Introduction to the symposium: Appropriate animal models for nutritional research in health and disease.

Historically, many nutritional scientists studied basic animal nutrition; however, as nutritional science has evolved and become more specialized, fewer nutritional scientists are trained in basic animal nutrition. Today an important area of animal nutrition is the development of models to examine the nutritional effects in human health and disease. Despite this increasing area of focus, there is a lack of interface between animal scientists and human nutritionists, who would benefit from working together. Although the purposes may differ, fundamental nutritional research in agriculturally relevant species provides valuable information for both animal agriculture and human health. By realizing this mutual benefit and using it as a rallying point for research collaborations, animal scientists and human nutritionists could make far greater progress in nutritional science. This symposium was an opportunity for both animal and human nutrition researchers to meet and discuss and redefine strategies relating to the use of experimental animal nutrition knowledge. This symposium was intended to provide both conceptual and technical guidance to help expand the interactions between animal and human nutritionists. To accomplish these goals the following were emphasized in this symposium: