Our broad research interests encompass metabolic disturbances in nutrition-related diseases, lifestyle interventions to prevent or correct chronic disease, and the influence of both genetic and environmental factors on health outcomes.
More specific interests include:
* interactions between dietary intake and gut microbiome in disease prevention and treatment
* improving metabolism in at-risk, pediatric populations, such as infants and adolescents, to optimize growth and development
* optimizing nutrition during critical life-stages for improved gut microbiome-host interactions
More specific interests include:
* interactions between dietary intake and gut microbiome in disease prevention and treatment
* improving metabolism in at-risk, pediatric populations, such as infants and adolescents, to optimize growth and development
* optimizing nutrition during critical life-stages for improved gut microbiome-host interactions
Current Studies
Snuggle Bug / Acurrucadito Study
Researching the relationship between the human gut microbiome and circadian sleep-wake patterns and their effects on childhood obesity. You can learn more at this website.
High-fat High-sugar Diet impact on Gut Microbiota
In collaboration with Dr. Al-Nakkash at Midwestern University, we will analyze the impact of 12-week aerobic exercise, soy isoflavone, or combined treatment while on an HFD on gut microbial composition and cardiometabolic markers in C57BL/6J mice. Additionally, we will assess the potential gut - muscle axis by assessing the potential association between skeletal muscle mitochondria and gut microbiota composition.
Adelante Study
The Adelante study was a longitudinal pilot feasibility study which enrolled 40 mother-infant dyads to view how the infant gut microbiome develops during the first 6 months of life. Fecal swabs were collected from the mother prenatally as well as from both the mother and infant postpartum, at 3 weeks and at 6 months of age. Important modulating factors of the infant microbiome, such as the maternal vaginal microbiome and breast milk, were accounted for with the collection of a prenatal vaginal swab and breast milk samples at study visits
Past Studies
The Effects of Sleep and Bone Mineral Density in College-Aged Males and Females
This study is a cross sectional assessments on sleep duration, variability, and environment. Sleep is imperative for health and wellness with direct impact on brain function, physiology, emotional well-being, performance and safety, as well as growth and regeneration. We are looking at college-aged students because of their shorter sleep durations, greater sleep schedule variability, and poorer sleep environments, all of which we hypothesize will result in them having significantly lower bone mineral density. ActiGraph monitoring will be used to quantitatively measure sleep habits and participants will also undergo a dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) measurement to assess bone mineral density and content of the whole body, spine, non-dominant radius, both hips and femurs. It is our hope that these data will be used for further studies involving osteoporosis prevention through sleep patterns and may provide especially pertinent information for public health efforts in college students and other groups with greater risk of disrupted sleep patterns.
devilWASTE Study
The purpose of this longitudinal study was to assess changes in the intestinal microbiota of college students living in the dorms, and to examine if these changes were associated with changing weight status and anthropometric measurements. This study involved 39 healthy college students, and results suggest significant associations between species level microbes and weight-related outcomes over the academic year. Because the transition to college is often associated with an increase in weight and fat mass, these relationships should be further explored in an effort to attenuate weight gain and reduce the risk of obesity and obesity-related comorbidities later in life.
Dairy Milk and Bone Health in Postmenopausal Muslim Women
This study aims to investigate the effects of consuming dairy milk three times per day on the risks of muscle and bone loss in postmenopausal Muslim women. Dairy milk provides sufficient amounts of calcium, protein and vitamin D to help adults reach their recommended intakes per day. Muslim women have been observed to be more at risk to vitamin D deficiency due to their conservative dress code and lack of emphasis in dairy products within their usual diets.
Fetal Macrosomia Infants among Gestational Diabetics: What’s causing the Problem?
Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is a common medical complication that is associated with increased risk of adverse fetal and neonatal outcomes. In collaboration with Maricopa Integrated Health System physician-scientist, investigators at Arizona State University are investigating fetal macrosomia among women with GDM. The primary aim of this study is to identify anthropometric and lifestyle factors of pregnant women with and without gestational diabetes. The secondary aim is to assess the relationship between fetal growth (via ultrasound data) and anthropometric and lifestyle factors in women with gestational diabetes. This is a retrospective chart review of women who delivered at Maricopa Medical Center between January 1, 2015 and December 31, 2015. Women under the age of 18 are excluded from analysis. Medical charts will be reviewed for a multitude of demographic and clinical outcomes. Correlations among infants with fetal macrosomia of women with and without GDM will be evaluated.
Metabolism Tracking During Pregnancy to Promote Adequate Gestational Weight Gain
Excessive gestational weight (EGW) gain affects many women leading to complications including preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, postpartum weight retention, fetal macrosomia, neonatal hypoglycemia, and admittance to the neonatal intensive care unit. Tracking of resting energy expenditure (REE) allows pregnant women to assess actual caloric needs during pregnancy and achieve a healthy weight gain. The Breezing device is a hand-held, Bluetooth-enabled, real-time metabolism tracker that measures REE by indirect calorimetry (exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide exchange in the lungs). This device may be a beneficial tool for pregnant women to track energy needs during pregnancy to avoid EGW gain. In the proposed study, we aim to have pregnant women use this hand-held device to track increases in daily caloric needs during pregnancy and subsequent weight gain with the goal of reducing excessive weight gain relative to a control group of pregnant women who receive standard prenatal care.
Association of Infant Feeding, Maternal and Infant Microbiota, and Obesity
The human microbiome is hugely influential in health, instrumental in establishing the immune system, facilitating digestion, producing essential nutrients, preventing illness, and significantly affecting body weight. Various theories have been proposed such as infants learn satiety and do not overfeed3; caregivers are not aware of infant intake and do not overfeed (“to finish the bottle”); and breast milk contains complex carbohydrates that affect infant weight gain. But the link between the types of microbiota in infant guts and their influence on weight gain has not been clearly established. If this is shown in our preliminary study, we will have a basis for a larger externally funded study to conduct longitudinal research with new mothers and infants and their weight changes across time. Our goal is to examine how infant feeding contributes to weight gain in infants and weight loss in postpartum mothers as well as to examine the role of the microbiome of mothers and infants and its effects on weight gain for infants and weight loss for mothers.