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Background: Rapid infant weight gain (RWG) by six months of age has been identified as one of the earliest indicators of childhood obesity. Previous research suggests that exclusive breastfeeding over formula feeding may serve a protective effect from RWG. In addition, the makeup of the infant gut microbiome may influence

Background: Rapid infant weight gain (RWG) by six months of age has been identified as one of the earliest indicators of childhood obesity. Previous research suggests that exclusive breastfeeding over formula feeding may serve a protective effect from RWG. In addition, the makeup of the infant gut microbiome may influence RWG as differences in feeding practices have been shown to alter the bacterial makeup of the gut, potentially impacting energy metabolism. However, little research has been conducted investigating the potential relationships between RWG, infant feeding practices, and the infant gut microbiome.Methods: This study was a pilot study, which included 31 mother-infant dyads who were primarily recruited from Women, Infant, and Children’s Supplemental Nutrition Program (WIC) clinics and by word of mouth in the Southwestern United States. Participants were followed over six months, with study staff conducting home study visits four times (pregnancy, two days postpartum, three weeks and six months). Mothers who participated in this study were majority White (n=40.6%), non-Hispanic or Latino (67.7%), and obtained a graduate degree (n=22.6%). Participants were included in this analysis (n=22) if they provided at least two infant fecal samples, and the study staff were able to collect infant anthropometric data at the three-week and six-month study visits. Microbial DNA from fecal samples was sequenced using the Illumina MiSeq instrument after polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification was performed on the V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene sequence. Statistical analysis was performed using the QIIME2 longitudinal plug-in. Results: Results of this study suggested a significant difference in weighted UniFrac between infants who were exclusively breastfed and formula-fed from birth to three weeks of age. Additionally, an exploratory statistical method identified family Prevotellaceae as a potentially volatile microbe; however, this model failed to reach significance for either RWG or mode of feeding. Overall, no additional alpha or beta diversity metrics or differential abundance of microbes by either RWG or feeding practice group was found in this study. Conclusion: Future research is warranted to further explore potential connections between RWG, infant feeding practices, and the infant gut microbiome in a longitudinal study with a larger sample size.
ContributorsToffoli, Samantha (Author) / Whisner, Corrie (Thesis advisor) / Bruening, Meg (Committee member) / Sears, Dorothy (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021
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Background: Children in the United States have low diet quality scores and consume less than the recommended amounts of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and dairy. The National School Lunch Program serves nearly 30 million children daily, and has the potential to improve the diet quality of children. However, there are

Background: Children in the United States have low diet quality scores and consume less than the recommended amounts of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and dairy. The National School Lunch Program serves nearly 30 million children daily, and has the potential to improve the diet quality of children. However, there are high levels of food waste, particularly of fruits and vegetables. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to determine which menu items students are throwing away untouched most frequently. A secondary purpose of this study is to determine which menu items students are fully consuming most frequently. Methods: Student participants (n=2,881) in Arizona elementary, middle, and high schools who participated in school lunch were randomly selected to participate in the study. Student lunch trays were photographed before and after the student ate. Visual estimation was used to determine if menu items were untouched or fully consumed. Menu item names were standardized and categorized into menu categories. The frequency menu items were untouched or fully consumed were summarized in percentages by menu category, and stratified by school level. Results: Findings show that menu items within each menu category are untouched and fully consumed with different frequencies. Cold vegetable items were untouched with the greatest frequency, with 39% of all servings untouched. Some menu items were both untouched and fully consumed with high frequency. Conclusion: Food service managers can use these results to plan menus with food items that are more popular among their students to help increase consumption and decrease waste. Future research should explore the relationship between packaging and preparation with student consumption and waste. Researchers should also examine aspects of the high school food environment that may lead to increased student consumption.
ContributorsLiddicoat, Carina Marie (Author) / Bruening, Meg (Thesis advisor) / Adams, Marc A (Committee member) / Grgich, Traci (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
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Obesity is one of the most challenging health conditions of our time, characterized by complex interactions between behavioral, environmental, and genetic factors. These interactions lead to a distinctive obese phenotype. Twenty years ago, the gut microbiota (GM) was postulated as a significant factor contributing to the obese phenotype and associated

