Publication list via PubMed

General Research Interests

My research interests cover a wide array of applied human nutrition issues. Recently, I have begun a research study to identify better ways of measuring the dietary supplement intakes of subjects in our studies of diet and cancer. Use of supplements is high in Hawaii, with over half of our subjects taking multivitamins, and over one-third taking calcium, vitamin C or vitamin E supplements. This is an exciting and challenging research topic and may eventually lead to a better understanding of the role of dietary supplements in either preventing or promoting cancer-related outcomes. I am also interested in innovative ways to evaluate food choices, and have developed new measures of nutrient adequacy and dietary variety. These intake measures will be used to further investigate associations between diet and cancer outcomes. I continue to be involved in international nutrition research through my work to evaluate the effect of a school feeding program in rural Kenya. I am also co-leading a pilot nutrition study in Guam, as well as a study to develop an interactive dietary assessment method for use in the Pacific Islands.

As Director of the Nutrition Support Shared Resource, I continue to extend my research interest in the compilation of food composition data for use in evaluating dietary intake data. As part of my responsibility for the maintenance of the CRCH food and supplement composition tables, I have undertaken efforts to expand the number of nutrients that are available for dietary analysis (we recently added values for flavonoids, lignans, conjugated linoleic acid, and glycemic load to our database). I also collaborate as the nutritionist on many of the cohort and intervention studies of diet and cancer that are being implemented by the faculty at CRCH.

I have served on national committees to set new food intake guidelines (Year 2000 Dietary Guidelines for Americans) and new nutrient intake recommendations (Dietary Reference Intakes). I am currently chairing a committee for the Institute of Medicine to apply the new DRIs to redesign the food packages supplied to low income women, infants, and children in the U.S. (the WIC Program).