NIH Office of Dietary Supplements will dedicate $300,000 to FY 1996 grants.

NIH OFFICE OF DIETARY SUPPLEMENT RESEARCH WILL SET ASIDE $300,000 IN FY 1996 FUNDS to support small research grants and interim funding grants. The funds will be used "to explore more fully the potential role of dietary supplements in health promotion and disease prevention," an NIH draft program announcement states.

The ODSR monies will help co-fund research grants awarded by the National Institutes of Health's various institutes and centers (ICs). ODSR and three other offices within the NIH Office of the Director are consolidating their supplemental support of research grants in the agency's ICs into a single award mechanism.

Co-funded applications will be supported by ODSR funds, supporting grants outside the normal payline of the IC for grants up to $100,000 total costs over two years. "The balance of the grant would be paid by the IC," the announcement notes. Institutes and centers are instructed to submit no more than 10 applications for funds to ODSR. Applications will be reviewed by NIH staff, but may be considered by an ad hoc review group.

ODSR is "interested in supporting work on intervention studies that use specific well-defined dietary supplements," such as plant extracts, enzymes, vitamins, minerals, hormonal products and botanicals, "as a major variable," the draft document notes. "Clinical, behavioral, epidemiological, biomedical, physiological and basic research on metabolic processes or methodology are appropriate for support under this program."

Other areas of interest for ODSR in fiscal 1996 include: aging; "exercise in youths and adolescents"; cancer prevention; cardiovascular health; "mood, sleep, fatigue, psychological well-being and work performance"; digestive and kidney diseases; muscle strength and conditioning; "hydration, temperature regulation and environmental stress"; "taste, smell and changing sensitivity to external stimuli"; "cognitive processes including attention, learning and memory"; birth defects; dental and periodontal health; "neurobiology, genetics and metabolism across all disciplines"; vision; and endocrinology, neurophysiology and metabolic neurology.

Although ODSR noted that the fiscal 1996 funding level is "relatively modest," the office said that it is a "significant commitment of the ODSR funds for FY 1996," adding that "it is hoped that this amount will be increased in subsequent years of the REAP program."

The Research Enhancement Awards Program (REAP) will provide additional support for most grant mechanisms in FY 1996, according to the draft program announcement. In addition to ODSR, the NIH Office of Alternative Medicine, the Office of Research on Women's Health and the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research are participating in the program.

NIH Deputy Director Ruth Kirschstein, MD, commented at a recent ORWH advisory council meeting that the program is "collaborative between almost all of the offices in the Office of the Director." She noted that NIH Director Harold Varmus, MD, has stressed "very strongly the need for further collaboration between not only the institutes and the individual program offices within the Office of the Director, but among them."

"There is a great deal deal of overlap between" the interests of the offices, Kirschstein noted, in "the issue of women's health, particularly minority health, the issues of disease prevention, and the new Office of Dietary Supplements," and there is "overlap in the research that needs to be done."

The REAP mechanism streamlines the application process for ICs by giving them a single form to fill out for support from the four offices in the program, as well as a single deadline date. REAP also differs from the offices' previous research supplement programs in that it will fully fund small grants.

OAM will consider "funding or co-funding previously unfunded projects that have been peer reviewed and are relevant" to complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). The office has not budgeted a specific amount of money to fund the REAP initiative.

OAM "recommends that individual ICs submit for consideration a list of projects totaling no more than $150,000," the announcement states. "Preference will be given to awards for one year, and those that the ICs will co-fund." The applications will be reviewed by a group consisting of representatives from the Coordinating Committee on CAM and NIH extramural program scientists.