Sangita
Sharma, Ph.D., RPHNutr
Associate
Professor (Researcher)
Ph.D. (Nutritional Epidemiology),
University of Manchester, England;
RPHNutr, Registered Public Health Nutritionist
My
research interests in nutrition initially focused on developing
dietary assessment methodologies for African-origin populations
in Cameroon, West Africa, Jamaica and the United Kingdom. This
was followed by a study determining the adequacy of complementary
and infant feeding practices of 4,200 children under two years
old in Indonesia. More recently my interests focus on assessing
the diets of ethnically diverse populations to determine associations
with chronic disease such as cancer and cardiovascular disease.
Since
coming to Hawaii in 2001, I have been determining the adequacy
of the diets of a multi-ethnic population (African Americans,
Japanese Americans, Native Hawaiians, Latinos and Caucasians)
in terms of degree of adherence to the USDA’s Food Guide
Pyramid recommendations and the Institute of Medicine’s
dietary nutrient requirements. We have recently extended the
USDA Pyramid Servings Database to include foods eaten by ethnic
minority populations in the US.
I
have also been examining predictors of cancer and fatal cardiovascular
disease in multiethnic populations
including degree of adherence to the dietary recommendations.
I am also looking more specifically at the relationship
between and within food groups and cancer and cardiovascular
disease
outcomes.
More
recently I am becoming involved in examining nutrient-gene
interactions focusing on the effect of heterocyclic
amine intake (from well done meat) on prostate cancer.
We are trying to determine the causes of disparities in rates
of prostate
cancer between ethnic groups, especially between African
Americans, Asians and Caucasians.I am also involved in developing
dietary
assessment methodologies for American Indians, First
Nations populations in Canada, and inner city African American
populations.
I
am about to embark on a project to develop a
food frequency
questionnaire for use in urban and rural populations
in India and have just completed the development of a food
frequency
questionnaire for a case-control study on breast and
prostate cancer in Barbados.
Selected
Publications
Sharma
S, Murphy SP, Wilkens LR, Shen L, Hankin JH, Monroe KR, Henderson
B, Kolonel LN. Adherence to the food guide pyramid recommendations
among African Americans and Latinos: Results from the Multiethnic
Cohort. J Am Diet Assoc 104:1873-7, 2004.
Sharma
S, Murphy SP, Wilkens LR, Shen L, Hankin JH, Henderson B, Kolonel
LN. Adherence to the Food Guide Pyramid recommendations among
Japanese Americans, Native Hawaiians, and whites: Results from
the Multiethnic Cohort Study. J Am Diet Assoc 103:1195-8, 2003.
Sharma
S, Murphy S, Wilkens L, Au D, Shen L, Kolonel L. Extending
a multiethnic food composition table to include standardized
food group servings. J Food Compost Anal 16:485-95, 2003.
Sharma
S, Cade J, Landman J, Cruickshank JK. Assessing the diet of
the British African-Caribbean population: Frequency of consumption
of foods and food portion sizes. Int J Food Sci Nutr 53:439-44,
2002.
Sharma
S, Cruickshank JK. Cultural differences in assessing dietary
intake and providing relevant dietary information to British
African-Caribbean populations. J Hum Nutr Diet 14:449-56, 2001.
Mennen
LI, Jackson M, Sharma S, Mbanya JC, Cade J, Walker S, Riste
L, Wilks R, Forrester T, Balkau B and Cruickshank K. Habitual
diet in four populations of African origin: A descriptive paper
on nutrient intakes in rural and urban Cameroon, Jamaica and
Caribbean migrants in Britain. Public Health Nutr 4:765-72,
2001.