Obesity is one of the most challenging health conditions of our time, characterized by complex interactions between behavioral, environmental, and genetic factors. These interactions lead to a distinctive obese phenotype. Twenty years ago, the gut microbiota (GM) was postulated as a significant factor contributing to the obese phenotype and associated metabolic disturbances. Exercise had shown to improve and revert the metabolic abnormalities in obese individuals. Also, genistein has a suggested potential anti-obesogenic effect. Studying the dynamic interaction of the GM with relevant organs in metabolic homeostasis is crucial for the design of new long-term therapies to treat obesity. The purpose of this experimental study is to examine exercise (Exe), genistein (Gen), and their combined intervention (Exe + Gen) effects on GM composition and musculoskeletal mitochondrial oxidative function in diet-induced obese mice. Also, this study aims to explore the association between gut microbial diversity and mitochondrial oxidative capacity. 132 adult male (n=63) and female (n= 69) C57BL/6 mice were randomized to one of five interventions for twelve weeks: control (n= 27), high fat diet (HFD; n=26), HFD + Exe (n=28), HFD + Gen (n=27), or HFD + Exe + Gen (n=24). All HFD drinking water was supplemented with 42g sugar/L. Fecal pellets were collected, DNA extracted, and measured the microbial composition by sequencing the V4 of the 16S rRNA gene with Illumina. The mitochondrial oxidative capacity was assessed by measuring the enzymatic kinetic activity of the citrate synthase (CS) of forty-nine mice. This study found that Exe groups had a significantly higher bacterial richness compared to HFD + Gen or HFD group. Exe + Gen showed the synergistic effect to drive the GM towards the control group´s GM composition as we found Ruminococcus significantly more abundant in the HFD + Exe + Gen than the rest of the HFD groups. The study did not find preventive capacity in either of the interventions on the CS activity. Therefore, further research is needed to confirm the synergistic effect of Exe, Exe, and Gen on the gut bacterial richness and the capacity to prevent HFD-induced deleterious effect on GM and mitochondrial oxidative capacity.
ContributorsOrtega Santos, Carmen Patricia (Author) / Whisner, Corrie M (Thesis advisor) / Dickinson, Jared M (Committee member) / Katsanos, Christos (Committee member) / Gu, Haiwei (Committee member) / Liu, Li (Committee member) / Al-Nakkash, Layla (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021
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Background: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of death and long-term disability among children. The Brain Trauma Foundation (BTF) guidelines integrate initiation of early enteral nutrition which is essential for achieving best clinical outcomes. Gaps in knowledge, consistency, and collaboration when managing these patients hinder adherence to the

Background: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of death and long-term disability among children. The Brain Trauma Foundation (BTF) guidelines integrate initiation of early enteral nutrition which is essential for achieving best clinical outcomes. Gaps in knowledge, consistency, and collaboration when managing these patients hinder adherence to the guidelines and puts the patient at risk. Objective: This project purpose was to review the updated BTF guidelines and implement a rounding checklist to increase the early initiation of enteral feeding following a TBI. Methods: This quality improvement project was conducted in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) at a level one pediatric trauma center and included all patients admitted with severe TBI. A pre- and post-test accompanied education regarding the guidelines and instructions for checklist completion. The checklists included all BTF guidelines, with a primary focus on early initiation of feeds. Checklist data was presented by the bedside nurse during rounds. Results: Using descriptive statistics, the average pre-test score was 69% and average post-test score was 93%. Prior to the education, 82% of registered nurses believed a bedside checklist would help manage patients with severe TBI and increased to 95% after education. The checklist was used on 7 (100%) patients and 43% had feeds initiated within 72 hr post-injury (n = 3). Conclusions: Early initiation of feeding in critically ill patients impacts patient outcomes. A rounding checklist can improve interprofessional communication and healthcare quality by delivering standardized pediatric TBI care. Research regarding enteral nutrition is needed to ensure nutrition is provided in a safe, timely manner.
Created2021-04-25
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Migration allows animals to track favorable environments and avoid harmful conditions but is energetically costly. There are different types of migration, such as tidal/daily, seasonal, and lifetime. Locust migratory swarms are one such famous phenomena that can have dramatic effects on human livelihoods. During long-distance flight, locusts rely on lipid

