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Nutrition

The mission of the Division of Nutrition is to investigate, translate and disseminate the benefits of a healthy eating pattern on prevention of disease across the life span. This involves clinical interventions and large observational studies that aim to identify key nutritional factors contributing to health and underlying mechanisms that inform relevant dietary interventions. Through undergraduate, graduate and continuing medical nutrition education, we strive to train and prepare competent healthcare providers to implement science-based nutrition principles throughout their own practices and research careers. 

 

A healthy eating pattern initiated early in life and sustained throughout life offers a powerful approach to prevention of chronic disease. Growing evidence nationally and globally documents the benefits of a diet rich in produce, whole grains, nuts, legumes, fish, unsaturated fats, oils and dairy products that extend the quality of life years and reduce the global burden of disease. Our research aims to implement these dietary recommendations and study the mechanisms underlying their biological impact.”

Linda Van Horn, PhD, RD

What We Do

 Education

The Division of Nutrition provides medical nutrition education and training within the Feinberg School of Medicine curriculum. We disseminate and update nutrition research findings that formulate medical practice and policy decisions. Graduate training in nutrition epidemiology, diet assessment and global burden of disease are further integrated for Postdoctoral Fellows and trainees.

 Research

The Division of Nutrition investigates the impact of foods, nutrients and eating patterns in clinical- and population-based settings. Specific areas of study include:

Clinical Studies on Dietary Patterns & Health

  • Maldonado LE, Sotres-Alvarez D, Mattei J, Daviglus ML, Talavera GA, Perreira KM, Van Horn L, Mossavar-Rahmani Y, LeCroy MN, Gallo LC, Albrecht SS. A Posteriori dietary patterns, insulin resistance, and diabetes risk by Hispanic/Latino heritage in the HCHS/SOL cohort. Nutr Diabetes. 2022 Oct 13;12(1):44. doi: 10.1038/s41387-022-00221-3.

  • Neuhouser ML, Pettinger M, Tinker LF, Thomson C, Van Horn L, Haring B, Shikany JM, Stefanick ML, Prentice RL, Manson JE, Mossavar-Rahmani Y, Lampe JW. Associations of Biomarker-Calibrated HEI-2010 Scores With Chronic Disease Risk and Their Dependency On Energy Intake and Body Mass Index in Postmenopausal Women. J Nutr. 2022 Aug 30;nxac199. doi: 10.1093/jn/nxac199. Online ahead of print. 

  • LaMonte MJ, Manson JE, Anderson GL, Baker LD, Bea JW, Eaton CB, Follis S, Hayden KM, Kooperberg C, LaCroix AZ, Limacher MC, Neuhouser ML, Odegaard A, Perez MV, Prentice RL, Reiner AP, Stefanick ML, Van Horn L, Wells GL, Whitsel EA, Rossouw JE; WHI Investigators. Contributions of the Women's Health Initiative to Cardiovascular Research: JACC State-of-the-Art Review. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2022 Jul 19;80(3):256-275. doi: 10.1016/j.jacc.2022.05.016.

  • Prentice RL, Aragaki AK, Van Horn L, Thomson CA, Tinker LF, Manson JE, Mossavar-Rahmani Y, Huang Y, Zheng C, Beresford SAA, Wallace R, Anderson GL, Lampe JW, Neuhouser ML. Mortality Associated with Healthy Eating Index Components and an Empirical-scores Healthy Eating Index in a Cohort of Postmenopausal Women. J Nutr. 2022 Mar 15:nxac068. doi: 10.1093/jn/nxac068. Online ahead of print.

Maternal-Fetal-Pediatric Nutrition

  • Robinson DT, Josefson J, Balmert LC, Van Horn L, Silton RL. Early Growth and Cognitive Development in Children Born Preterm: Relevance of Maternal Body Mass Index. Am J Perinatol. 2022 Oct;29(14):1555-1562. doi: 10.1055/s-0041-1723828. Epub 2021 Feb 16.

