Amount Requested: $540,000
The Human Nutrition Grant supports research to increase fundamental knowledge of human nutrition, with special focus on nutritional requirements and nutrient dynamics during pregnancy in ethnically and genetically diverse populations. Current research supported by the grant includes studies that address maternal/fetal bone health in ethnically diverse populations of pregnant adolescents, iron absorption and red blood cell degradation in children with parasites, conversion of alpha-linolenic acid to long chain fatty acids in young pregnant women, and the prevention of birth defects by folic acid and other B-vitamins.

Continued funding will support further research into neonatal total body bone mineral content using the DXA technology, determining pathways of iron transport from mother to fetus during pregnancy, and whether under-nutrition during pregnancy influences the conversion of polyunsaturated fatty acids into more beneficial acids that are associated with cognitive performance in infants. This funding will also help strengthen ties between Cornell’s Department of Food Sciences and the US Federal Nutrition Laboratory by initiating human stable isotope studies of nutrient bioavailability from extrinsically labeled food sources.