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Alice H. Lichtenstein

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For the novelist, see Alice Lichtenstein.
Alice Lichtenstein
Chest high portrait of woman with white hair wearing suit and pearls seated at a microphone
Lichtenstein is vice chair of the 2015 US Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee.
Alma mater
Known forResearch in diet and heart disease
Scientific career
FieldsNutrition science
InstitutionsTufts University

Alice Hinda Lichtenstein is an American professor and researcher in nutrition and heart disease. In 2006, Shape magazine named Lichtenstein one of ten "Women Who Shaped the World".[1]

Education

Lichtenstein earned a B.S. in nutrition from Cornell University, M.S. in Nutrition from the Pennsylvania State University, and M.S. and D.Sc. in nutritional biochemistry from Harvard University.[1] She completed her post-doctoral training at the Cardiovascular Institute, Boston University School of Medicine.

Positions

Lichtenstein is the Stanley N. Gershoff Professor of Nutrition Science and Policy at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy of Tufts University. She is also director and senior scientist of the Cardiovascular Nutrition Laboratory at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging, and professor of medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine.[2]

Lichtenstein is currently a member of the Food and Nutrition Board (FNB) of the National Academy of Sciences.[1] She served on two Institute of Medicine (IOM) committees, recently as vice chair for Examination of Front-of-Package Nutrient Rating System and Symbols.[2]

Research interests

Lichtenstein has spent her research career assessing the interplay between diet and heart disease risk factors. In her capacity as director of the Cardiovascular Nutrition Laboratory, Lichtenstein oversees research projects on a wide range of nutrition and cardiovascular disease related topics. Her research interests have included trans fatty acids; soy protein and isoflavones; sterol and stanol esters; modified vegetable oils with different fatty acid profiles and glycemic indexes, in postmenopausal females and older males. Investigations have been conducted in animal models, cell systems, humans, and in population-based studies. Systematic review methods are also applied to the field of nutrition.[3]

Diet guidelines for Americans

Lichtenstein was vice-chair of the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services.[2] She also served on the 2000 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee.[2] This committee develops a scientific report that informs the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.[4]

Lichtenstein is also the primary author of the American Heart Association's Diet and Lifestyle Recommendations.[2][5]

Lichtenstein is a frequent contributor to the media, which can sometimes struggle to report nutrition stories accurately when the science is preliminary.[6] For example, she provided a cautionary note to The New York Times when a 2014 meta-analysis found that saturated fat was not implicated in heart disease. She told Anahad O'Connor that it would be unfortunate if the study resulted in people eating too much butter and cheese.[5] NPR said she wrote a letter to the editor[7] at The New York Times correcting Mark Bittman when he announced that "Butter Is Back"[8] and that she cited a 2013 review by the American Heart Association that recommends limiting saturated fat.[9][10] And she explained for The Washington Post that it would be a shame if people overconsumed grass-fed beef in the false hope that it contains a generous amount of omega-3 fatty acids when in fact it contains very little.[11] Also recently she gave a summary of the 2015 scientific report for the U.S. dietary guidelines to Hari Sreenivasan for PBS Newshour.[12]

Publications

Lichtenstein is the author or co-author of nearly three hundred peer-reviewed articles[13] and chapters in thirty-four books.[1]

In 2005 she co-authored Strong Women, Strong Hearts with Miriam E. Nelson and Lawrence Lindner.[14] She is associate editor of the Journal of Lipid Research.

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Curriculum Vitae: Alice Hinda Lichtenstein, D. Sc" (PDF). Tufts University. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Vice Chair: Alice H. Lichtenstein, D.Sc". U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  3. ^ "Alice H Lichtenstein". Tufts University. Retrieved March 26, 2015.
  4. ^ "2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee". Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Retrieved March 16, 2015.
  5. ^ a b O'Connor, Anahad (March 17, 2014). "Study Questions Fat and Heart Disease Link". The New York Times. Retrieved March 15, 2015.
  6. ^ Walter Willett explains that nutrition is important to everyone but the press can be confusing, in: "Interview: Walter Willett, M.D." WGBH Educational Foundation. April 8, 2004. Retrieved March 18, 2015.
  7. ^ Lichtenstein, Alice H. (March 28, 2014). "Eat More Butter and Fat?". The New York Times. Retrieved March 20, 2015.
  8. ^ Bittman, Mark (March 25, 2014). "Butter Is Back". The New York Times. Retrieved March 21, 2015.
  9. ^ Aubrey, Allison (March 31, 2015). "Rethinking Fat: The Case For Adding Some Into Your Diet". NPR. Retrieved March 19, 2015.
  10. ^ Eckel RH; et al. (November 12, 2013). "2013 AHA/ACC Guideline on Lifestyle Management to Reduce Cardiovascular Risk". Circulation. American Heart Association. doi:10.1161/01.cir.0000437740.48606.d1. Retrieved March 19, 2015.
  11. ^ Taspel, Tamar (February 23, 2015). "Is grass-fed beef really better for you, the animal and the planet?". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 17, 2015.
  12. ^ "What you should know about the government's new nutritional guidelines". PBS. February 21, 2015. Retrieved March 14, 2015. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |authors= ignored (help)
  13. ^ "Lichtenstein's Selected Publications". Tufts University. Retrieved March 15, 2015.
  14. ^ Strong Women, Strong Hearts. Putnam Adult. May 5, 2005. ISBN 978-0399152870. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |authors= ignored (help)
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