Current Novel Research Efforts

• Promotion of healthy and sustainable diets to reduce chronic disease.
• Dietary approaches that do not require dietary self-monitoring, such as the vegan and vegetarian diets.
• Discovering ways to help people eat healthier, lose weight, and prevent chronic disease.
• Quantitative evaluation of consequences and determinants of nutrition status.
• Nutritional assessment for epidemiologic studies.
• Development of methods to study nutritional assessment.
• DIDACTIC: Dissemination and Implementation of a Diet and Activity Community Trial in Churches.
• Inflammatory Potential of Diet and Risk of Cancer Mortality in Women.
• Developing the Dietary Inflammatory Index for Clinical Application.
• Vitamin D and Related Genes, Race and Prostate Cancer Aggressiveness.
• Diet and Activity Community Trial: High-Risk Colon Polyps.
• Dietary Inflammatory Index and Risk of Breast and Colorectal Cancers.
• Role of Genetic and Dietary Factors in Breast Cancer Risk: Study of a Population in Demographic Transition.
• Epigenetics and Diet in the Carcinogenesis Process.
• A Documentary Film About the Implementation of the Right Choice, Healthy Start Farmers Market.

Associated Affiliate Scholars

• Adams, Swann, Ph.D.
• Armstead, Cheryl, Ph.D.
• Davis, Mark, Ph.D.
• Davis, Rachel, Ph.D.
• Frongillo, Edward, Ph.D.
• Hebert, James, Ph.D.  
• Liese, Angela, Ph.D. 
• Turner-McGrievy, Brie, Ph.D., RD
• Steck, Susan, Ph.D.
• Wilson-King, Dawn, Ph.D.
• Wirth, Michael, Ph.D.

Expand allAffiliate Publications 

• Adams E, Brickhouse T, Dugger R, Bean M. Patterns Of Food Security And Dietary Intake During The First Half Of The Child Tax Credit Expansion. Health Affairs. 2022; 41:5. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2021.01864

• Au LE, Arnold CD, Ritchie LD, Frongillo EA. The Infant Diet Quality Index predicts dietary and adiposity outcomes in U.S. children 2-4 years old. The Journal of Nutrition. Published online February 4, 2023. doi:10.1016/j.tjnut.2023.01.037

• Babatunde OA, Adams SA, Truman S, Sercy E, Murphy AE, Khan S, Hurley TG, Wirth MD, Choi SK, Johnson H, Hebert JR. The impact of a randomized dietary and physical activity intervention on chronic inflammation among obese African-American women. Women & Health. May 2020:1-14. doi:10.1080/03630242.2020.1746950.

• Banerjee T, Frongillo EA, Turan JM, et al. Association of Higher Intake of Plant-Based Foods and Protein With Slower Kidney Function Decline in Women With HIV. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 2023;94(3):203-210. doi:10.1097/QAI.0000000000003269

• Bernhart JA, Turner-McGrievy GM, Wirth MD, Shivappa N, Hébert JR. The IMAGINE Intervention: Impacting Physical Activity, Body Fat, Body Mass Index, and Dietary Inflammatory Index. Translational Journal of the ACSM: Winter 2022 - Volume 7 - Issue 1 - e000181. doi: 10.1249/TJX.0000000000000181.
• Botchway M, Turner-McGrievy GM, Crimarco A, Wilson M, Davey M, Wilcox S, Frongillo E. “They Eat What They Eat, I Eat What I Eat”: Examining the Perspectives and Experiences of African Americans Who Adopt Plant-Based Diets. American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine. June 2020:155982762090885. doi:10.1177/1559827620908850.
• Boutté AK, Turner-McGrievy GM, Wilcox S, Liu J, Eberth JM, Kaczynski AT. Stress and Depressive Symptoms Are Not Associated with Overall Diet Quality, But Are Associated with Aspects of Diet Quality in Pregnant Women in South Carolina. J Acad Nutr Diet. 2021;S2212-2672(21)00147-7. doi:10.1016/j.jand.2021.02.025
• Chen L-W, Aubert A, Bernard JY, Cooper C, Duijts L, Geraghty AA, Harvey NC, Hebert JR, et al. Maternal dietary quality, inflammatory potential and offspring adiposity throughout childhood: a pooled analysis of 7 European cohorts (ALPHABET consortium). Proceedings of the Nutrition Society. 2020;79(OCE2). doi:10.1017/s0029665120001032.

