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Nutritional Sciences News & Highlights
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...
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...
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...
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...
Homeschooling for professionals
Registered nurse Angie Cook lives near Dallas, but she is attending The University of Texas at Austin – from a desk at home.
Cook is one of the students accepted to the Department of Nutritional Sciences' new online master's program, the first accredited online degree from the College of Natural Sciences.
Obesity in Pregnancy Impairs Children’s Brain Development
Image at 12 weeks, Public Domain
Children born to overweight or obese women face long-term neurological impairment—specifically in verbal ability—according to research recently published online in Maternal and Child Nutrition.
13 School Gardens Covered by Donation
Building the next 13 school gardens in the Austin area will be a snap for TX Sprouts, thanks to a Whole Kids Foundation donation of almost $60,000.
Undergrads Present at International Conference
When undergraduates conduct original research, they experience far more than the joy of pipetting and mixing solutions.
Authoring Papers with Wide Impact
Image credited to Liz West
After contributing to over 100 peer-reviewed publications while on the faculty of the Department of Nutritional Sciences, it is not surprising that Dr. Jeanne Freeland-Graves has one of the most highly cited papers in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
Better Health Can Start at School
Image credited to LeslieRhodesStories.com
Veteran reporter Leslie Rhode recently tagged along with Dr. Jaimie Davis and the Texas Sprouts program as they worked with children at Oak Meadows Elementary. On that day, the fifth graders learned to distinguish whole from processed foods as well as make small caprese salads with basil harvested from their school garden.
Nutrition’s Past President
Dr. Lorene Rogers, President of UT Austin, as she appeared in The Alcalde in Nov 1974
Although biochemist Lorene Rogers (1914-2009) received her doctorate from UT Austin, the Chemistry Department refused to hire her as as a professor—and tried to pay her half as a lecturer—because she was a woman. She did find a professorship, however, in what was then known as the Department of Home Economics (School of Human Ecology).
