Nutrition, Healthy

Cardiovascular disease risk factors, including higher BMIs and poor cholesterol profiles, are on the rise and contribute to the United States' growing disease burden. The bioactive compounds contained in tree nuts have been shown to beneficially affect cardiometabolic health outcomes. Pecans contain more total phenols, sterols, and flavonoids than any other tree nut. They also are a rich source of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), fiber, vitamin A, vitamin E, folic acid, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, and zinc. These bioactive components in pecans are likely the reason for the previously documented improvements in cardiometabolic health. This study aims to examine the impact of a low dose of pecans on changes in fasting and postprandial lipid metabolism/blood lipids and markers of chronic disease risk. The specific aims of this study are to: * Examine the effect of pecan consumption at a dose of 6% of total energy needs for 12 weeks on fasting and postprandial blood lipids. * Examine the effect of pecan consumption at a dose of 6% of total energy needs for 12 weeks on other markers of chronic disease risk. Participants will be asked to: * Consume pecans daily for 12 weeks or maintain their current habitual diet. * Attend two short visits at 4 and 8 weeks for fasting blood draws, body measurements, and to collect their next 4 weeks' supply of study materials. * Attend two longer (5 h) testing visits, which include eating a standard breakfast meal and having their blood drawn periodically before and after breakfast. Researchers will compare the Pecan and Control groups to examine the physiologic effects of incorporating a low dose of pecans into one's diet.

The aim of this study is to investigate phenolic compounds from GreenArt, a baccharis-type propolis ingredient, bioavailability and nutrikinetics by measuring urinary excretion and metabolic profile over 48h by means of high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS). The study follows a cross-over, double-blind, randomized and placebo control design on 10 healthy subjects.

This study will provide evidence for the utility of using a community-engaged research approach to implement a tailored, family-oriented adaptation of the Diabetes Prevention Program that will have positive effects on risk factors associated with type 2 diabetes morbidity and mortality among Black families in a Southwest Georgia community.

This multicenter, prospective cohort study investigates the long-term impact of nutritional status on clinical outcomes in cancer patients undergoing treatment in Shaanxi Province, China. It evaluates how malnutrition, dietary patterns, and nutritional interventions affect treatment tolerance, quality of life, and survival. The study tracks dynamic changes in nutritional health and related indicators throughout various stages of chemoradiotherapy, aiming to inform evidence-based strategies for precision nutrition in oncology care.

Despite a large proportion exhibiting cardiovascular disease risk factors and experiencing food insecurity, U.S. Hispanics/Latinos demonstrate low cardiovascular mortality, which may indicate existing capital (e.g., assets) protecting health and diet. The goal of this study is to evaluate the feasibility and short-term efficacy of a pilot intervention aimed at improving diet quality through strengthening food- and diet-related capital and food security among low-income, Hispanic/Latino adults in San Diego, California. The pilot intervention will be integrated into an existing local health or nutrition program serving low-income Hispanic/Latino adults. Participants will be asked to: * Complete questionnaires before and after the intervention * Engage in nutrition education activities * Engage in food access-related activities

The goal of this study is to assess the effectiveness of a culturally-tailored mobile interactive education and support group intervention to supplement standard postpartum care activities in comparison to standard care alone on health-related behaviors and health outcomes in a randomized controlled trial among 2100 postpartum Indian women living in 3 geographically diverse Indian states to estimate the impact on maternal and neonatal health-related knowledge, health-related behaviors, and health outcomes. The investigators also seek to characterize mechanisms of impact including knowledge, social support, self-efficacy, and behavior change, and determine the cost-effectiveness.

This is a study of how accurate different methods to assess young children's dietary intake are, so that researchers and health professionals can better understand how children's nutrition relates to their health. The study will compare food surveys, measurements of nutrients in the blood, and optical measurements of nutrients in the skin.

The goal of this clinical trial is to test whether the Food FARMacia intervention to reduce food insecurity is feasible and accepted among families with an infant age 6 to less than 18 months receiving pediatric primary care. All participants will receive nutrition education and anticipatory guidance to support healthy meal preparation in addition to usual care.