• Choi MK, Park YMM, Shivappa N, Steck SE, Hebert JR, Merchant AT, et al. Inflammatory potential of diet and risk of mortality in normal-weight adults with central obesity. Clinical Nutrition. 2023;42(2):208-215. doi:10.1016/j.clnu.2022.11.019

• Chwyl C, Wright N, Turner-McGrievy GM, Butryn ML, Forman EM. Remotely Delivered Behavioral Weight Loss Intervention Using an Ad Libitum Plant-Based Diet: Pilot Acceptability, Feasibility, and Preliminary Results. JMIR Form Res 2022;6(6):e37414. doi: 10.2196/37414

• Crawford B, Steck SE, Sandler DP, Merchant AT, Woo JMP, Park YMM. Dietary patterns, socioeconomic disparities, and risk of type 2 diabetes in the Sister Study. Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice. 2023;204. doi:10.1016/j.diabres.2023.110906

• DuBois KE, Blake CE, Rudisill C, Harrison SE, Wirth MD, Hébert JR. Ulcerative Colitis Is Associated With Diet-related Inflammation and Physical Activity in the IBD Partners E-cohort. Inflammatory Bowel Diseases. Published online August 5, 2023:izad139. doi:10.1093/ibd/izad139

• Farrell ET, Wirth MD, McLain AC, Hurley TG, Hebert JR, et al. Associations between the Dietary Inflammatory Index and Sleep Metrics in the Energy Balance Study (EBS). Nutrients. 2023;15(2):419. doi:10.3390/nu15020419

• Ho FK, Wirth MD, Parra-Soto S, Hebert JR, et al. Dose-response associations of dietary inflammatory potential with health outcomes: A prospective cohort study of 198,265 UK Biobank participants. Current Problems in Cardiology. Published online April 29, 2023:101774. doi:10.1016/j.cpcardiol.2023.101774

• Liese AD, Couch SC, The NS, et al. Association between diet quality indices and arterial stiffness in youth with type 1 diabetes: SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth Nutrition Ancillary Study. Journal of Diabetes and its Complications. 2020:107709. doi:10.1016/j.jdiacomp.2020.107709.
• Liese AD, Wambogo E, Lerman JL, et al. Variations in Dietary Patterns Defined by the Healthy Eating Index 2015 and Associations with Mortality: Findings from the Dietary Patterns Methods Project. J Nutr. 2021;nxab383. doi:10.1093/jn/nxab383
• Lopez-Pentecost M, Crane TE, Garcia DO, Kohler LN, Wertheim BC, Hebert JR, Steck SE, Shivappa N, Santiago-Torres M, Neuhouser ML, Hatsu IE, Snetselaar L, Datta M, Kroenke CH, Sarto GE, Thomson CA. Role of dietary patterns and acculturation in cancer risk and mortality among postmenopausal Hispanic women: results from the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI). Journal of Public Health. 2020. doi:10.1007/s10389-020-01342-8.
• Larson LM, Cyriac S, Djimeu EW, Mbuya MNN, Neufeld LM. Can Double Fortification of Salt with Iron and Iodine Reduce Anemia, Iron Deficiency Anemia, Iron Deficiency, Iodine Deficiency, and Functional Outcomes? Evidence of Efficacy, Effectiveness, and Safety. The Journal of Nutrition, Volume 151, Issue Supplement_1, February 2021, Pages 15S–28S.
• Luo J, Shivappa N, Hébert JR, Xu X. Dietary inflammatory index and bladder cancer risk: a prospective study. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2020. doi:10.1038/s41430-020-0602-y.
• Omofuma OO, Steck SE, Olshan AF, et al.The association between meat and fish intake by preparation methods and breast cancer in the Carolina Breast Cancer Study (CBCS). Breast Cancer Res Treat 193, 187–201 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-022-06555-x.
• Omofuma OO, Turner DP, Peterson LL, Merchant AT, Zhang J, Steck SE. Dietary advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) and risk of breast cancer in the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial (PLCO). Cancer Prevention Research. 2020. doi:10.1158/1940-6207.capr-19-0457.
• Quattlebaum M, Wilson DK, Sweeney AM, Zarrett N. Moderating Effects of Parental Feeding Practices and Emotional Eating on Dietary Intake among Overweight African American Adolescents. Nutrients 2021, 13, 1920. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13061920
• Ross SET, Militello G, Dowda M, Pate RR. Changes in Diet Quality in Youth Living in South Carolina From Fifth to 11th Grade. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior. 2020. doi:10.1016/j.jneb.2020.03.001.
• Rubin LH, Gustafson DR, Warrior L, Sheira L, Fitzgerald KC, Dastgheyb R, Weber KM, Tien PC, French A, Spence AB, Sharma A, Williams DW, White CJ, Seaberg EC, Frongillo EA, Weiser SD. Dietary intake is associated with neuropsychological impairment in women with HIV. Am J Clin Nutr. 2021;nqab038. doi:10.1093/ajcn/nqab038

• Shieh A, Karlamangla AS, Huang MH, Wirth MD, Hebert JR, et al. Dietary Inflammatory Index and Fractures in Midlife Women: Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. Published online February 13, 2023:dgad051. doi:10.1210/clinem/dgad051

• Silva AR, Guandalini V, Pereira T, Zhao L, Wirth MD, Hébert JR, et al. Association between Dietary Inflammatory Index and Gastric Adenocarcinoma: A Multicenter Case-Control Study in Brazil. Nutrients. 2023;15:2867. doi:10.3390/nu15132867

