Funded Grants
Faculty in the School of Nutrition and Health Promotion pursue a diverse range of interdisciplinary and innovative health research. The following is a small sampling of the research currently underway.
Perceptions of Beans Among Low Income Adults
While dry beans such as pinto, black, kidney or chickpeas offer a multitude of health benefits, many Americans fail to eat the recommended amount. As bean consumption goes down, the risk of noncommunicable diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer goes up. In order to design appropriate health messages for beans, it is necessary to assess current knowledge, attitudes, and consumption behaviors. Low income populations may be vulnerable to poor nutrition due to limited access to nutrient dense foods. Based on national data, beans are an underutilized high-quality source of protein and micronutrients. Our study is collecting survey data on bean perceptions from participants in government nutrition assistance programs such as WIC, EFNEP, and SNAP-ED.
Donna Winham, assistant professor, Health Lifestyles Research Center is working with Traci Armstrong Florian from the University of Arizona Maricopa County Cooperative Extension office to conduct this project. Funding has been provided by the United States Dry Bean Council.
Effects of a Social Support Intervention for Physical Activity, Madres para la Salud, on Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors
In Hispanic women, the prevalence of overweight and obesity is greater than 70%. Failure to lose pregnancy weight is one of the factors contributing to obesity in this ethnic group, and is in part attributed to the decrease in physical activity after childbirth. Being overweight or obese increase the risk for chronic diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
With support from the National Institutes for Nursing Research (3R01NR010356-02S1), Sonia Vega-López, assistant professor in nutrition, is collaborating with Colleen Keller, professor in nursing, to assess the effects of Madres para la Salud [Mothers for Health], a social support physical activity intervention for postpartum Latinas, on traditional and novel cardiovascular disease risk factors. Their goal is to understand if adding small bouts of low-moderate intensity physical activity contribute to a reduction in cardiovascular disease risk after pregnancy.
Putative Cryoprotectant Role of Glucose in Birds
Birds present a natural model of type 2 diabetes with blood glucose levels that are normally 1.5-2 times that of mammals of similar body mass. The reason for these very high levels remains an enigma since studies have shown that they utilize primarily free fatty acids to sustain the high metabolic demands of flight.
Karen Sweazea, assistant professor, is working with graduate student Krystal Tsosie from the School of Life Sciences to examine the potential role for glucose as a cryoprotectant in birds to help the animals cope with cold weather conditions. Funding has been provided by the American Ornithologists’ Union for this study.
Feasibility of Whole Body Vibration in Post-bariatric Surgery Patients
Given the known losses of bone and muscle resulting from bariatric gastric surgery, and the complex nature of weight regain following bariatric surgery, there is a clear public health interest for increasing our understanding about programs that can attenuate these potentially debilitating chronic losses. Vigorous strength training is known to prevent the loss of or even increase muscle and bone mass in men and women. However, this approach is too strenuous and contraindicated for severely obese patients recovering from surgery. The high-frequency mechanical acceleration of vibration exercise is known to have a strong osteogenic effect and is increasingly being promoted as a safe and efficient training method to improve muscle strength and prevent osteoporosis. At present there are no published reports that have investigated the effects of vibration plus resistance exercise training following weight loss surgery.
Pamela Swan, associate professor in Exercise and Wellness has received a Seed Grant from the College of Nursing and Health Innovation to study the feasibility of a whole body vibration plus resistance exercise (VIBRE) in obese post-bariatric surgery patients.
Effects of Peanut Products on Satiety and Weight Management in an Overweight Campus Community
Although much time and effort has been directed at developing weight loss diets or exercise programs that promote long-term weight loss, these attempts have been largely unsuccessful, mainly because individuals are not willing to make (and sustain) major lifestyle changes. A simple, unintimidating diet strategy to help individuals improve their eating patterns and control hunger may be a useful approach to weight management, and one that will help promote lifestyle change.
Carol Johnston, professor and associate director of the Nutrition program, has been funded by the Peanut Institute to examine whether regular nut consumption favorably influences body weight. Survey data show that Americans who consume five or more servings per week of peanuts or tree nuts are thinner than those who consume these foods less often. This study will examine whether peanut consumption lowers the glycemic response to a carbohydrate-rich meal; reduces hunger and the number of calories consumed daily; and contributes to modest weight loss in overweight adults over time.
Impact of Physical Activity on Stroke and Cognitive Decline in Older Adults
None of the published studies that have related physical activity (PA) exposures with stroke and cognitive function have included a representative population sample, none have used objective measures of PA, and none have been specifically designed to examine racial or geographical variations in PA patterns and stroke incidence.
Steven Hooker, professor of Exercise and Wellness, is working with investigators at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, University of South Carolina, University of Georgia and University of Michigan to examine PA patterns and stroke and cognitive decline risk in a racially and geographically diverse population sample of nearly 12,000 free-living midlife and older women and men enrolled in the Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) Study. Findings from this study will provide empirical evidence of the role that variation in PA levels has on differences in stroke and cognitive decline occurrence among population subgroups as defined by race and geographic region, which could have important clinical and public health implications for enhancing health-related PA recommendations, improving population-based stroke prevention strategies, and maintaining optimal cognitive function during aging. (NIH-R01 grant)
The Effects of Music on Exercise: Motor, Cognitive and Affect Benefits in People with Down Syndrome
Music may have potential therapeutic effects, especially for motivating persons with Down syndrome to exercise faster and longer which may in turn improve global motor, cognitive and affect functioning. There are limited studies to explore the relationship between music and physical performance in people with Down syndrome and especially, they have not examined the cognitive processes associated with music and exercise.
Shannon D. R. Ringenbach, associate professor in Kinesiology and director of the Sensorimotor Development Research Laboratory has spent over a decade researching perceptual-motor behavior in persons with Down syndrome. Her project is funded from Special Olympics and the Center for Disease Control.
A Wireless, Multimode, Artificial Neural Network-Based Physical Activity Monitor
Accurate measurement of physical activity is a challenging problem that is important to epidemiologists, exercise scientists, clinicians, and behavioral researchers. Although there are a number of ways to assess physical activity and energy expenditure, all current methods have serious shortcomings when it comes to measuring the energy expenditure of free-living individuals.
Glenn Gaesser, professor and director of Healthy Lifestyles Research Center, is working with Eugene Parker from research and development company Barron Associates, Inc., to develop a next-generation physical activity monitor. They have been funded by the NIH's National Heart, Blood, and Lung Institute to create and validate a physical activity monitor which uses artificial neural networks to convert heart rate and accelerometer data into accurate estimates of energy expenditure and physical activity intensity levels. The development of a small, comfortable, accurate and low-cost physical activity monitor represents an important advance in the study of physical activity in the real world. (NHI-R01 grant)