The principal objective of this project is to evaluate the effect of a postbiotic supplement (inactivated microorganism) on body composition and other physiological and metabolic parameters related to excess body weight in overweight or obese adult men and women, as well as to determine changes in the gut microbiota associated with these outcomes. Specific objectives are focus on evaluate the effect of the intervention on the following parameters: * Changes in body weight and composition. * Changes in glucose tolerance. * Changes in gut microbiota (metagenomics). * Changes in urinary and serum metabolites. * Changes in routine biochemical variables related to carbohydrate and lipid metabolism, as well as liver parameters. * Changes in specific markers involved in obesity pathology, such as insulin, leptin, adiponectin, and cytokines MCP-1, TNF, CRP, and others. * Adherence to the nutritional recommendations and the gummy containing postbiotic formula. * Changes in the level of physical activity. Target sample size is 114 subjects, including a 10% of drop out. Participants will be allocated in two groups for 12 weeks: * Experimental group (n=57): nutritional recommendations + postbiotic supplement/gummy. * Placebo group (n=57): nutritional recommendations + placebo supplement/gummy. Participants will visit the nutritional intervention unit at weeks 1 and 12. A follow-up phone call will be conducted at week 6.

Reduce food insecurity by improving plant-based health food consumption, access, health and nutrition literacy and the health of the food-insecure families we serve.

Cardiovascular disease risk factors, including higher BMIs and poor cholesterol profiles, are on the rise and contribute to the United States' growing disease burden. Cottonseed oil (CSO) is found readily in the food supply, and the investigator's previous studies have demonstrated that incorporating CSO into the diet is sufficient to improve fasting and postprandial blood lipids and other markers of chronic disease risk in both healthy and at-risk populations. This study aims to examine the impact of intermittent CSO consumption at different doses (consumed three times per week (3x/wk)) on changes in fasting and postprandial lipid metabolism/blood lipids and markers of chronic disease risk. The specific aims are: \*Examine the impact of intermittent CSO consumption (3x/week) at two different doses on fasting and postprandial lipids. \*Examine the impact of intermittent CSO consumption (3x/week) at two different doses on other markers of chronic disease risk. Participants will be asked to: \*Consume provided meal replacement shakes and snacks 3 times per week for 56 days. \*Attend three bi-weekly (every other week) short visits for fasting blood draws, body measurements, and collection of the next two weeks' study materials. \*Attend two longer (5.5h) testing visits, which include eating a standardized breakfast meal and having blood drawn periodically before and after breakfast. Researchers will compare CSO-30, CSO-20, and Control groups (receiving no oil) to see if intermittent CSO consumption imparts the same health benefits as previously shown with daily doses of CSO.

This clinical trial evaluates a nutritional intervention called Cooking for Your Health in Southern New Mexico for improving diet quality and knowledge related to nutrition and cancer prevention among individuals living in the Southern region of New Mexico. New Mexico border communities have high rates of cancer and obesity, both exacerbated by poor diet quality. Traditional Mexican diets are high in fruit, vegetables, and fiber, but are intensive to prepare and not practical for many families living in New Mexico now. Vegetable oils, such as canola, safflower, and sunflower oils, are commonly used in cooking within the regional New Mexican community because they are inexpensive and readily available; however, they may not be as healthy as other options. Interventions focused on teaching proper cooking techniques and raising awareness about nutritious foods have shown positive behavior changes, including greater preference for healthier foods, increased confidence in food preparation and cooking a balanced meal, and higher vegetable variety and availability in the home. This study may help identify effective and culturally relevant real-world strategies to improve knowledge, skills, behaviors, and access to resources to improve nutrient intake, with the long-term goal of decreasing cancer risk and chronic disease risk in southern New Mexican communities.

The purpose of the study is to assess the feasibility and acceptability of incorporating hands-on nutritional demonstrations to enhance the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) curriculum among patients who are at-risk for prediabetes

Food insecurity is associated with obesity in children, and childhood obesity leads to long term health consequences. While existing research shows that food benefit programs reduce food insecurity, little is known about the mediating factors between food benefit programs and child health. The purpose of this study is to understand if the resolution of food insecurity in young children with early onset obesity can improve body mass index (BMI) over one year, and if so, by what mechanisms. The investigators will conduct a randomized comparative effectiveness study among infants (n=228) aged 12 months at risk for food insecurity and deliver two different food security interventions. Both will provide families with $50/week for one year of study enrollment. The first group will receive this as an unrestricted cash benefit ("cash benefit group") and the second group will receive this as a benefit in the form of weekly grocery purchases with the support of a trained nutrition expert to guide healthy grocery purchasing ("grocery benefit group"). The investigators will also construct a contemporary comparison cohort of infants meeting the inclusion/exclusion criteria from the electronic health record, using propensity score matching to allow comparisons between both intervention groups and usual care. The primary endpoint is difference in BMI at 12 months post-enrollment (24 months of age). Secondary outcomes include measures of nutrition, food security, electronic health record data related to general child health, and other factors related to parental stress and unmet social needs. Patients will have the opportunity to participate in post-study interviews to report on intervention satisfaction, and facilitators and barriers of infant feeding. Data analysis will be conducted by a trained statistician (Duke Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Research Design; BERD) and will employ a two-means test for a repeated-measures design. The benefits to participants outweigh the minimal risks of loss of privacy, and confidential information will be managed carefully to minimize this risk.