Migration allows animals to track favorable environments and avoid harmful conditions but is energetically costly. There are different types of migration, such as tidal/daily, seasonal, and lifetime. Locust migratory swarms are one such famous phenomena that can have dramatic effects on human livelihoods. During long-distance flight, locusts rely on lipid oxidation from fat stores, while initial flight is fueled by carbohydrates. However, limited studies have tested how dietary macronutrients affect insect flight performance. Therefore, we asked: How do different dietary macronutrient ratios affect prolonged flight migration? We predicted that high carbohydrate diets would lead to high body lipid synthesis which would increase flight performance. We reared locusts in three crowded cages from 5th instar to adulthood on artificial diet varying in p:c ratio, supplemented with lettuce and water tubes, ad libitum. We used 7-14-day old adult males for flight performance assays where each day we used new individuals for tethered flight for 12 h in wind tunnels (~12 km·h-1) and video recorded their flight. We found that locust flight duration and quality increased with a decrease of dietary p:c ratio. Using control groups of locusts, we estimated that across 1 day of flight (up to 12 h), locusts lost on average in all treatments ~25 or ~30% of their total body lipid content. We concluded that long distance flight is improved by a high carbohydrate and low protein diet for L. migratoria by increasing their fuel sources. This work was supported by NSF # 1942054.

ContributorsParmar, Shivam (Author) / Cease, Arianne (Thesis director) / Talal, Stav (Committee member) / Harrison, Jon (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution & Social Change (Contributor)
Created2021-12
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Background: Research has found that nearly a quarter of the American population follows a gluten-free diet in some capacity, while only about 1% of the population is diagnosed with celiac disease. Although the amount of research-based evidence supporting any health benefits of a gluten-free diet in an individual without a

Background: Research has found that nearly a quarter of the American population follows a gluten-free diet in some capacity, while only about 1% of the population is diagnosed with celiac disease. Although the amount of research-based evidence supporting any health benefits of a gluten-free diet in an individual without a gluten- related disorder is limited, the number of people claiming to follow a gluten-free diet continues to rise. Also, despite an increasing belief that gluten is harmful for health, the potentially undesirable effects of gluten substitutions used in gluten-free foods are largely unknown. Due to the protein network encapsulating starch granules, gluten is thought to lengthen the amount of time needed during starch digestion, thereby reducing postprandial glycemia. Therefore, it is predicted that breads containing gluten will produce a lower glycemic response compared to gluten-free breads. Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the glycemic response of gluten-free bread made with different types of flour compared to bread made with gluten-containing wheat flour. Methods: This study involved a 3-week, randomized, single blind crossover study in which 17 healthy individuals were asked to consume a different type of bread each week, 2 of which were gluten-free. Blood glucose was taken by finger prick at fasting as a baseline measurement, then for 2 hours after bread consumption in 30-minute increments. Results: Across the three groups, there was no significant difference in iAUC values after 120 minutes (p=0.192 ). The greatest mean was seen in the gluten-containing bread (145.3 ± 82.6), then the gluten-free bread made with rice flour (125.5 ± 62.8), and lastly the gluten-free bread made with potato and fava bean flour (112.4 ± 64.5). Conclusion: The inconsistent results of this study compared to previous, similar studies suggests that the postprandial glycemic response of gluten-free products can not be generalized as a whole, but instead is dependent on the type of product and the ingredients used to replace the gluten. Although the results did not show a significant difference, it does argue against the belief that gluten-free products are invariably better for health in the general, non-gluten sensitive population.
ContributorsWaznik, Lauren LaRue (Author) / Johnston, Carol (Thesis advisor) / Mayol-Kreiser, Sandra (Committee member) / Dixon, Kathleen (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
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Food insecurity and childhood obesity are both major public health concerns in the United States of America. Research has not found a definite relationship between childhood obesity and food insecurity to date, with conflicting results being found due to differences in sample sizes and protocol for measuring key variables. Preschoolers

Food insecurity and childhood obesity are both major public health concerns in the United States of America. Research has not found a definite relationship between childhood obesity and food insecurity to date, with conflicting results being found due to differences in sample sizes and protocol for measuring key variables. Preschoolers (children aged 2-5 years) are a population of particular interest as there tends to be improved health behaviors and greater adaptability to change at this period of growth and development. This study aims to evaluate if there is a relationship between food insecurity and childhood obesity with diet quality as a mediator among preschoolers in the Phoenix area. A secondary data analysis from participants (n=154) from the SAGE (Sustainability via Active Garden Education) research project was used to evaluate food insecurity status, diet quality components (kcal, saturated fat, added sugars, and servings of juice, fruits, and vegetables), and anthropometrics (waist circumference and BMI percentile). No significant associations between food insecurity status, diet quality components, and anthropometric data were found. There was an increased rate of food insecurity and childhood overweight/obesity in this sample compared to state and national averages. Further research of high quality is necessary to determine whether a relationship exists between childhood obesity and food insecurity exists and in what context. Additionally, practice and policy will need to be implemented to decrease rates of food insecurity and childhood obesity among Phoenix preschoolers.
ContributorsGutierrez, Marisa (Author) / Bruening, Meg (Thesis advisor) / Whisner, Corrie (Committee member) / Lee, Rebecca E (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020
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Background: Individuals in the general populations with a known gluten disorder is believed to be 6% and it is unclear why the gluten free diet (GFD) has risen sharply (28%) in recent years. However, science has revealed that gluten can cause colonic changes in those undiagnosed with a

