My name is Brooke Martin, and I am a Junior Biology major as well as Human Nutrition minor in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences. During the Spring and Fall semesters of 2020 I have worked under the supervision of my faculty advisor, Dr. Jamie I. Baum, in the Human Nutrition and Dietetics department.
My research focuses on the effects of time restricted feeding on glucose and insulin levels, as well as cholesterol and triglyceride levels for reducing type 2 diabetes development risk. Time restricted feeding is a daily fasting regimen where eating occurs only in a 12-hour or less time window. The rest of the day must be spent in a fasting state. The idea behind time restricted feeding is not to cut out certain foods or limit your calories but rather only eating for a certain amount of time each day.
Glucose levels spike every time we ingest food into our bodies. Constantly ingesting food into our bodies lowers our glucose tolerance and can sometimes lead to insulin resistance. Insulin is a hormone that lowers the glucose levels in our body. Incorporation of fasting periods into everyday life can improve insulin sensitivity and stabilize glucose levels in the body. Type 2 diabetes is a disease where the body is resistant to insulin and therefore the glucose levels in the body are usually way higher than they need to be. Time restricted feeding could therefore be an effective way to prevent type 2 diabetes development.
We monitor and document any changes in glucose, insulin, cholesterol, or triglyceride levels in the body. Thirty overweight individuals come to the Center for Human Nutrition every 4 weeks for a total of 12 weeks for measurements through a single finger prick. The Center also checks for any changes in height and body composition to make note of any other positive health benefits that can result from this feeding model.
Dr. Baum has given me a great understanding of the science behind this subject as well as referred me to the best sources in which to further my own research on the subject. She also taught me how to measure body composition using dual x-ray absorptiometry as well as demonstrated how the data would be analyzed.
There is a great real-world application for my research. With obesity rates at an all-time high, chronic diseases are affecting more and more people every year. Type 2 diabetes affects nearly 10% of the American population and is one of the fastest growing chronic diseases. The current treatment for managing type 2 diabetes is medication and a change in diet. This daily fasting regimen can potentially be a much easier diet for people to implement and actually stick to. I hope to pursue a career in medicine one day and want to implement everything I have learned from this research into my decisions in the future.
Although I was thrown a huge curve ball with the pandemic shutting down human research for most of the Spring and all of the Fall semester of 2020, I feel that I have gained a lot from having these extra months to dive deeper into the science behind this research. This further background knowledge of the subject will allow be to dive even deeper into the data I will collect and allow me to be more knowledgeable when I am analyzing that data. I have always known that I was intrigued by nutrition and how it plays one of the biggest factors in human body health. This research grant has allowed me to expand even further from that and find my love for learning the in-depth science behind it. We have received the okay to go ahead with the human trials in January 2021. I am so excited to finally be able continue this research project and eventually write my honors thesis on it, as well as incorporate it into my future.