The goal of the study is to build a Register accruing data derived from the compilation of the questionnaire about LifeStyle for a population both of adults and of young boys and girls. The investigators are confident that in this way they will be able to expand the database they already have. The investigators will be able to increase the strength of the correlations between LS indices and health indicators. In particular, the investigators will emphasize the relationship between physical activity, stress, and diet quality on one hand, and on the other, they will focus on physiological parameters, like arterial pressure, gluco-lipid profile, and possible pathologies.

Hypertension and obesity are both major risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD), a leading cause of death for Black women in the United States. The investigators propose examining the feasibility and acceptability of the 12-week RN-CHeFRx (Real Nourishment and Cooking Healthy Food is Rx) intervention \- grocery delivery, cooking classes, and nutrition education - for Black women with hypertension and obesity to improve nutritious eating habits and blood pressure control.

The objective of this observational study is to integrate the doubly labeled water (DLW) database from healthy individuals with multimodal data-including, but not limited to, weight, height, age, sex, race, elevation-from cohorts undergoing rehabilitation following movement impairments or neurological injuries. Machine learning algorithms will be used to develop injury-specific predictive models of energy requirements. The primary research question is: How does energy metabolism change during the rehabilitation process in individuals recovering from traumatic brain injury, stroke, or major surgical procedures? To answer this, participants will undergo a comprehensive set of assessments, including measurements of height and weight, body composition, resting metabolic rate, physical activity levels, total energy expenditure, psychological health, food intake and hunger ratings, sleep quality, cognitive performance, non-invasive brain function monitoring, and gait analysis. Fecal and blood samples will also be collected for untargeted metabolomics analysis.

Preterm and very low birth weight (VLBW, \< 1,500g) infants who receive donor human milk (DHM) often experience slow postnatal growth and no clinical data is available to guide the duration of DHM for preterm infants. The investigators hypothesize that transitioning from DHM to preterm infant formula after the first month of life is both safe and conveys improved weight and length gains and fat free mass accumulation.

Cardiovascular disease risk factors, including higher BMIs and poor cholesterol profiles, are on the rise and contribute to the United States' growing disease burden. Cottonseed oil (CSO) is found readily in the food supply, and the investigator's previous studies have demonstrated that incorporating CSO into the diet is sufficient to improve fasting cholesterol profile and improve postprandial lipid and/or glycemic responses in both healthy, and at-risk populations. This study aims to compare CSO to a fatty acid composition-matched diet, on changes in fasting and postprandial lipid metabolism and markers of chronic disease risk. The specific aims are: * Examine the impact of CSO vs. PUFA on fasting and postprandial lipids. * Examine the impact of CSO on other markers of chronic disease risk. Participants will be asked to: * Consume provided meal replacement shakes daily for 28-days. * Attend three weekly short visits for fasting blood draws, body measurements, and collect the next week of study materials, * Attend two longer (5.5h) testing visits which include eating a standardized breakfast meal and having blood drawn periodically before and after breakfast. Researchers will compare CSO vs. PUFA and control groups (receiving a mixture of oils) to see if CSO is unique in imparting health benefits when compared with similar matched oil diets.

By 2050, there will be 9 billion people on earth. It will be necessary to feed them to avoid the population catastrophe predicted by Malthus 150 years ago. Yet a major issue facing governments is that the current method by which food demands are estimated is widely acknowledged as completely inaccurate. An accurate method is available. It is based on measurements of isotope elimination, called the doubly labelled water (DLW) method. In 2018, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) hosted and compiled a database of measurements using this technique. It showed that the use of the DLW method has been mostly restricted to the USA and Western Europe. It has rarely been applied across Africa and Asia. The database also focused on adults, leaving much unknown about the energy balance in children and adolescents. There is a clear need to fill this gap in knowledge, providing information that governments across Low- and Middle-Income countries can use to forecast future food demands. In China, the prevalence of overweight and obesity among children and adolescents is increasing. In 2009, 22.1% of Chinese youth aged 7-17 years were either overweight or obese, according to the China Health and Nutrition Survey. The obesity rate has increased fourfold since 1995. One of the most concerning problems is the persistence of childhood obesity into adulthood. The causes of this obesity epidemic are strongly disputed, with some suggesting it is due to increasingly sedentary lifestyles (computers, cars, phones, etc.), while others suggest it is mostly due to changing food patterns (junk food and sugar-sweetened beverages). Measuring energy expenditure in children and adolescents in China will address whether declining expenditure due to reduced physical activity is a key cause of the epidemic. Most measurements come from urban populations, leaving rural populations greatly underrepresented.

