Food Ingredient and Health Research Institute
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Principal Investigator
  • Dr. Renee J Dufault
Fort Peck Intervention
Food Ingredient and Health Research Institute
Home
Principal Investigator
  • Dr. Renee J Dufault
Fort Peck Intervention
More
  • Home
  • Principal Investigator
    • Dr. Renee J Dufault
  • Fort Peck Intervention
  • Home
  • Principal Investigator
    • Dr. Renee J Dufault
  • Fort Peck Intervention

Fort Peck Nutritional Epigenetics Project

Collaborating With Food Ingredient and Health Research Institute Means Supporting Your Community

At the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, we collaborated with the community college to develop an online nutritional epigenetics course to serve as an intervention for a clinical trial. The curriculum we developed was culturally competent to meet the needs of the American Indian students. The goals of the intervention study were to determine the impact of dietary inorganic mercury exposure on glucose homeostasis and reduce risk factors for the development of Type-2 Diabetes. We wanted to improve student diet and health outcomes. 

Study Design With Biomarker Collection

Biomarker Collection

In addition to collecting  pre-post intervention diet survey data, we measured pre-post intervention BMI, weight, fasting glucose, insulin and inorganic mercury levels.

Study Results

Dietary Changes

Students who completed the online nutritional epigenetics course significantly improved their diets (p<0.01). They significantly decreased their intake of ultra-processed foods (p<0.01) and significantly increased their intake of whole, unprocessed foods (p<0.01).

Biomarker Changes

Students who took the online nutritional epigenetics course showed significant reductions in their fasting blood glucose levels (p<0.01) and lower levels of inorganic mercury in their blood (p=0.05) compared to the students who did not take the online course.

Student Learning

Students who took the online nutritional epigenetics course were required to develop an educational tool to share what they learned with friends and family as part of a final project. Some students developed informative brochures while others gave PPT presentations.

Major Finding

Blood inorganic mercury is directly associated with glucose levels in the human population!

 To confirm the positive association between blood inorganic mercury and fasting glucose in our students at Fort Peck, we analyzed the CDC’s NHANES data set and found that inorganic mercury levels in the blood of 16,232 Americans were also associated with fasting glucose or sugar levels. What this means is the higher the inorganic mercury levels in our blood, the higher our fasting glucose levels. Higher inorganic blood mercury levels are associated with the development of type-2 diabetes (T2D). 

We presented our findings at the Smithsonian Institute.

Check out this great video at the National Museum of the American Indian!

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