CTAHR NEWS
Fulbright Scholar 13 May 2022

Fulbright Scholar

Rajesh Jha of HNFAS is recognized

Congrats to Rajesh Jha of the Dept. of Human Nutrition, Food, and Animal Sciences, who was named a Fulbright U.S. Scholar. The award is granted by the U.S. Department of State and the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. The Fulbright Program is the federal government’s flagship international educational exchange program. Fulbrighters engage in cutting-edge research and expand their professional networks, often continuing research collaborations started abroad and laying the groundwork for forging future partnerships between institutions.

Nutrition Fellow 13 May 2022

Nutrition Fellow

HNFAS’ Rachel Novotny inducted into the 2022 class

The highest honor bestowed by the American Society for Nutrition is induction as a Fellow of the Society, and Rachel Novotny of the Dept. of Human Nutrition, Food, and Animal Sciences is among only 14 individuals nationwide who make up the 2022 class.

2022 Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research 18 April 2022

2022 Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research

Rachel Novotny of the Dept. of Human Nutrition, Food, and Animal Sciences

The 2022 CTAHR Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research recognizes the outstanding scientific contributions of Rachel Novotny, Professor of Nutritional Sciences. Since joining CTAHR in a tenure-track position in 1990, Rachel has developed a highly productive and significant research program focused on maternal and child nutrition and health, particularly among culturally diverse populations. She has obtained more than $40 million as the principal investigator of federal grants, including $25 million for establishing the Children’s Healthy Living Program, and recently an additional $10 million award to expand that program into a Center of Excellence in Food System Resiliency for Children’s Healthy Living. Rachel has published more than 150 peer reviewed papers and successfully mentored more than 50 graduate students and 15 post-doctoral candidates in Nutrition and Epidemiology. In briefly describing her research, she states that she “conducts intervention trials to improve diet, physical activity, community environment and other systems approaches to improve health of women, adolescents, and young children in diverse understudied populations.”

Rachel will be honored at the 2022 CTAHR 'Ohana Banquet.

Gold Award 7 February 2022

Gold Award

HNFAS prof is recognized by prestigious, peer-reviewed journal

Congrats to Jinan Banna of the Dept. of Human Nutrition, Food and Animal Sciences for being granted a Gold Author Recognition Award from the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior! Jinan, who performs research on obesity prevention and nutrition education, has authored or co-authored on numerous topics in the journal over the past 10 years, including the dietary assessment of low-income Filipinos in Oʻahu and how to measure food waste of children and adolescents. Her work has implications for minority groups, youth, and the environment. 

Fibrous Feedstuff 28 April 2021

Fibrous Feedstuff

HNFAS researcher touts the functional benefits for livestock

Compared to the fattening up power of soybeans and corn, high-fiber animal feeds are often considered to be inefficient for optimal growth and production. But livestock producers may want to reconsider that stance, says Rajesh Jha of the Dept. of Human Nutrition, Food and Animal Sciences. “Our lab has studied many alternative feed components for developing cost-effective and sustainable animal production systems and, in the process, found many functional benefits of dietary fiber not previously appreciated,” he notes. Although fibrous feedstuffs typically have fewer calories and relatively lower nutritional values, the higher level of dietary fiber works to improve the animal’s gut health by modulating beneficial microorganisms in the large intestine, the same way as in humans. This, in turn, benefits the immune function, as well as overall health and performance.

“Alternative feedstuffs are a reasonably cheaper animal feed, and can be sourced locally,” Rajesh adds. “Interestingly, dietary fibers and their components have a prebiotic function and are considered alternatives to antibiotics in animal feeding programs. This is of particular importance when the animal industry is under pressure to produce food animals without antibiotics in their diets.”

The review paper, Dietary fiber in poultry nutrition and their effects on nutrient utilization, performance, gut health, and on the environment, appears in a recent issue of the Journal of Animal Science and Biotechnology. Related review and research papers are also available on Rajesh’s lab website.

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