Louisiana researchers are taking part in a National Institutes of Health study, Nutrition for Precision Health, to look at how different genes metabolize different foods.
The nationwide study has 14 testing sites including two in Louisiana, one in Alabama, two in Massachusetts, four in California, two in North Carolina and three in Illinois.
Dr. Judd Shellito, the primary investigator for the study at LSU Health Science Center in New Orleans, is trained in pulmonary and clinical care medicine. He is currently the Jim Lowenstein Clinical Professor of Medicine.
“I’m really excited about this current study, because I think this study is directed more at patients health and things that might contribute to better health, rather than just trying to figure out lung cancer and diseases,” Shellito said.
It’s not a diet study, according to Shellito, but rather a look at the correlation between personal gene sequences and how people metabolize foods.
“We hope to be able to come up with a very personalized or a precision signature for each individual that will tell them what’s the best nutrients and foods for their health,” Shellito said. “We’re going to look at everything. We’re going to look at each participants whole genome sequencing.”
Researchers hope to enroll 10,000 people in total — about 1,000 people in Louisiana.
This five year study is currently in the middle of its third year, and Louisiana sites, LSUHSC in New Orleans and the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, are still looking for participants.
Step 1: Measuring the regular diet
The study is open to all adults. Enrollment is meant to catch a wide range of different DNA sequences and differences in gender, health status and more.
“We’re taking almost anybody in this study who because we want it to be broadly applicable to the population as a whole,” Shellito said.
Before the study begins, participants send in their DNA material (blood and saliva samples).
Once people are selected to continue in the research, there are three sections, or modules, in the study. Participants do not have to complete all modules.
In the first section, people will be given a dietary assessment, or questionnaire, to give researchers a sense of their regular diet. Then they will receive a glucose monitor, a wristband to measure activity and a pair of glasses that takes a picture of meals and monitors jaw activity (how much they chew).
After one week of monitoring people during their regular, unmodified diet, researchers will do what’s called a liquid meal challenge test where they put an IV and give participants a liquid meal, like a milkshake.
Researchers collect blood at various intervals after challenging the body with a specific food — that’s going to directly measure how the body responds to that food.
Step 2: Monitoring changes in DNA with different diets
In the second section, or module two, researchers will use the same devices from the first part of the study (a glucose monitor, activity wristband, etc.) but give participants specific diets to eat.
Researchers will look at how individual DNA reacts when eating each diet for two weeks. This section involves three diets for two weeks each, with a two-week break in between each diet where participants will eat their regular food from section one — that’s 10 weeks total.
The diets include, in no specific order:
- The Mediterranean Diet — consists of plant-based foods, whole grains, omega-3’s and healthy fats like olive oil, salmon, quinoa, avocados and more.
- The Ketogenetic, or Keto, Diet — consists of high fat, low carb foods by limiting fruits, beans, starches, etc.
- The S.A.D., or Standard American Diet — consists of ultra-processed foods and a lot of high fats coupled with a low intake of fruits, vegetables and fiber.
“This is really the power of the study,” Shellito said, “Because it’s hard to guess what people actually eat. But here, we’re going to actually control it, and give you a specific diet and measure what the response of your body is to that diet.”
Participants are compensated roughly $1,500 for this section of the study.
Looking at diet and DNA in a fully controlled environment
The final section of the study, which only 30 Louisianans have completed, involved a stay at a Baton Rouge hotel-lab. Here, researchers can specifically know what participants eat and drink and how much activity they do.
“That’s much more intensive,” Shellito said. “That’s only for people who are willing to undergo that much change in their routine.”
Shellito hopes this study can work out the best nutrition for each individual that will lead to better health long-term.
“We’ve all heard the idea that some diets work for one person, but they don’t work for another,” Shellito said. “Well, we may be able to solve that problem.”
Louisianans who would like to participate in the study can call (504) 568-5111 for enrollment in New Orleans or visit https://www.pbrc.edu/nph for enrollment in Baton Rouge.