Nutrition Evidence Systematic Review

Nutrition Evidence Systematic Review (NESR), formerly the Nutrition Evidence Library (NEL), is a team of scientists from USDA’s Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion (CNPP) who specialize in conducting food- and nutrition-related systematic reviews. NESR’s work supports CNPP’s mission to improve the health of Americans by developing and promoting dietary guidance that links scientific research to the nutrition needs of consumers.

Launched in October 2008 as the Nutrition Evidence Library, its name was changed to Nutrition Evidence Systematic Review, or NESR, in 2019. While the name changed, the rigorous methodology remains the same. The purpose of this name change was to communicate that NESR is a team of professionals who specialize in conducting systematic reviews on food- and nutrition-related topics, rather than a library that collects, houses, or conducts original nutrition research.

NESR systematic reviews are research projects that answer important public health questions by using rigorous and transparent methods to search for, evaluate, analyze, and synthesize the body of scientific evidence on topics relevant to federal policy and programs. The team supports the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committees. NESR has also completed additional projects to inform federal food- and nutrition-related programmatic initiatives.

One of NESR’s priorities is to ensure that our work is transparent and accessible to the public. To learn more about NESR and our systematic reviews, please visit:

nesr.usda.gov