Native Hawaiian and Filipino breast cancer survivors are being sought to share their strategies that support a healthy lifestyle. The study, TANICA (Traditional and New Lifestyle Interventions for Breast Cancer Prevention), is being conducted by CTAHR and University of Guam, as a U54 Pacific Island Partnership for Cancer Health Equity (PIPCHE) pre-pilot project.

Adolescent eating is an important area of study, as adolescence is a time of transition to greater independence that is often accompanied with more convenience foods. But in the study, Relationship between Family Racial/Ethnic Backgrounds, Parenting Practices and Styles, and Adolescent Eating Behaviors, a multi-state team of researchers have collaborated to do just that by investigating the relationships among racial/ethnic backgrounds, parenting practices and styles, and eating behaviors in adolescents.

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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.

“What Are Native Hawaiian Babies Eating? UH Researchers Want to Know” was the title for a segment on Hawaiʻi Public Radio this past Monday, featuring an on-air interview with Marie Kainoa Fialkowski Revilla of the Dept. of Human Nutrition, Food and Animal Sciences. Kainoa says there isn’t enough information about what guides feeding decisions for Native Hawaiian mothers during their baby’s first year. So she’s leading a study, “Exploring Diet Diversity of Native Hawaiian Infants,” with the UH John A. Burns School of Medicine, the UH Cancer Center, and Purdue University.

The researchers hope to recruit pregnant Native Hawaiian women, who will be asked to download the study’s app and upload photos of their meals and their baby’s meals at certain intervals over the course of a year.

“It’s all about improving the health of the next generation – and they’re going to be planting those seeds,” says Kainoa. “And it’s super easy; it’s on your smartphone. We’re always taking pictures of our food anyways and as moms, we’re always wanting to take pictures of what our babies are eating.”

The Sunday evening before, Kainoa was the guest on KITV Island News to discuss the study and recruit participants. She says the data collected can make a difference in the daily health and wellness choices among the Native Hawaiian community.

“Ultimately, I want the work that I do to promote a healthy lahui – a thriving Native Hawaiian community,” says Kainoa, “I believe a way I can do that is through promoting healthy thriving families, healthy thriving babies, and healthy thriving mommies who are giving birth to babies.”

Study participants must be 18 years of age or older, Native Hawaiian, and must feel comfortable using a mobile phone application to take photos of meals throughout the first year of babies life. To sign-up, call (808) 375-3785 or email whrc@ucera.org. The study is funded by the National Institutes of Health through JABSOM and Ola HAWAIʻI.

Photo: Kainoa and Laʻakea Mekaleoalohamaikalewalani Revilla having fun with their food.

In their latest newspaper column on nutrition and health, Alan Titchenal and Joannie Dobbs of the Dept. of Human Nutrition, Food and Animal Sciences weigh in on green drinks, those superfoods-in-a-smoothie concoctions we drink for a variety of health goals. With more than 800 million green drink recipes available – each with health claims ranging from sensible to … not sensible – some of us might be tempted to over-consume such green drinks. “However, consuming too much of a good thing can be harmful,” the authors point out. “Many of the nutrients and phytochemicals in these drinks are good for you in moderation, but excessive amounts can result in potential health problems over time.”

Read the full article, Nutrient Overload From Green Drinks Can Be Harmful.

Growing up in Northern Virginia, Monica Esquivel didn't have many opportunities to enjoy Filipino food. So her mom made it a point to have Filipino food at their holiday celebrations every year. "Since we didn't have Filipino food very often, it became something of a tradition to look forward to – and a way to feel connected to our family in the Philippines.”