USU USTAR Scientists Seek Weapons of Mass Reduction

Each January brings renewed rounds of resolutions, among which losing weight and developing healthier habits consistently rank in the top five. Just as predictable are a bevy of newly released ads touting the latest in weight loss diets and tools for wishful fitness enthusiasts.

Grapefruit, cabbage and reverse diets … Israeli Army, Atkins, Eat-Right-for-Your-Type diets … and 2008’s offering: the GenoType Diet.

 

“The ability to determine a proper diet based on your genotype is premature,” says Utah State University researcher Michael Lefevre. “We know that both genetic and non-genetic factors play a role in how an individual responds to different diets, but we don’t yet know why.”

 

Lefevre and colleague David York, both recruited to USU through the Utah Science, Technology and Research – USTAR – initiative and both members of Utah State’s new Center for Advanced Nutrition, were featured speakers at the university’s Jan. 25 Sunrise Session in Salt Lake City.

 

The research breakfast, hosted by Regence BlueCross Blue Shield, is part of a lecture series coordinated by the USU Research Office aimed at highlighting Utah State’s research endeavors to a Wasatch Front audience.

 

“Good nutrition is essential for optimal health,” says York, CAN director. But Americans’ penchant for high-fat diets, he notes, is fueling a modern-day epidemic of chronic diseases. More than 60 percent of adults in the United States are overweight or obese. In 2000, some 1.4 million people died from cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and cancer – all ailments largely traceable to poor nutrition.

 

 In addition to the human cost, the economic cost is “huge,” he says. “And this isn’t just a U.S./Western problem. Rates of obesity are rising in other areas of the world, which corresponds with increasing rates of cardiovascular disease and diabetes – illnesses that medical services in many countries won’t be able to handle.”

 

Both York and Lefevre have long studied the role of diet in the development of chronic diseases.

 

“We know that lowering saturated fat and increasing plant sterols and fiber in one’s diet can lower cholesterol levels,” Lefevre says. “But everyone responds differently to diet changes and we need tools to help us identify the best diet match for each person.”

 

Lefevre believes that a metabolomics approach may provide these tools. Metabolomics is the systematic study of the unique chemical ‘fingerprints’ that specific cellular processes leave behind.

 

To pursue this approach, Lefevre plans to set up a research kitchen with the ability to feed up to 25 human subjects at a time.

 

“We would provide all meals for the people in each study, the length of which could last from three to four weeks or up to six months,” he says. “The findings should help us identify specific genetic and non-genetic markers and tailor the appropriate diet to each individual.”

 

Food is not always the enemy, says Lefevre, who studies so-called functional foods; that is, nutritional compounds in foods that inhibit disease. His current research focuses on bioactive compounds, including flavonoids found in many fruits and vegetables. Early studies indicate that such compounds may offer protection against cardiovascular disease and cancer.

 

Lefevre continues his work with Louisiana State University’s Pennington Biomedical Research Center, his and York’s former employer, on a National Institutes of Health-funded botanical research project that is examining how bioactives in fruits’ plant pigments affect health. The rich blue and red hues of your favorite berries and grapes could be doing more good for you than simply pleasing your senses.

 

“Plant pigments may provide protection against metabolic syndrome or insulin resistance – a precursor to type 2 diabetes,” he says.

 

Finding the right tools, including improved nutrition, to combat modern-day plagues is critical, Lefevre says.

 

“Today’s obesity epidemic is unprecedented,” he says. “We have access to a large supply of relatively inexpensive food and our lifestyles encourage inactivity.”

 

Personal choice is a factor in good health but public policy encouraging healthy habits, including pedestrian and bike-friendly communities, could discourage overly sedentary lifestyles, Lefevre says. “Reversing current trends requires action from all of us on personal and communal levels.”

 

USU’s next Sunrise Session is slated for April 25. Featured speaker is Mac McKee, director of USU’s Utah Water Research Laboratory. For more information, visit the Sunrise Sessions Web site.