What We Do
My long-term research interest is in the area of dietary and lifestyle factors and their impact on chronic diseases with emphasis on prevention and risk reduction. At UConn, I have developed several new research projects with focus on the relationships between dietary antioxidants/functional foods and chronic disease risks and biomarkers. Through a project supported by the American Heart Association, my research team has documented the baseline dietary Total Antioxidant Capacity (TAC) of the U.S. population and developed a dietary TAC database of the U.S. diet for future applications in human antioxidant research and also validated this investigative protocol by establishing relationships between estimated dietary antioxidant intakes of U.S. adults and the concentrations of antioxidants in blood and urine. From this study, we established that dietary TAC is inversely associated with CVD risk factors such as serum homocysteine and C-Reactive Protein (CRP) concentrations. This finding indicated that dietary TAC is a useful tool in human clinical and intervention studies for assessing dietary antioxidant status and predicting plasma anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory responses. Another project, funded by the Donaghue Foundation, further validated the concept under different conditions. Another project, funded by Pepsi Co Inc., was designed to investigate the impact of orange juice consumption on micronutrient adequacy, macronutrient and energy intakes, weight status and body composition, and bone health in U.S. population.
One of my research areas is on the impacts of dietary behaviors on cancer risk. I have just completed a project entitled “Does Dietary Antioxidant Predict Prostate Cancer Aggressiveness?” as PI. This project was funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Nutritional Epidemiology Program. This project enabled me to investigate the role of antioxidants in prostate cancer aggressiveness. In this study with 2,000 African American (AA) and Caucasian American (CA) men who had been recently diagnosed with prostate cancer, my research team found that greater antioxidant intake was associated with a reduced risk of advanced prostate cancer and that this protective role of antioxidants may be through reducing oxidative stress. I also received funding from NCI as a Co-PI for a project entitled “Psoralen and Melanoma.” For this project, in collaboration with Dr. Eunyoung Cho at Brown Alpert Medical School and Harvard NHS and HPFS cohort team, my laboratory is analyzing furanocoumarins (psoralens) and their metabolites in plasma and urine samples from the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS) and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study (HPFS). We will also develop a psoralen food database by analyzing the components in foods and ultimately examine if psoralen intake from diet is associated with melanoma risk in these cohorts. As a supplemental project, we are also conducting a pilot absorption and excretion kinetic study of furocoumarins in grapefruits.
Recently I received funding from USDA AFRI Grant Program with a project titled “Blackcurrant Modifies Gut Microbiota and Reduces the Risk of Postmenopausal Osteoporosis: A Pilot Randomized Clinical Trial.” For this project, we are currently planning to conduct a human clinical trial in collaboration with Dr. George Weinstock at the Jackson Laboratory in Farmington, CT and Dr. Elaine Lee at UConn Kinesiology. My research team is also conducting a project entitled “Longitudinal Study Assessing Impact of 100% Orange Juice Intake on Anthropometric and Cardiometabolic Indicators and Health-Related Behaviors in U.S. Children.” This project is funded by the Florida Citrus Department and we are conducting epidemiologic studies by utilizing a large cohort data of U.S. children from Growing Up Today Study (GUTS) in collaboration with Dr. Ming-Hui Chen at UConn and Dr. Jorge Chavarro and Dr. Jaime Hart at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
My future plan is to continue and expand my research in the area of dietary antioxidants and their health benefits in individuals as well as in the U.S. population. This will lead to a better understanding of the nutritional basis for the prevention and treatment of diet-associated chronic diseases and hopefully lead to the establishment of effective evidence-based dietary strategies and guidelines for the public, especially in relation to CVD and cancer.