  • Vladutiu CJ, Butera NM, Sotres-Alvarez D, Stuebe AM, Aviles-Santa L, Daviglus ML, Gellman MD, Isasi CR, Cordero C, Talavera GA, Van Horn L, Siega-Riz AM. Preconception Cardiometabolic Markers and Birth Outcomes Among Women in the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos. J Womens Health (Larchmt) 2022 Jul 7. doi: 10.1089/jwh.2021.0474. Online ahead of print.

Nutrition and Precision Health

  • Lee BY, Ordovás JM, Parks EJ, Anderson CAM, Barabási AL, Clinton SK, de la Haye K, Duffy VB, Franks PW, Ginexi EM, Hammond KJ, Hanlon EC, Hittle M, Ho E, Horn AL, Isaacson RS, Mabry PL, Malone S, Martin CK, Mattei J, Meydani SN, Nelson LM, Neuhouser ML, Parent B, Pronk NP, Roche HM, Saria S, Scheer FAJL, Segal E, Sevick MA, Spector TD, Van Horn L, Varady KA, Voruganti VS, Martinez MF. Research gaps and opportunities in precision nutrition: an NIH workshop report. Am J Clin Nutr. 2022 Sep 2;nqac237. doi: 10.1093/ajcn/nqac237. Online ahead of print. 

  • Prentice RL, Pettinger M, Zheng C, Neuhouser ML, Raftery D, Gowda GAN, Huang Y, Tinker LF, Howard BV, Manson JE, Van Horn L, Wallace R, Mossavar-Rahmani Y, Johnson KC, Snetselaar L, Lampe JW. Biomarkers for Components of Dietary Protein and Carbohydrate with Application to Chronic Disease Risk in Postmenopausal Women. J Nutr. 2022 Apr 1;152(4):1107-1117. doi: 10.1093/jn/nxac004. PMCID: PMC8970980.

Diet & Blood Pressure

  • Chan Q, Wren G, Lau C, Ebbels T, Gibson R, Loo RL, Aljuraiban G, Posma J, Dyer AR, Steffen L, Rodriguez B, Appel L, Daviglus M, Elliott P, Stamler J, Holmes E, Van Horn LV. Blood pressure interactions with the DASH dietary pattern, sodium, and potassium: The International Study of Macro-/Micronutrients and Blood Pressure (INTERMAP). Am J Clin Nutr. 2022 Jul 6;116(1):216-229. doi: 10.1093/ajcn/nqac067. PMCID: PMC9257466

Systems Epidemiology of Coffee & Health

  • Cornelis MC, Erlund I, Michelotti GA, Herder C, Westerhuis JA, Tuomilehto J. Metabolomic response to coffee consumption: Application to a three-stage clinical trial. J Intern Med. 2018; 283:544-557.
  • Loftfield E, Cornelis MC, Caporaso N, Yu K, Sinha R, Freedman N. Association of coffee drinking with mortality by genetic variation in caffeine metabolism: Findings from the UK Biobank. JAMA Intern Med. 2018 (in press)
  • Cornelis MC, Kacprowski T, Menni C, Gustafsson S, Pivin E, Adamski J, Artati A, Eap CB, Ehret G, Friedrich N, Ganna A, Guessous I, Homuth G, Lind L, Magnusson PK, Mangino M, Pedersen NL, Pietzner M, Suhre K, Völzke H; Swiss Kidney Project on Genes in Hypertension (SKIPOGH) team, Bochud M, Spector TD, Grabe HJ, Ingelsson E. Genome-wide association study of caffeine metabolites provides new insights to caffeine metabolism and dietary caffeine-consumption behavior. Hum Mol Genet. 2016; 25: 5472-5482.
  • Cornelis MC. Toward systems epidemiology of coffee and health. Curr Opin Lipidol. 2015; 26:20-9. PMID:25551799.
  • Cornelis MC, El-Sohemy A, Kabagambe EK, Campos H. Coffee, CYP1A2 genotype, and risk of myocardial infarction. JAMA. 2006; 295:1135-41. PMID:16522833.