The preschool years are a critical time for shaping food preferences and eating behaviors, which affect dietary behaviors in adults and life-long risks for obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and other chronic conditions. Unfortunately, many US children, especially low-income and ethnic minorities, have dietary patterns associated with obesity and increased morbidity. Thus, to improve child diet quality, it is essential to develop effective targeted interventions in settings where children (especially higher-risk children) spend time. The investigators build upon our efficacious Healthy Start intervention with family childcare home (FCCH) providers (FCCP) to pilot a novel, 8-month multilevel tailored intervention to reach families through FCCH. This would be the first study to incorporate family-based intervention components into FCCH. The 8-month intervention will include an adapted version of the Healthy Start intervention as well as FCCP training to deliver nutrition messages to parents using an existing childcare App, complemented with FCCH environmental cues and tailored print and videos for parents. In sum, feasible and effective interventions to improve young children's diets are urgently needed. The FCCH is a novel and untapped setting to intervene with both FCCP and parents simultaneously to affect children's diets in both childcare and home settings, which has the potential to more fully impact the child's overall diet and weight status.

Food insecurity and low diet quality are persistent problems linked with chronic disease and poor health among limited-resource children and adults using Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). We have shown nutrition education via adult-focused, direct SNAP-Education (SNAP-Ed) improved household food security by 25% but not adult dietary quality among SNAP-eligible households using a randomized, controlled, longitudinal SNAP-Ed intervention in Indiana. Households experiencing food insecurity often reserve food considered "healthful" for children, so child dietary quality improvement may precede that observed among adults when household food security improves. This study will determine the effect of adult-focused direct SNAP-Ed on child dietary quality and household food security using a longitudinal randomized, controlled SNAP-Ed intervention. Assessment will include repeated 24-hour dietary recalls to determine usual intake, the U.S. Household Food Security Survey Module, and behavior data from before and after the 10-week "intervention period," and 1 year later, after which the control group will receive the intervention. Low-income participants (n=275) from Indiana will be recruited following SNAP-Ed protocol. Results of the study will inform the creation of supplementary on-demand SNAP-Ed educational material focused on improving healthful dietary intake for children and adults in situations of food insecurity in households with children. Education on modeling healthy attitudes and behaviors, planning and preparing family meals, and dietary shortfalls as informed by the results and previous evidence will be included and evaluated. The study aligns with the goals of USDA to increase food security and this RFP to improve healthful behaviors, food quality and nutrition.

The aim of the study is to compare the use of amino acids in whole-body protein metabolism in elderly consumers at risk of metabolic syndrome, after ingestion of 2 foods differing only in the nature of their proteins (optimized blend of vegetable proteins versus milk proteins). The protocol consists in studying the postprandial evolution of protein metabolism. Two products will be tested: one based on dairy proteins, the other on an optimized blend of vegetable proteins).

The Wenzhou Gestational Diabetes Cohort (WGDC) is a prospective cohort study among women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) during pregnancy and their offspring living in Wenzhou, China. The primary aim of this cohort is to characterize the continuous blood glucose response to dietary intake and physical activity among pregnant women with GDM over 2 weeks, and to facilitate the development of personalized nutritional/lifestyle recommendation among these patients. Another aim of the WGDC is to investigate the association of dietary and physical activity together with continuous glucose change during pregnancy on the adverse birth outcomes including preterm birth, macrosomia and large-for-gestational-age birth. The secondary aim is to investigate the prospective associations of diet, physical activity and continuous glucose change over 2 weeks among the patients with long-term metabolic health of the women and their offspring.

The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of complementary feeding education provided to fathers on father-infant bonding and infant feeding behavior. To assess father-infant bonding, the study will use the Father-Infant Bonding Scale and the Karitane Parenting Self-Efficacy Scale. For assessing infant feeding behavior, the Behavioral Pediatric Feeding Assessment Scale will be employed. These scales will be administered to participants both before and 3 months after the training.