Environment and Nutrition
Beginning at conception, environmental factors in health can accumulate over a lifetime and be from sources as broad as geographic location and economic status to specific external sources including physical activity, occupation, risky behaviors and diet. But some of these factors, especially in terms of diet are highly modifiable.
Important research is now being conducted on this concept of the “exposome,” as an environmental complement to the human genome. NRI researchers are learning how diet and other environmental exposures interact with disease and affect responses to treatment.
Publications
Environment and Nutrition Publications
2020
Precision (Personalized) Nutrition: Understanding Metabolic Heterogeneity. Zeisel S
Perspective: Dietary Biomarkers of Intake and Exposure-Exploration with Omics Approaches. Zeisel S
2019
Obesity and Cancer Metabolism: A Perspective on Interacting Tumor-Intrinsic and Extrinsic Factors. Hursting S
When less may be more: calorie restriction and response to cancer therapy. Hursting S
Energy balance and obesity: what are the main drivers? Hursting S
Metabolic Reprogramming by Folate Restriction Leads to a Less Aggressive Cancer Phenotype. Krupenko S
Early-Life Predictors of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders. May P
Alcohol’s Dysregulation of Maternal-Fetal IL-6 and p-STAT3 Is a Function of Maternal Iron Status. Smith S
2018
Energy balance and gastrointestinal cancer: risk, interventions, outcomes and mechanisms. Hursting S
Research Strategies for Nutritional and Physical Activity Epidemiology and Cancer Prevention. Hursting S
2017
Metabolic Reprogramming by Folate Restriction Leads to a Less Aggressive Cancer Phenotype. Krupenko S
Contribution of Dietary Supplements to Nutritional Adequacy in Various Adult Age Groups. Zeisel S
2016
CerS6 Is a Novel Transcriptional Target of p53 Protein Activated by Non-genotoxic Stress. Krupenko N
Abnormal Eating Behaviors Are Common in Children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. Smith S
Impact of a western diet on the ovarian and serum metabolome. Sumner S
Metabolomics enables precision medicine: “A White Paper, Community Perspective”. Sumner S
Related News
New Grant to Study Nutrition and Chemotherapeutic Response
May 30, 2018 – Delisha Stewart, PhD, Assistant Professor of Nutrition at the UNC Nutrition Research Institute, has been awarded a two year grant to study the impact of diet on chemotherapeutic treatment resistance in obesity-driven, aggressive breast cancer. This award builds from the research Dr. Stewart has conducted over the last ten years.
NRI Included in UNC Creativity Hubs Inaugural Award to Study Obesity
May 14, 2018 – Five NRI faculty members are among a team of UNC researchers receiving an award to study one of the world’s most pressing issues: the obesity epidemic. The cross-disciplinary team, known as the Heterogeneity in Obesity Creativity Hub, will leverage the strengths of Carolina’s schools of medical and health sciences, affiliated research centers and institutes, and prowess in big data management to take a novel approach to assess the underlying causes of obesity to unlock new, targeted ways to treat the disease.
May 2018
The Connection Between Diet, Obesity and Cancer April 30, 2018 –Obesity prevalence in the US has tripled over the last 50 years. In 2016, a report by the International Agency for Research on Cancer highlighted that excess body fatness increases the risk for 13 types...
The connection between diet, obesity, and cancer: Nutrition experts explore the evidence
April 26, 2018 -About one third of cancer cases are estimated to be linked to dietary and other modifiable risk factors, especially for obesity-related cancers such as breast, colorectal, ovarian, endometrial, kidney, gallbladder, esophageal, and pancreatic cancers. In this special theme issue of the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, food and nutrition practitioners and other health professionals take an in-depth look at the relationship between nutrition, obesity, and cancer prevention, treatment, and survival and identify research gaps for future prevention research efforts.
NRI Expert Discusses Genetics and Weight Loss in Prevention Magazine
April 26, 2018 – Joanne Laird had struggled with obesity for her entire life. She’d tried every diet under the sun, but it wasn’t until last June, when she received the results of an at-home DNA test, that she was finally able to shed the extra pounds.
AFL@JWU Recipes – April 18
April 18, 2018 – Chef Megan Lambert, MS, RD, Senior Instructor in College of Culinary Arts at Johnson & Wales University, Charlotte, prepared healthy, delightful recipes with chicken while Steph Saullo, MS, RD of the UNC Nutrition Research Institute, shared nutrition information on each recipe. The recipes from the April 18, 2018 Appetite For Life are available here for your cooking enjoyment!