Gene × Environment Interactions & Cardiometabolic Disease

  • Cornelis MC, Qi L, Kraft P, Hu FB. TCF7L2, dietary carbohydrate, and risk of type 2 diabetes in US women. Am J Clin Nutr. 2009; 89:1256-62. PMID:19211816;PMCID:PMC2667467.
  • Cornelis MC, Tchetgen EJ, Liang L, Qi L, Chatterjee N, Hu FB, Kraft P. Gene-environment interactions in genome-wide association studies: a comparative study of tests applied to empirical studies of type 2 diabetes. Am J Epidemiol. 2012; 175:191-202. PMID:22199026;PMCID:PMC3261439.
  • Cornelis MC, Hu FB. Gene-environment interactions in the development of type 2 diabetes: recent progress and continuing challenges. Annu Rev Nutr. 2012; 32:245-59. PMID:22540253.

Genetic Determinants of Nutrient Exposures & Eating Behaviors

  • Major JM, Yu K, Wheeler W, Zhang H, Cornelis MC, Wright ME, Yeager M, Snyder K, Weinstein SJ, Mondul A, Eliassen H, Purdue M, Hazra A, McCarty CA, Hendrickson S, Virtamo J, Hunter D, Chanock S, Kraft P, Albanes D. Genome-wide association study identifies common variants associated with circulating vitamin E levels. Hum Mol Genet. 2011; 20:3876-83. PMID:21729881;PMCID:PMC3168288.
  • Cornelis MC, Rimm EB, Curhan GC, Kraft P, Hunter DJ, Hu FB, van Dam RM. Obesity susceptibility loci and uncontrolled eating, emotional eating and cognitive restraint behaviors in men and women. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2014; 22:E135-41. PMID:23929626;PMCID:PMC3858422.
  • Cornelis MC, Fornage M, Foy M, Xun P, Gladyshev VN, Morris S, Chasman DI, Hu FB, Rimm EB, Kraft P, Jordan JM, Mozaffarian D, He K. Genome-wide association study of selenium concentrations. Hum Mol Genet. 2015; 24:1469-77. PMID:25343990;PMCID:PMC4321444.
  • Cornelis MC, Flint A, Field AE, Kraft P, Han J, Rimm EB, van Dam RM. A genome-wide investigation of food addiction. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2016; 24:1336-41. PMID: 27106561 ; PMCID: NIHMS818110.

Medical Nutrition & Lifestyle Education

  • Lichtenstein AH, Appel LJ, Vadiveloo M, Hu FB, Kris-Etherton PM, Rebholz CM, Sacks FM, Thorndike AN, Van Horn L, Wylie-Rosett J; American Heart Association Council on Lifestyle and Cardiometabolic Health; Council on Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology; Council on Cardiovascular Radiology and Intervention; Council on Clinical Cardiology; and Stroke Council. 2021 Dietary Guidance to Improve Cardiovascular Health: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association. Circulation. 2021 Dec 7;144(23):e472-e487. doi: 10.1161/CIR.0000000000001031. Epub 2021 Nov 2.

Faculty Spotlight

Cornelis, Marilyn C

Dr. Cornelis’ research aims to couple modern high-throughput omic-technologies to traditional clinical and epidemiological methods to enhance biological understanding of how diet and nutrition contributes to chronic disease. She has a special interest in the genetics of coffee consumption, caffeine metabolism, taste preferences and other dietary behaviors.

Van Horn, Linda V

Linda Van Horn, PhD, RDN is a clinical nutrition epidemiologist whose research focuses on primary prevention of cardiometabolic and other chronic diseases beginning in utero and continuing throughout the life course.

See All Faculty

Contact Us

Nutrition

680 N. Lake Shore Dr.
Suite 1400
Chicago, IL 60611   (Map it)

Phone: 312-503-2300

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