NIH awards top scientific teams for innovations linking nutrition and autoimmune disease

Monday, March 30, 2026

NIH awards top scientific teams for innovations linking nutrition and autoimmune disease

Competition sought bold ideas to better understand how dietary interventions could influence disease onset and symptom management.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) today has chosen 15 scientific teams from across the nation as cash prize winners for their submissions to a national crowdsourcing challenge designed to generate innovative ideas that integrate diet and nutrition into autoimmune disease research. Winning submissions investigated the effectiveness of dietary interventions; microbiome, immune system and multi-omic approaches; personalized and data-driven predictive nutrition; and community and patient-center research frameworks.

Autoimmune diseases affect more than 8% of the U.S. population, impacting between 23 and 50 million Americans. Despite the prevalence and significant economic burden of autoimmune diseases, the role of diet and nutrition in this area remains largely underexplored. NIH invited researchers, clinicians, patients, caregivers, advocacy groups, and interdisciplinary teams to submit feasible, scalable approaches to better understand how dietary interventions may influence autoimmune disease onset, progression, flares, and symptom management.

The challenge, known as the Nutrition for Our Immune System Health (NOURISH): Autoimmunity Challenge and led by NIH's Office of Autoimmune Disease Research, yielded many highly competitive submissions, and resulted in 15 prize awards, totaling $10,000 to each team. The winners showed thoughtful planning and designs that, with further development, could result in innovative solutions to benefit Americans affected by autoimmune diseases. Each winning entry contributed innovative, scientifically rigorous, and patient-centered ideas to advance the science of autoimmune disease research and care in one of four thematic areas.

They include:

• Effectiveness of Dietary Interventions in Autoimmune Disease
  This theme included interventional studies testing specific dietary patterns and therapeutic diets in autoimmune disease populations. Submissions in this category suggest evaluation of structured dietary approaches to assess feasibility, clinical outcomes, disease activity, and symptom managemen
• Microbiome, Immune, and Multi-Omics Mechanisms
  Several concepts focused on mechanistic and biomarker-driven approaches that link diet, the gut microbiome, and immune system activity. These projects recommend leveraging proteomics, microbiome analysis, and other multi-omics technologies to better understand biological pathways through which nutrition may influence autoimmune disease onset, progression, and flares.
• Personalized, Data-Driven, and Predictive Nutrition
  Several concepts proposed innovative, data-driven methods for personalization, dietary optimization, and real-world data capture. These approaches integrate patient-reported outcomes, digital health tools, and predictive modeling to improve disease management and enhance the lived experience of people living with autoimmune diseases.
• Community Voice, Landscape Assessment, and Patient-Centered Frameworks
  Submissions in this theme proposed patient-centered frameworks that bring lived experience to the forefront of the research paradigm. These projects emphasize community engagement and interdisciplinary collaboration, including the involvement of people living with autoimmune diseases, caregivers, clinicians, and advocacy organizations to help shape research priorities, outcomes, and approaches that are meaningful to patients.

For a full list of winning submissions and honorable mentions, visit: https://orwh.od.nih.gov/in-the-spotlight/winners-of-nutrition-for-our-immune-system-health-nourish-autoimmunity-challenge

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit https://www.nih.gov.

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