How childhood nutrition shapes health, thinking, and economic life into middle age
Official title: The impact of early-life nutrition on socioeconomic status, physical health and cognitive function through middle age
Funded at Emory University · NIH-11308228 · Data updated 2026-11-12
Researchers are following people who took part in a childhood nutrition program to learn how that nutrition links to health, thinking, and income in middle age.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Emory University NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Atlanta, United States) |
| Project start | March 15, 2023 |
| Project end | February 29, 2028 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $473,679 |
| NIH project number | 5R01AG079990-04 |
| Project ID | NIH-11308228 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal participants are members of the original Guatemalan nutrition trial cohort now aged about 47–64 who are willing to complete health, cognitive, and socioeconomic follow-up activities.
✕Less likely to help
People who were not part of the original cohort, who fall well outside the cohort age range, or who cannot or will not provide follow-up health or cognitive data are unlikely to directly benefit from participation.
What this research studies
You would be part of a long-term group that began as children in a nutrition supplementation program in Guatemala. Today, as people in their late 40s to mid-60s, participants complete health exams, memory and thinking tests, and questions about schooling and work history. The team compares those who received nutritional supplements in early life with those who did not to track differences in physical aging, cognitive change, and socioeconomic status over decades. The project combines original trial records with new follow-up visits and surveys to understand lifelong effects of early nutrition.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could show how better childhood nutrition leads to healthier bodies, sharper thinking, and improved economic outcomes decades later, guiding policies to help future generations.
How similar studies have gone: Previous follow-ups of the INCAP trial and other early-life nutrition research have shown lasting benefits for schooling, health, and earnings, but using experimental data to track cognitive and physical aging into midlife is less common.
Where this research is happening
-
Emory University
Atlanta, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Stein, Aryeh David — Emory University
- Study coordinator: Stein, Aryeh David
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.