Project Number: 6251-51000-005-03
Project Type: Specific Cooperative Agreement

Start Date: Aug 01, 2007
End Date: Jul 31, 2012

Objective:
Certain common dietary factors appear to be capable of preventing some diseases. For example, fruits, vegetables, and grains contain natural compounds (phytochemicals and peptides) that alter development, physiology, and metabolism which can ultimately lead to disease prevention. We will identify and study dietary factors in foods (including soy, rice, milk, fruits, vegetables, and other food products) to determine if they have beneficial or adverse health effects and to determine how they may affect body composition, bone and immune development, acute diseases and chronic diseases of adulthood, such as: obesity (and related disorders), cardiovascular disease, and cancer. For example, the isoflavones (also called "phytoestrogens") are particularly concentrated in soybeans and can have many of the same actions as the major female hormones in women, the estrogens. Countries with regular consumption of large amounts of soy foods report lower incidence of breast cancer, cardiovascular disease, and obesity; and factors in soy (isoflavones and peptides) are postulated as being partially responsible for these effects. These effects could result from: factors transferred to the fetus during pregnancy, the direct postnatal effects of soy, or a combination of the two. The soy connection to long-term health is important, because one million US infants are fed infant formula containing soy protein each year and the phytoestrogen content in their blood is extremely high. Virtually nothing is known about the effects of soy consumption in children, nor on the long-term health consequences of this early exposure. Since this affects nearly 25% of America's youngest people, it is essential to ascertain the long-term health consequences, both positive and negative, of early consumption of soy and soy-associated phytochemnicals. This is just one example of several foods containing different phytochemicals that have potential developmental health effects.

Approach:
Studies will focus on the various dietary factors found in foods such as fruits, rice, milk, and soy to determine their long-term health effects in infants and children. Phytochemicals (such as the isoflavones) and proteins/peptides will be studied in the context of whole foods and diets (and physical activity) to determine the possible effects on risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease, obesity, and other chronic diseases. For example, evidence suggests that exposure to soy foods early in life will reduce the risk of cancer and cardiovascular disease later in life. Similarly, we suspect that there may be some as yet unrecognized effects related to hormonally sensitive systems that regulate energy metabolism and fat disposition that affect development of obesity and drug efficacy. We will conduct laboratory, animal, and clinical studies to test these hypotheses; determine the positive and negative health consequences of various dietary factor-rich foods such as fruits, grains, and dairy in maternal diet and infant formula, especially as they relate to safety and disease prevention; ascertain which dietary factors have health consequences; develop the scientific basis for recommendations regarding how much and how often they should be consumed, and at what age they should be eaten; and, whether such dietary factors affect risk of cancer and cardiovascular diseases, and under what circumstances. This same approach may be utilized for dietary factors in other foods as well.