The process of nutrition research is ongoing. Researchers at USDA facilities, the private sector, and universities continue to search for more and more complete information about the foods we eat, how foods affect our health, and how to improve the quality of the foods we eat—and thus, the quality of our lives. Research on genetic factors affecting our health is a crucial component of the ongoing research.
One USDA program that encourages young research talent is the National Needs Graduate Fellowships Program administered by the Office of Higher Education Programs, CSRS. This grants program was initiated in 1984 at the urging of business and industry leaders. It is targeted specifically to recruiting and training outstanding predoctoral students for critical scientific positions. Six areas of national need, which have shortages of expertise, have been identified under the program. These areas include Human Nutrition and Food Science.
The fellows supported by this program have been engaged in important research projects, and some of them have made significant breakthroughs in their fields. Following are some examples of important projects conducted by fellows at three different universities.
The University of Georgia has an outstanding program in genetic research relating to obesity and diabetes. Michael McIntosh, now a graduate of the program, has been researching the antiobesity-antidiabetic actions of a naturally occurring steroid, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), which produces estrogen and testosterone, two important hormones for both men and women. The hoped-for result of the research is the development of methods to increase the production of the steroid during adulthood, thereby increasing protection against developing obesity, diabetes, cancer, and elevated blood lipids. McIntosh has written some 12 publications on this topic.
Another former USDA fellow supported by the University of Georgia, Gary Truett, has completed his doctoral degree. He has shown that the gene for obesity in obese Zucker rats is identical to that in obese rats of other strains and in obese mice. The fact that there is a cross-species similarity in this gene is exciting to researchers. Other species will have to be examined, but it is possible that such a gene can be found in humans. If that proves true, then research can be done seeking ways to prevent its expression.
Martin Hulsey, a graduate student and fellow at the University of Georgia, has been interested in the control of food intake and has found a unique anorectic factor in adipose (fat) tissue that affects feeding behavior. He has partially isolated and characterized this factor. Proctor and Gamble has expressed interest in this work and has agreed to fund a postdoctoral project for its continuation. If the factor can be identified, it may be a powerful pharmacologic agent in treating obesity.
Still another graduate student at the University of Georgia, Berry Jordan, is studying aberrations in proteins in the mitochondria of diabetics. (Mitochondria, sometimes called the powerhouses of cells, are critical for energy production in the cells.) These mitochondrial protein abnormalities may contribute to the metabolic problems experienced by diabetics. Jordan has found that feeding saturated fat turns on the synthesis of these proteins, which in turn contributes to the development of the diabetic state.
Tuskegee University has supported a research program to study the effects of nutrition on behavior. Helen J. Herndon, a graduate student there, has studied the relationship between lipid status and academic performance of college students. She found that college students often develop poor eating habits, substituting foods high in fat and calories for more nutritious food choices. Demographic variables, such as education, nutrition knowledge, socioeconomic status, age, sex, and race, have been shown to influence food consumption patterns among college students and other students. The results showed that when lipid levels increased, food energy level increased. Therefore, low food energy intake may be considered a consequence of low total lipid intake. These findings may have implications for the eating behavior of university students across the Nation, especially those at predominantly black institutions.
USDA fellow Anne Kepple, at Cornell University, is performing research that focuses on community nutrition and the role that research and information play in the formulation of food and nutrition policy at the local level. The goal is to analyze the relationship between food insecurity (a lack of access by all people in a community through normal food channels to enough nutritionally adequate food) and selected risk indicators that have implications for public policy. It is hoped that results of the research will help nutrition professionals use information more strategically to form food and nutrition policy.
These studies were all initiated as graduate research supported by USDA. The achievements of these talented young scientists suggest the ongoing contributions that food and nutrition research can make in improving Americans' lives.
