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
What’s Essential for the Prenatal Brain?
October 25, 2017 – An interview with Steven H. Zeisel, MD, PhD, Kenan Distinguished University Professor of Nutrition and Pediatrics, and Director, UNC Nutrition Research Institute, Kannapolis, NC.
“In science, 10 percent of successful scientific discovery is the result of skill and hard work – but 90 percent comes from asking the right question. During my graduate training, I was very lucky to ask the right question. I wondered where the choline in acetylcholine comes from. Acetylcholine is an organic chemical that serves as a neurotransmitter – it’s released by nerve cells and sends signals to other cells, such as in muscles. At the time, all the textbooks stated that people could make their own supply of this nutrient in the liver and did not need to obtain it through food. I knew that this was not true for rats, mice and dogs, and I doubted it was true for people. Continue Reading What’s Essential for the Prenatal Brain?
Nutrition Notes from AFL@JWU – October 17
October 17, 2017 – The science on food and nutrients and their relationship to disease is complex, especially related to cancer. Cancer in and of itself is a complex disease that is not fully understood. As consumers, we often find ourselves inundated with the latest nutrition “story of the day” and often that story conflicts with a headline we may have seen only a week before. This simply makes trying to differentiate science and nutrition guidance more confusing. Scientists at the UNC Nutrition Research Institute (NRI) are working very hard to understand the intricacies of diet, nutrients, and their relationship to cancer prevention and progression. Continue Reading Nutrition Notes from AFL@JWU – October 17
AFL@JWU Recipes – October 17
October 17, 2017 – Chef Megan Lambert, MS, RD, Senior Instructor in College of Culinary Arts atJohnson & Wales University, Charlotte, prepared healthy, delightful recipes while Steph Saullo, RD of the UNC Nutrition Research Institute, shared nutrition information on each recipe. The recipes from the October 17 Appetite For Life are available here for your cooking enjoyment! Continue Reading AFL@JWU Recipes – October 17
October 2017
How Diet Enhances Our Natural Anti-Cancer Response One of the ways the body controls the overall number of cells is by initiating a preprogrammed cell death routine, known as apoptosis, in damaged or otherwise unnecessary cells. Apoptosis allows elimination of cells...
How Diet Enhances Our Natural Anti-Cancer Response
September 28, 2017 One of the ways the body controls the overall number of cells is by initiating a preprogrammed cell death routine, known as apoptosis, in damaged or otherwise unnecessary cells. Apoptosis allows elimination of cells without induction of an autoimmune response. A hallmark of many types of cancer cells is a resistance to apoptosis; hence, tumors continue to grow and metastasize. Finding ways to defeat this resistance in cancer cells is an area of active research. Continue Reading How Diet Enhances Our Natural Anti-Cancer Response
Polyphenols: Colorful, Healthy, Plant Compounds You May Already Eat & Drink
September 28, 2017 – Many of the foods you eat are loaded with polyphenols: plant-based compounds that are anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-infection. Polyphenols are considered non-nutritional, meaning that they help prevent disease and keep you healthy in a different way than vitamins, minerals, or other nutrients like carbohydrates, fats, and protein. David Nieman, DrPH, director of the Appalachian State University Human Performance Lab at the North Carolina Research Campus (NCRC), explains that polyphenols are a type of phytochemical, the colorful chemicals in plants that confer a variety of health benefits. “In many fruits and vegetables, all the colors that you see are the polyphenols,” he says. “That’s what you want, a lot of color in your diet.” Continue Reading Polyphenols: Colorful, Healthy, Plant Compounds You May Already Eat & Drink