• Steck SE, Murphy EA. Dietary patterns and cancer risk. Nature Reviews Cancer. 2019. doi:10.1038/s41568-019-0227-4.
• Truman SC, Wirth MD, Adams SA, Turner-McGrievy GM, Reiss KE, Hébert JR. Meal timing, distribution of macronutrients, and inflammation among African-American women: A cross-sectional study Chronobiology International, 2022, DOI: 10.1080/07420528.2022.2053702
• Turner-McGrievy G, Hutto B, Bernhart JA, Wilson (2021). Comparison of the Diet ID Platform to the Automated Self-administered 24-hour (ASA24) Dietary Assessment Tool for Assessment of Dietary Intake.Journal of the American College of Nutrition, doi: 10.1080/07315724.2021.1887775

• Turner-McGrievy GM, Wilson MJ, Carswell J, Okpara N, Wilcox S, Liese AD, et al. A 12-Week Randomized Intervention Comparing the Healthy US, Mediterranean, and Vegetarian Dietary Patterns of the US Dietary Guidelines for Changes in Body Weight, Hemoglobin A1c, Blood Pressure, and Dietary Quality among African American Adults. The Journal of Nutrition. Published online December 23, 2022. doi:10.1016/j.tjnut.2022.11.020

• Turner-McGrievy GM, Wirth MD, Bernhart JA, Aydin H. The Fasting and Shifted Timing (FAST) of Eating Study: A pilot feasibility randomized crossover intervention assessing the acceptability of three different fasting diet approaches. 2022, 106135.
• Turner-McGrievy G, Wirth MD, Hill KL, Dear ER, Hebert JR. Examining commonalities and differences in food groups, nutrients, and diet quality among popular diets. Clinical Nutrition ESPEN. 2020.
• Wirth MD, Jessup A, Turner-Mcgrievy G, Shivappa N, Hurley TG, Hébert JR. Changes in Dietary Inflammatory Potential Predict Changes in Sleep Quality Metrics, but Not Sleep Duration. Sleep. 2020. doi:10.1093/sleep/zsaa093.

• Wirth MD, Turner-McGrievy GM, Shivappa N, Murphy EA, Hébert JR. Interaction between meal-timing and dietary inflammatory potential on cardiometabolic endpoints. Annals of Epidemiology. 2023;85:132. doi:10.1016/j.annepidem.2023.06.012

• Wirth MD, Zhao L, Turner-McGrievy GM, Ortaglia A. Associations between Fasting Duration, Timing of First and Last Meal, and Cardiometabolic Endpoints in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.Nutrients 2021,13,2686. https:// doi.org/10.3390/nu13082686
• Woolford S, D'Angelo S, Mancano G, Curtis EM, Ashai S, Shivappa N, Hébert J, Crozier SR, Phillips C, Suderman M, Relton C, Cooper C, Harvey NC. Associations between late pregnancy Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII) and offspring bone mass: a meta-analysis of the Southampton Women's Survey (SWS) and the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC). J Bone Miner Res. 2022. https://doi.org/10.1002/jbmr.4623
• Wrottesley SV, Shivappa N, Prioreschi A, Hebert JR, et al.Anti-inflammatory diets reduce the risk of excessive gestational weight gain in urban South Africans from the Soweto First 1000-Day Study (S1000). Eur J Nutr (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-022-02931-x
• Yashpal S, Liese AD, Boucher BA, et al. Metabolomic profiling of the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet provides novel insights for the nutritional epidemiology of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Br J Nutr. 2021;1-29. doi:10.1017/S0007114521003561

• Zhao L, Jin L, Petrick JL, Steck S, et al. Specific botanical groups of fruit and vegetable consumption and liver cancer and chronic liver disease mortality: a prospective cohort study. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Published online December 22, 2022. doi:10.1016/j.ajcnut.2022.12.004

• Zhao L, Kase B, Zheng J, Steck SE. Dietary Patterns and Risk of Lung Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses of Observational Studies. Curr Nutr Rep. Published online April 25, 2023. doi:10.1007/s13668-023-00469-w

• Zhao L, Wirth MD, Petermann-Rocha F, Hebert JR, et al. Diet-Related Inflammation Is Associated with Worse COVID-19 Outcomes in the UK Biobank Cohort. Nutrients. 2023;15(4):884. doi:10.3390/nu15040884

• Zheng J, Zhao L, Dong J, Chen H, Li D, Zhang X, Hassan MM, Steck SE, Li X, Xiang Y-B, Wang H. The role of dietary factors in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease to hepatocellular carcinoma progression: A systematic review. Clinical Nutrition. 2022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clnu.2022.08.018

Research Labs & Centers

• The Cancer Prevention and Control Program
• Behavioral Research in Eating (BRIE) Lab

Community Related Organizations

• Healthy Carolina Farmers Market