Location: Jean Mayer Human Nutrition Research Center On Aging
Project Number: 8050-51530-013-000-D
Project Type: In-House Appropriated
Start Date: Oct 1, 2014
End Date: May 15, 2019
Objective:
LAB NAME: Nutritional Epidemiology
1. Using an epidemiologic approach, investigate the role of foods and food components such as carbohydrates sources (e.g., whole grains, sugar sweetened beverages), selected nutrients (e.g., folate, vitamin B12, magnesium), other bioactive food components (e.g., flavonoids, carotenoids), healthy dietary patterns (Dietary Guidelines for Americans, Mediterranean Diet) and gene-diet
interactions in preventing age-related conditions such as weight gain, inflammation, insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease, cancer, cognitive decline, musculoskeletal disorders, vision disorders and kidney disease.
1.A. Determine if higher sugar consumption is associated with cardiometabolic
risk factors such as abdominal obesity, ectopic fat accumulation in liver and visceral depots, and inflammation and insulin resistance.
1.B. Determine the role that vitamin B6 plays in chronic inflammation and if
modulation of vitamin B6 status can influence risk of inflammation.
1.C. Determine if inadequate vitamin B12 status is associated with reduced
muscle power in older adults.
1.D. Determine if consumption of diets consistent with the 2010 Dietary
Guidelines for Americans recommendations is associated with maintenance of healthy weight, normal metabolic function, and reduced risk of age-related chronic diseases.
1.E. Determine if lower dietary choline intake is related to accelerated brain
aging and increased risk for dementia, and whether omega-3 fatty acids modifies these relationships.
1.F. Determine if specific flavonoids may reduce the risk of age-related chronic disease, including CVD, type 2 diabetes, and dementia.
1.G. Determine if dairy foods or components of dairy foods may help to prevent
the development of age-related chronic disease.
2. Using an epidemiologic approach, examine the health effects of high folic acid intakes and the interaction between high folic acid intake and vitamin B12 status to investigate safe upper limits for intake of folic acid in older individuals (in collaboration with the HNRCA Vitamin and Metabolism Laboratory).
3. Using an experimental approach, conduct separate food-based intervention studies to examine the impact of dietary modification with individual foods (including whole grain, dietary fiber, added sugar, and fermented dairy) on weight change and ectopic fat depots (in collaboration with the HNRCA Energy Metabolism Laboratory), microbiota or intermediate metabolic markers of disease risk.
Approach:
LAB NAME: Nutritional Epidemiology
Many age-related conditions that result in disability and premature death, such as weight gain, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, cognitive decline, and musculoskeletal disorders, appear to have strong nutritional connections. However, the development of nutritional recommendations and public health interventions requires a greater understanding of the presumptive role that nutrition plays in healthy aging. Our project objectives will be achieved through the application of observational epidemiologic methods in community-based aging population samples to identify dietary patterns, foods and food components associated with age-related health outcomes and testing of these candidate foods and food components in intervention trials of intermediate markers of age-related disease risk.
