About the Texas A&M Institute for Advancing Health Through Agriculture
The IHA Mission
Our mission at the Texas A&M Institute for Advancing Health Through Agriculture is to improve human health for all by leading science-driven solutions in agriculture, nutrition, and food systems.
We carry out this mission in ways that support economic prosperity, environmental sustainability, and community well-being for current and future generations through innovative research-based guidance, policies, programs, and practices.
Three Synergistic Focus Areas
Composed of three focus areas, the IHA brings together experts across many disciplines, including agriculture; nutrition; behavioral, social and life sciences; engineering; data and computation science; and economics.
Precision Nutrition
Research that identifies how dietary exposures differentially impact individuals and population subgroups in order to provide more specific nutrition guidance to promote health and reduce risk of diet-related chronic diseases.
Responsive Agriculture
Responsive Agriculture fosters innovation in the agricultural sector and food environment to ensure the economic prosperity of the system while intentionally providing delicious, abundant, safe and nutritious food to encourage health and well-being.
Healthy Living
Research that promotes innovations in the agricultural system and food environment to optimize human health while ensuring the system is economically robust and environmentally sustainable.
Agriculture as the solution to human health, economic prosperity, environmental sustainability
Now more than ever, Americans face a multitude of health issues like obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and food insecurity. The past few years have underscored major challenges for our food systems that have been bubbling beneath the surface for some time.
At the Texas A&M Institute for Advancing Health Through Agriculture, IHA, we believe agriculture is the solution – the solution to human health, economic prosperity and environmental sustainability.
The IHA is the world’s first research institute to bring together research in precision nutrition, responsive agriculture, and behavior to reduce diet-related chronic disease in a way that considers environmental and economic effects.
The Challenges of chronic health Conditions
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that six in 10 Americans have a chronic health condition and four in 10 Americans have two or more chronic health conditions. Today, half of all American adults suffer from diabetes or pre-diabetes, and 122 million Americans have cardiovascular disease, which alone results in around 840,000 deaths each year. Learn how IHA is meeting these challenges with research and innovation.