March 10, 2016 | Community News, News, Research News, Zeisel News
March 10, 2016 • A team of researchers from the University of North Carolina’s Chapel Hill Nutrition Research Institute (UNC NRI) created and tested what it believes is a more reliable method to measure antioxidant capacity.
Currently, many assays involved hydrogen atom transfer reactions (like in oxygen radical absorbance capacity [ORAC] and total radical trapping antioxidant parameter [TRAP]) or electron transfer. The UNC assay measures the activation of antioxidant response elements (AREs). AREs are said to turn on genes in the body that make enzymes for protecting cells against free radical damage.
March 7, 2016 | Cheatham News, Community News, News, Research News, Zeisel News
March 7, 2016 • Daniel Lupu, MD, doctoral student in nutrition, has received the 2015 David Kritchevsky Graduate Student Award from the journal Nutrition Research for two articles published in the November 2015 issue of the journal.
February 18, 2016 | Cheatham News, Community News, N Krupenko News, News, Research News, Zeisel News
February 18, 2016 • Scientists at the UNC Chapel Hill Nutrition Research Institute are developing a “whole health” message for pregnant mothers emphasizing evidence-based, nutritional research that empowers them to make their own decisions on everything from drinking to dietary choices.
January 29, 2016 | Community News, News, Research News, Zeisel News
February 1, 2016 • The Zeisel laboratory at the UNC Nutrition Research Institute (NRI) is well known for defining the importance of the nutrient choline in infant brain development. They discovered that choline in mother’s diet during pregnancy is extremely important for optimal brain development in her baby. But, is this the only time in life that choline can improve brain function? Could teenagers eat extra choline to help their school performance?
December 21, 2015 | Community News, News, Research News, Zeisel News
January 2, 2016 • Children of mothers whose diet during pregnancy was deficient in the essential nutrient choline have lower performance on cognitive tests. Cognition is rooted in the brain’s cortex, but a direct link between maternal dietary choline levels and cortical development in offspring had not been demonstrated. Experimental evidence of this link, and identification of a physiological mechanism, would greatly enhance our understanding of the importance of proper nutrition during pregnancy.
November 24, 2015 | Community News, May News, News, Research News, Zeisel News
November 24, 2015 • From the desk of: David Horita, Ph.D.
THE STUDY
In a recently published paper1, NRI investigator Phil May and colleagues showed that the prevalence of fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) and partial fetal alcohol syndrome (PFAS) is two to three times higher than previously estimated.
Dr. May’s study differs from most FAS prevalence studies in its use of active case ascertainment testing methods to estimate prevalence. This technique includes developmental testing of the child and detailed one-on-one interviews of the mother. The interview questions covered alcohol use during pregnancy, but also asked questions related to secondary factors, such as overall drinking history, marital status; socioeconomic status, and diet/nutrition. This approach is much more labor-intensive than the more common survey approach that relies on self-reported alcohol use information. However, it is also more accurate: self-reported alcohol usage surveys often underestimate FAS because of the stigma of drinking during pregnancy.
