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Nutritional Sciences Department Highlights
Dairy Consumption Linked to Lower Colorectal Cancer Risk
By: Briana Granado. Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer diagnosed in the United States.1 It affects men and women equally. Overall, the incidence and mortality of colorectal cancer has decreased thanks to effective screening measures, early interventions, and better treatment options. However, the incidence of colorectal cancer ...
New Partnership for MSNS Online Degree Program
MSNS Online Degree Program is Partnering with edX January, 2020 The department of Nutritional Sciences is pleased to announce a partnership with edX to make UT's Nutritional Sciences Master's degree offerings available on the edX platform. The MSNS program is designed to prepare graduates to work in community or education nutrition, corpo...
Heart Health: Support your Heart with the Mediterranean Diet
While it's no secret that cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death regardless of age, ethnicity, or gender1, choosing a heart healthy diet can be overwhelming. But what if one of the heart healthy diets available could enable your own gut bacteria to help fight heart disease?The Mediterranean Diet has been long recognized as a cardio...
Nutrition for Diabetes Managment
By Kristen LaStofka, Master of Science in Nutritional Sciences student at UT AustinHealth Promoting Foods for Type 2 DiabetesDiabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in the United States with 30.3 million people having diabetes and of that 90 to 95% of cases are type 2 diabetes.1 Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of diabetes and is the...
4 Tips to Getting Involved in Public Policy for UT Students
Being within walking distance of the Texas state capitol building has its perks. From taking iconic photos in front of the 311-foot historic building to lounging around on the green lawns of the Texas Capitol Grounds, we can all agree that this landmark building is a centerpiece of Austin and the great state of Texas. It is the influential work tha...
New Insights on Pregnancy and Obesity
The foods and nutrients a woman consumes while pregnant have important health implications for her and her baby. At Nutrition 2019, the annual meeting of the American Society for Nutrition, University of Texas at Austin researchers shared new findings about the impacts of a mother's diet during pregnancy and after the baby is born.N...
How Improved Nutrition Could Decrease Risk of Cancer
Today, obesity reigns as one of the leading risk factors for chronic diseases, including certain types of cancers, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and chronic inflammation. Over the past 40 years there has been a remarkable epidemic that has shown greater prevalence of early-onset and persistent obesity among young adults [1]...
It's National Nutrition Month!
March is National Nutrition Month! There are a few fun events being held at or around UT in order to promote health and nutrition.We kicked off the month at Explore UT with both Texas Nutrition and Coordinated Program in Dietetics presentations. Explore UT an annual event focused on bring science, exploration, and discovery to the larg...
Nutritional Scientist Named to USDA Dietary Guidelines Committee
Heather Leidy, associate professor of nutritional sciences, will be among 20 scientific experts who will draft dietary guidelines for the United States.
Leidy, who recently joined the faculty of the Nutritional Sciences Department at The University of Texas at Austin, was named this week to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) 2020 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. Twenty nationally recognized scientists will serve on the committee.
Want Healthier Eating Habits? Start with a Workout
In the latest evidence that it's worth sticking to your health-focused New Year's resolutions, researchers at the University of Texas at Austin have found that exercising regularly is linked to better eating habits.
The new study, published this week in the International Journal of Obesity, looked at 2,680 young adults who were not exercising regularly or dieting. Scientists found that after exercising for several weeks, formerly sedentary study participants were more likely to choose foods like lean meats, fruits and vegetables, while preferences for fried foods, sodas and other unhealthy options decreased.
To Plant or Not to Plant?
By Kellen Cantrell, MSNS StudentPlant based, vegetarian, flexitarian, or balanced diet Many individuals are considering diet and lifestyle changes to prevent disease, lose weight, and improve overall health. It is known that increasing vegetable consumption is associated with improved health,1 but does that mean that we should all be vegetarian or ...
Medical School and Nutrition
Jessica Wenzel, UT Nutrition graduate and medical student at Dell Med, talks nutrition education.Nutrition is among the hottest current health topics. In addition to being a moderator of chronic disease and a social determinant of health, nutrition spurs curiosity among health professionals and patients alike. In my experience, many physicians valu...
Nutrition Research Retreat: Event Spotlight
By Brittany Harlow, Doctoral Student in Nutritional Sciences at the University of Texas at AustinWith a new Data Blitz activity, this year's Nutrition Research Retreat proved even more engaging and interactive than the last. The program commenced with a talk by the newly appointed Dean of the College of Natural Sciences Dr. Paul Goldba...
Let's Talk About Fermentation
By Gracia Dala, Nutrition Student at the University of Texas at AustinWhat is fermentation?You might have noticed in recent years that kefir, kombucha, and kimchi have gained popularity, these products all share one distinct quality (no, it's not that they all start with the letter "k"). These three products have all gone through ferme...
UT Students Bring Culinary Nutrition to Austin Home Cooks
While some Longhorns lazed by the pool this summer, a few undergraduate nutrition student volunteers and students in the Coordinated Program for Dietetics (CPD) turned up the heat…in the kitchen. A new culinary nutrition program, Susie's Kitchen, kicked off this summer with four unique installments featuring hands-on days of cooking, n...
Ben Lecomte: The Longest Swim
It all began with an article in the Austin-American Statesman about Ben Lecomte's brave attempt to swim the Pacific Ocean to raise awareness of the increasing pollution filling our world's water resources. Dr. Molly Bray was teaching Sports Nutrition at the time, and she invited Ben to visit a class to describe the various challenges he would...
Factual Food Labels: Health Claims
With abundant nutrition and health information in our physical and virtual environments, it is easy to get lost in health claims made on food products. How often have you read a food label that claims a particular food will "boost your immune system," or is "heart healthy?" Yet, do you know what these claims truly mean? Are they consis...
Factual Food Labels: A Closer Look at the History
For many consumers, food labels are a primary source of information about the foods and products they eat. Because of this, it is important that these labels are trustworthy, and that companies are held accountable for the claims printed onto their products.First, to understand the importance of food labels, let's look at why food labels were creat...
Nutrigenomics: What Do Diet and Genes Have To Do With Health?
Have you ever wondered how the food that you eat is related to your overall health? Research shows that diet has a strong correlation with chronic disease, but why? What role does the human genome play in this relationship? The newly emerging area of nutritional science, Nutrigenomics, seeks to answer these questions and transform our current under...
