Overview

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My primary research interests have extended from detailed metabolic studies employing stable isotope methodologies across the life cycle, to large scale RCT of supplements and/or food-based interventions. The focus of these studies has been to define dietary micronutrient requirements and to characterize homeostasis, including metabolic regulation and adaptation to different diets and physiologic states, in normal infants, in healthy adults, and in pregnant and lactating women. I have extensive experience directing intervention trials to monitor and evaluate growth and development in infants and toddlers. I direct the ongoing ancillary analyses of the preconception maternal nutrition intervention trial (“Women First,” WF) conducted in 4 low resource countries. Outcomes include those of public health interest plus extensive maternal (and infant) phenotyping, e.g. metabolomics, microbiome and epigenetic profiles. My research laboratory extensively employs mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) to measure stable isotope tracers and multi-element mineral analyses in biological and food samples, and we conduct multiple ELISA’s for biomarkers of nutritional status. Since our first investigation in 2013 of the effects of different complementary foods on infants’ microbiota profile, I have collaborated on multiple RCT in infants and young children. Investigations in Denver over the past two decades have documented the impact of maternal phenotype (including obesity) on human milk composition and production, infant nutrient intakes, growth and body composition. Past and current interventions reflect extensive collaborations among the investigators on the current NORC application and include modifications of types of complementary foods to evaluate effects on growth, adiposity, nutritional status, microbiome, and sleep. On the basis of the food-specific compounds (FSC) identified in the Metabolomics of Foods R01, I led the design of the small clinical trial to prospectively evaluate detection of FSC in foods, and in participants’ biospecimens (timing corresponding to consumption) and to link these to health indicators. A complementary clinical trial examined effects of salmon consumption on inflammation in pre-diabetic adult participants. My program has emerging interest in mitigation of the adverse effects of heat stress in pregnancy, emanating directly from secondary analyses from the WF trial. We reported striking findings from the WF Pakistan site of the adverse impact of heat stress on fetal growth and placental gene expression, effects that were lessened in women randomized to the preconception nutrition arm. Additionally, unpublished preliminary analyses link high ambient temperatures in pregnancy with risk of anemia and systemic inflammation, and with high incidence of neonatal microcephaly in the southwest coastal area of Guatemala.