Human Ecology News Tags

Monday, 19 April 2021

Circadian Clock Genes And The Importance of Timing in Aging and Longevity

Distinguished Lecturer 2021: Dr. Takahashi's Biography "When we started this, no one had ever used this process before in a mouse to find a gene controlling behavior. They thought it was too risky and complex... like winning the lottery.  by Dr. Joseph Takahashi ​A renowned expert in genetics and neuroscience, Dr. Joseph Taka...

Monday, 05 October 2020

Sweet Potatoes, Yams, and Cassava

Yams, sweet potatoes, and cassava are classed as tuberous root vegetables that come from a flowering plant but are not related and do not have much in common. In the U.S., they are marketed as different vegetables. Yams are native to Africa and Asia and can be the size of a regular potato to five feet long! They have a cylindrical shape with a bark...

Wednesday, 08 July 2020

Food: For the Love of Community

Have you found yourself running out of recipes during quarantine? The dietetic students from the University of Texas at Austin have you covered. They have created a 70+ page donation-based e-cookbook titled Food: For the Love of Community. Their goal with this cookbook was to provide easy, accessible, and fun recipes for everyone to try and enjoy. ...

Friday, 24 April 2020

Feeding Austin

Students may not be cooking in Gearing Hall, the iconic home of UT Nutrition, but that doesn't stop food production! UT's Department of Nutritional Sciences is providing crucial space in our teaching kitchens for a special project designed to provide meals for the healthcare workers in the Austin area and surrounding community.The project is being ...

Wednesday, 22 April 2020

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 ...

Friday, 13 September 2019

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...

Wednesday, 14 August 2019

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...

Thursday, 28 March 2019

Learning for the Real World

Friday, 15 March 2019

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]...

Tuesday, 05 March 2019

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...

Tuesday, 22 January 2019

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 ...

Thursday, 08 November 2018

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...

Wednesday, 12 September 2018

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...

Tuesday, 04 September 2018

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...

Tuesday, 31 July 2018

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...

Wednesday, 20 June 2018

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...

Friday, 06 April 2018

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...

Wednesday, 28 March 2018

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...

Tuesday, 27 March 2018

A Growing Need For Health Professionals: Nutritional Education

Gut microbiome, nutrigenomics, vitamin supplements, omega-9 fatty acids, gluten free, GMO: we are all bombarded with these terms—and so many other—on a daily basis when we talk with friends, listen to the media, and even glance at an advertisement. The public routinely turns to health care or wellness professionals to understand what these nutritio...

Monday, 26 March 2018

What’s In The Name? Registered Dietitian vs. Nutritionist

Over the last decade, our understanding of health and delivery of health care has become increasingly focused on of nutrition as prevention and treatment of disease. Yet, when it comes to nutrition in healthcare, there is often confusion as to who is the nutrition expert. For many, the terms "nutritionist" and "registered dietitian" are interchange...