Dr. KINNEY. A strong in-house program is essential to meet the major part of our toxicology research needs. However, cooperative agreements can be quite effective in this regard. We utilize cooperative agreements with outside laboratories, when appropriate, to complement our in-house expertise and facilities in order to most efficiently bring the greatest expertise and sophisticated facilities and equipment to bear on specific problems.

Mr. TRAXLER. Is there any existing USDA facility that can tie together pathology, toxicology, biochemistry, pesticide research, epidemiology and clinical toxicology in one basic project on food toxicology research, or do you find that your personnel levels in any of these areas is insufficient?

Dr. KINNEY. At present there is no such facility. We are building multidisciplinary research expertise in pathology, toxicology, biochemistry, pesticide research, epidemiology and chemical toxicology at our existing AR facilities at Athens, Georgia, and Albany, California, but the groups are not yet complete because of the previously mentioned constraints on personnel.

Mr. TRAXLER. Have there been any increased efforts in toxicology research as it affects the food chain at any other federal institution in the past year?

Dr. KINNEY. We do not have any knowledge that research at other federal agencies which affects the food chain has been increased within the past year.

Mr. TRAXLER. Is it fair to say that you still maintain that the present system can be improved by training and supporting the scientific manpower needed for developing surveillance and toxicity testing methods?

Dr. KINNEY. We believe that we can develop both a flexible, responsive staff and state-of-the-art facilities and equipment within AR if we receive continuing support in funds and personnel ceilings. This would enable federal leadership to provide coordination and direction over all USDA programs.

Mr. TRAXLER. Last year you told me that you believed that a study aimed at determining USDA's role to toxicology research within the broad national framework that exists could be useful. Do you maintain this view?

Dr. KINNEY. We do need a study of the availability of personnel trained in all phases of toxicology, including pathologic examination, to help determine USDA's potential role in toxicology research. HHS is currently performing such a study, and we hope that the results will be available to assist in making appropriate recommendations for a broader USDA effort to further determine USDA's role in toxicological research relative to our food supply.

Mr. TRAXLER. Can you describe for me the type of study you believe should be developed, the cost involved with such a study, the time required and the personnel required?

Dr. KINNEY. We cannot comment specifically on the type and scope of study to be developed until the results of the Department of Health and Human Service study becomes available.

Mr. TRAXLER. Given the reduction in federal employment, do you believe that you have sufficient personnel to perform such a study present time?

Dr. KINNEY. Until we have determined the scope of the needed study, we cannot comment on the sufficiency of our personnel to perform it satisfactorily. I would like to add that to increase the efficiency of our present staff we are planning efforts to assure that our toxicology program within AR is more closely integrated with the needs of production and marketing research.

HUMAN NUTRITION RESEARCH

Mr. TRAXLER. Dr. Hegsted, I want you to know that I consider your role in upgrading our research on matters of human nutrition vitally important. After all, our concern must be for improving the diet of all of our people. As Secretary Bergland was fond of saying, we know more about feeding pigs than we do about feeding people. Can you tell me what appears to be some of the major developments in your work over the past year?

Dr. HEGSTED. Thank you, Mr. Traxler. We appreciate your comment and support. We do have much to learn about human nutrition but that does not mean the research effort of the past has not been successful. Human nutrition research inevitably requires considerable time and there are few dramatic breakthroughs. All findings of any importance must be repeated by other investigators and under various conditions to be generally accepted. Some of the more significant recent developments from our own research effort

were:

The demonstration that a reduction in the intake of saturated fat with a moderate increase in polyunsaturated fat lowers blood pressure. While it is generally accepted that high salt intake is a factor in hypertension, the evidence accumulates that other factors are also involved in the high prevalence of hypertension in this country.

We have continued studies on the effects of the level of dietary protein and dietary fiber upon mineral absorption. Although there is a great deal of evidence indicating that Americans should increase their consumption of dietary fiber, there is also evidence that excessive dietary fiber may have unfavorable effects upon mineral utilization. The data indicate that not all forms of dietary fiber have this effect and that moderate increases in intake do not seriously impair mineral utilization. High levels of protein intake which characterize the American diet do appear to increase the need for several minerals, especially calcium.

An extensive examination of the nutrient content of beef and pork products indicates that the iron content of these products is substantially less than previously thought.

Preliminary reports of the results obtained in the Nationwide Food Consumption Survey have appeared. Total energy intake of Americans appears to have fallen considerably in the past 10 years. The nutrient content of the diet appears to have been maintained or improved. The nutritional quality of the diet of low income groups more nearly approaches that of higher income groups than in the past. Fat and cholesterol intakes have fallen slightly but sugar intakes have probably increased.

The disease acrodermatitis enteropathica is a severe zinc deficiency which appears in affected infants at weaning. It is apparently due to a genetic defect which prevents the proper absorption of

zinc. Mothers milk contains a material, picolinic acid, which favors or assists in the absorption of zinc whereas cows milk contains little or none. Most individuals synthesize enough picolinic acid to protect themselves. The genetic defect thus appears to be in the synthesis of sufficient picolinic acid. These studies are important not only because they contribute to an understanding and control of a serious disease but because they also contribute to an understanding of the complex systems which affect the "bioavailability" of nutrients.

Mr. TRAXLER. What projects are jeopardized by any modifications in your budget for fiscal 1982, or do you share in the luck of the other SEA agencies?

