News
Our research not only influences the scientific community, but the general public as well. We strive to share our discoveries with everyone. Read some of our latest articles on what is happening at the Nutrition Research Institute.
Quinoa Breakfast Bars with Blueberries
December 29, 2017 – A great recipe to get your day started!
December 2017
Choline: The essential but forgotten nutrient November 27, 2017 – Perhaps it’s because you don’t see it on nutrition labels yet, but choline — an essential nutrient from conception through old age — tends to be tragically overlooked. According to data from the...
Choline: The essential but forgotten nutrient
November 27, 2017 – Perhaps it’s because you don’t see it on nutrition labels yet, but choline — an essential nutrient from conception through old age — tends to be tragically overlooked. According to data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, only 1 in 10 of us get enough choline, and those percentages drop among women during pregnancy — right when they need it most.
Why Iron Man’s mother didn’t drink alcohol during pregnancy
November 27, 2017 -In the Marvel movie Iron Man, Tony Stark (Iron Man) is a genius inventor who creates a suit of armor, giving himself enhanced strength and the ability to fly. Although Tony Stark carries the name “Iron Man” for his suit of metal armor, his name is also an apt description of the abundance of iron that he has in his body, especially in his brain. The human body requires iron to function normally, and without enough iron, adults feel fatigued and have difficulty concentrating. Iron is even more essential during pregnancy. If Tony Stark’s mother had not consumed enough iron during pregnancy, it is unlikely that he would have become a brilliant inventor, because iron is necessary for the proper development of the infant’s brain.
Dr. Zeisel discusses nutrition at November Chamber of Commerce breakfast
November 20, 2017 – Recommending proper nutrition can be difficult because not all people are the same, according to Dr. Steven Zeisel of the Kannapolis-based North Carolina Research Campus. “And that’s why nutrition research has been so frustrating. You read in Newsweek one week that you should drink less coffee and, the next week, you should drink more,” Zeisel said. He said much of the “fuzziness” in nutrition research has come from scientists not knowing why one person responds to a certain nutrient while others do not. That’s why his institute at the Research Campus is trying to be the leading group of faculty asking — and answering — that question.
November 2017
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. SZ: “In science, 10 percent...
Nutrition Training for Young Doctors Lacks Bite
October 25, 2017 – Most US medical schools do not require medical students to learn basic nutrition theory, even though poor diet is the leading preventable risk factor for disability or early death in the United States. “It takes at least 25-30 hours of medical school instruction to achieve just basic nutrition competencies,”
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.
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.