Background: Individuals in the general populations with a known gluten disorder is believed to be 6% and it is unclear why the gluten free diet (GFD) has risen sharply (28%) in recent years. However, science has revealed that gluten can cause colonic changes in those undiagnosed with a known gluten disorder. The ramifications of these changes are unknown. Three common ingredients found in gluten free products, such as pasta, are corn quinoa and rice. Evidence from the scientific literature has shown that corn and quinoa can produce more colonic hydrogen than refined wheat and rice, indicating that corn and quinoa have a reduced glycemic effect. Since rice and wheat have similar glycemic responses, corn and quinoa pastas would be expected to have a lower glycemic response than rice and wheat pasta

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Aim The aim of his study was to examine the glycemic response to three different types of pasta: wheat, rice and corn. Breath hydrogen, assessment of mood states, blood glucose and insulin were collected after ingestion of these pastas to determine the glycemic effects of these foods.



Methods: A double blinded crossover study design was utilized on a group of healthy individuals, and the test meals of wheat, rice and combinations of rice/corn, and corn/quinoa pastas were consumed one week apart in random order. Collections of fasting venous blood samples for insulin analysis, capillary blood from a finger stick for glucose analysis, breath hydrogen samples and satiety scales were used for glycemic response and mood states were collected prior to the meal (baseline) and then again after ingestion of the test meals. Attempts were made to explore the glycemic response of these test meals in relation to mood states.



Results: The glucose response showed no significant difference at baseline (p = .683) among all groups and no significant differences were seen post treatment at 30 minutes (p = .875). However, after 60 minutes all of the glucose concentrations began to decline except for the rice pasta which peaked at 90 minutes and the wheat pasta gave the most sustained decrease. The AUC glucose values showed no significant difference at both 120 (p=0.196) and 240 (p=0.734) minutes but with wheat pasta producing the lowest mean value. The POMS scores showed no significant differences between groups over time (p=.239) but the wheat group produced the highest score (worsening moods states).



Conclusion: These results indicate that the formulation and processing of gluten free pastas may affect the rate and absorption and the subsequent glycemic response after the consumption of these foods. Whether or not wheat contains an ingredient that slows absorption and/or negatively affects mood remains undetermined warrants future research in this area.
ContributorsSnyder, Darren (Author) / Johnston, Carol (Thesis advisor) / Ohri-Vachaspati, Punam (Committee member) / Lespron, Christy (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
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There is a considerable amount of research stating that vegetarian diets have an alkalizing effect while the typical western diet is acid-forming. There is substantial evidence regarding the health benefits of an alkaline diet. Although vegetarian diets demonstrate the ability to foster these health benefits, many people are still not

There is a considerable amount of research stating that vegetarian diets have an alkalizing effect while the typical western diet is acid-forming. There is substantial evidence regarding the health benefits of an alkaline diet. Although vegetarian diets demonstrate the ability to foster these health benefits, many people are still not willing to adopt a completely vegetarian diet. PURPOSE: To evaluate the effect of following a vegan diet two or three days per week on acid-base balance in a healthy college student population aged 18-30. METHODS: In a one-week interventional design, 23 people were randomly assigned to follow a vegan diet 2 days per week (VEG2;n=7), 3 days per week(VEG3;n=8), or 7 days per week (VEG7;n=8). Urine pH and dietary PRAL were assessed in each group at baseline and after the one-week intervention. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in urinary pH between the three groups (p=0.12). The change in PRAL values after the dietary intervention was different between the 3 groups (p=0.03). CONCLUSION: Adherence to a vegan diet 2 or 3 days per week did not show a significant change in urinary pH or PRAL.
ContributorsCosgrove, Kelly (Author) / Johnston, Carol (Thesis advisor) / Sweazea, Karen (Committee member) / Mayol-Kreiser, Sandra (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
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ContributorsArias, Caroline (Author) / Dixon, Kathleen (Thesis director) / Martinelli, Sarah (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / College of Health Solutions (Contributor)
Created2021-12