Dr. HEGSTED. The Human Nutrition budget has a moderate increase for 1982. It does not, however, address the long range needs. Congress has authorized the development of three new Human Nutrition Research Centers during the past few years. The Human Nutrition Research Center for Aging at Tufts University will be housed in a new building which will be completed in 1982. Funds are not provided in the 1982 budget for the staffing and operation of this Center. Similarly, the budget does not allow an appreciable expansion of the Centers authorized at Baylor University College of Medicine, the Children's Nutrition Research Center nor the Western Human Nutrition Research Center at the Letterman Army Institute of Research in San Francisco. Finally, Congress has provided funds for the expansion of the Center at Grand Forks, North Dakota. The 1982 budget does not provide for the completion or utilization of the increased space we will have in 1982 or 1983. Mr. TRAXLER. I understand that you have been involved in some efforts to evaluate the effectiveness of the Commodity Supplemental Feeding Program, and that at the very least, many of your findings on the Women, Infants and Children Feeding program can be fairly extended to the CSFP program. Have you any additional findings with respect to the Commodity Supplemental Feeding Program, or is that project still underway?

Dr. HEGSTED. The primary responsibility for the evaluation of the various food and nutrition programs of the USDA lies with the Food and Nutrition Service rather than Human Nutrition-SEA. That office emphasizes that while findings on the nutritional and health impact of the WIC program are generally applicable to the CSFP program, differences between the programs in terms of their service elements and program operations are significant enough to require a separate investigation of the effectiveness of the CSFP program. The project to evaluate the CSFP program started in October of 1980. The first phase of the evaluation was to learn more about program characteristics and operations at the local level where considerable variation between individual projects exists. This was a necessary first step in determining the feasibility of evaluating the CSFP program using data that already exists at local sites. The second phase, in which data on health and nutrition impact will be collected and analyzed, has just recently begun. The findings of this evaluation are to be available in the fall of this year.

Mr. TRAXLER. We seem to be facing year after year the problem of whether or not there is adequate scientific information to back

up claims that are being made about good nutrition. Last year, for example, the Food and Nutrition Service modified the WIC food package by reducing the amounts of sugar allowed in certain foods, resulting in the selection of certain cereals as eligible for the program, but these cereals were not readily available. Can you tell me if FNS requested any assistance from you in developing nutritional standards for either the WIC or CSFP programs, and if so, how the final food packages selected compare with your recommendations?

Dr. HEGSTED. First let me address your specific statement on the sugar limitation for cereals in WIC and their availability to participants. Careful consideration was given to the appropriate levels of nutrients in cereals to be offered in WIC when the food package regulations were being developed. Whether to limit sugar in WIC cereals and what would be appropriate levels was only one of these considerations. The importance of cereals in providing an economical and adequate source of dietary iron, a nutrient known to be lacking in the diets of many participants, was another. Both the requirement that cereals provide at least 45 percent of the USRDA for iron and the limitation on sugar have reduced the total number of eligible cereals. Therefore the limited problems in the availability of acceptable cereals that have been experienced have not been due to any single nutritional consideration.

The Food and Nutrition Service has worked closely with the Human Nutrition Research Center on the development of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and in assessing the implications of the Guidelines for the food packages provided in the WIC and CSFP programs. In making determinations of appropriate food packages for participants of these programs, the Food and Nutrition Service gave careful consideration to scientific data on a number of nutritional issues, including information we were able to supply them. FNS considered in addition to scientific findings, public comments and the recommendations of professional organizations. Many of the nutritional issues addressed by FNS in developing the food package regulations for WIC and CSFP do not lend themselves to simple solutions. The food package regulations FNS developed provide, in my opinion, a balanced approach to the nutritional issues that were dealt with.

Mr. TRAXLER. Do you do additional research on the desirability of some food items like salt, sugars, fats, and the like, or do you depend upon the information that may be available from prior scientific testing?

Dr. HEGSTED. As I have indicated we do have continuing work upon the effects of high fat diets upon blood pressure which indicate that this is one of the important factors affecting susceptibility. We also have continuing studies upon the effects of consuming different levels and kinds of sugars. These studies indicate that, as is true of most, if not all nutritional effects, there are rather large differences in the way individuals react. It appears that there is a fairly large group of individuals who are especially sensitive to sugar, at least as measured by their levels of blood lipids and insulin. The significance of these kinds of responses to sugar is not entirely clear but there is no reason to believe that they would be advantageous.

It must be appreciated that studies of dietary fat and cholesterol in relation to atherosclerosis and heart disease, in particular, have been actively pursued by many groups and by studies in experimental animals, clinical studies, and epidemiologic studies, etc., for over 30 years. It is unlikely that any one study will suddenly and conclusively resolve the issues under discussion but research appears to be the only way to resolve these problems. We rely upon all of the evidence available from whatever source as well as the recommendations of other expert groups in developing dietary recommendations. I would like to provide additional information for the record.

[The information follows:]

The following is a list of 19 expert groups who have considered the meaning of the research for the public. It is important to note that most of these groups have considered the issue only in terms of heart disease. While there are differences in the recommendations and the emphasis, it is quite clear that the consensus is that levels of dietary fat, especially saturated fat, and cholesterol should be reduced. To this list could now be added others. For example, the Expert Group on Dietary Fats and Oils in Human Nutrition of the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Health Organization of the United Nations concludes that:

"For populations with a high incidence of atherosclerosis, obesity and maturityonset diabetes, the recommended composition of a diet adequate to maintain ideal weight is 10-15 energy% protein and 30-35 energy% fat. The latter should have a reduced saturated fatty acid content and a linoleic acid (18:2, n-6) content amounting to one third of the total fatty acids. The diet should have a low sugar and alcohol content and contain less than 300 mg cholesterol per day."

These recommendations are similar to those made in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans published jointly by the USDA and HHS. The burden of proof clearly lies with those who assert that the average American does not need to pay attention to his intake of fat, cholesterol, sugar and salt.