guidelines for Americans" in January. Weaver also was one of the authors of the Surgeon General's 2004 "Report on Bone Health and Osteoporosis." She was on the 1997 panel to help develop new calcium requirements for the National Academy of Science and provided her expertise at the seminar in Washington, D.C., that focused on the need to revise vitamin D dietary intakes.
Writer: Maggie Morris, (765) 494-2432, maggiemorris@purdue.edu
Source: Connie Weaver, (765) 494-8231, weavercm@purdue.edu
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu
Note to Journalists: Connie Weaver is available to talk about age-related issues and nutrition.
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