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More than 60 percent of the population is overweight and 25 percent are clinically obese. Over $35 billion is spent annually on diet foods, aids, and programs. The health care costs associated with overweight/obesity are estimated at over $100 billion annually due to the contribution of excess body fat to chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, and osteoarthritis. There are approximately 280,000 preventable deaths from obesity annually, and the toll on productivity and quality of life are high.
Dietary approaches to prevent and manage body weight have been largely unsuccessful, in large part because they have failed to address issues associated with hunger and satiety that compromise diet compliance. The importance of exercise in weight management and health optimization has only recently gained attention and remains poorly characterized. The most critical deficiency in knowledge and practice is how appetite and exercise interact to influence food choice, metabolism, and energy balance. Researchers in the Department of Foods and Nutrition, in collaboration with colleagues on campus and at other institutions, conduct cutting-edge research in this area and support the training of preeminent researchers and practitioners to meet the health care needs of the community, state, and region.
Contributors in the Department
Publications in Last Five Years
Total number of publications (65) or active research projects (14) with collaborators related to Diet, Energy Balance, and Fitness.
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Other F&N
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Other Purdue
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IUPUI
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Other
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Publications
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8
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5
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15
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60
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Research Projects
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21
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36
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14
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43
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Engagement
Studies in these areas are facilitated
through our teaching and training of undergraduate and graduate
students. The nutrition, fitness, and health major is the
second largest major in our department (dietetics in the
largest) and includes didactic and experiential training
provided by numerous faculty including, Rachel
Clark, MS, RD, director of the nutrition, fitness and
health major, and Steve
McKenzie, M Ed, continuing lecturer in exercise and
health promotion. Findings from our discovery efforts can
be effectively disseminated by one of the strongest teams
of Extension educators in the nation.
Engagement activities related to the Diet, Energy Balance, and Fitness signature area include the use of the A. H. Ismail Fitness and Nutrition Research and Education Center to conduct nutrition consultations, fitness assessments, and exercise programs to benefit both students and community members. The Ismail Center is a 700+ member facility with which the Department of Foods and Nutrition works synergistically.
Outreach to the community is involved with the clinical experiences as well. PRIDE, the Purdue Resource for Integrative Dietetics and Exercise, is an endowed resource that provides a platform to support the training of preeminent researchers and practitioners to meet the healthcare needs of the community, state, and region. Currently in the developmental stages, the PRIDE Community Education and Outreach Program will actively seek to provide the greater Lafayette and Indiana community with high-quality exercise, appetite, and diet information through health and fitness newsletters, newspaper articles, a nutrition hotline, radio segments, and/or a speakers bureau. SpringFest at Purdue is an opportunity to showcase the department's Signature Areas to children and their parents. F&N students volunteer their time to run the kids' activity stations, including the milk bottle ring toss and milk mustache pictures, as well as the body fat estimation station for the parents. Several of the learning activities, such as F&N 415: Practicum in Nutrition, Fitness and Health and HPER 422: Clinical Experiences in Health and Fitness, also involve engagement activities with the community residents as 'clients.'
Learning
F&N 415 is the practicum course for students majoring in nutrition, fitness, and health (NFH). In this course, senior-level students apply the theories, knowledge, and skills that they've gained throughout the NFH program with real clients recruited from the Purdue community
HPER 422: Clinical Experiences in Health and Fitness provides senior-level students with experience in the implementation and administration of comprehensive health and fitness screenings in diverse clinical settings for variable client populations.
Current Funding
- National Institute of Health
- USDA
- National Cattlemen's Beef Association
- American Egg Board
- NIH Botanicals Center Pilot Grant
- American Heart Association
- USAID
- Dairy Management, Inc.
Potential Funding
- NIH
- USDA
- Food Industry
- Pharmaceutical Industry
- Private Foundations
- Philanthropists
Because of the size of the food industry, the critical role for nutrition in disease prevention and management, and the current concerns about diet and health, there is a large and broad base of potential support for work in this area.
Resources
- Laboratory for Sensory and Ingestive Studies
- Phyllis Izant Laboratory for Human Physiological Studies
- Hafele-Stinson Metabolic Research
- A.H. Ismail Center for Health, Exercise and Nutrition
Active Research Projects
- Effects of peanut oil on appetite, food choice, energy balance and cardiovascular disease risk
- The energetics of peanut consumption
- Dietary protein and muscle gene expression
- Dietary protein requirements of elderly men and women
- Do elderly women have a higher protein requirement than young women
- Effect of dietary beef on weight loss-induced changes in immune function, indicators of zinc & iron status & body composition
- Protein intake, resistive exercise training, and muscle size in older men and women
- Physical activity and toll-like receptor-4
- Role of stearoly-CoA desaturase gene expression in adipocyte biology
- Safe food for Indiana's hungry 2003/2004
- Parent and household influences on calcium intake among preadolescents
- Calibration and validation of a semiquantitative food frequency among adults
- Regulation of lipid oxidation by 1,25dihydroxyvitamin D and parathyroid hormone
- Role of dairy products in weight loss: a multi-center trial
- Effect of dietary calcium education intervention on body fat mass in adolescents
Collaborators
Within the Interdepartmental Nutrition Program, a number of faculty have research interests related to diet, energy balance, and fitness. Strong ties also exist with the Departments of Health Kinesiology and Psychology on campus as well as the Indiana University Medical Center. Individual investigators collaborate with researchers at other institutions nationally and internationally as well.
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