Tom Brenna

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James Thomas Brenna (born October 15, 1959) is an American scientist specializing in analytical chemistry, and in human nutrition and foods, specifically fats. He is a professor of Paediatrics at Dell Medical School, having previously been a professor of human nutrition, chemistry, chemical biology and food science at Cornell University.[1]

Career[edit]

Floyd Landis trials[edit]

Brenna was the key expert witness in the action of the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) against 2006 Tour de France first place finisher Floyd Landis, adjudicated in a hearing of the Tribunal Arbitral du Sport/Court for Arbitration in Sport held in Malibu, California. He testified to the accuracy of Carbon Isotope Ratio (CIR) tests conducted by the French Antidoping laboratory at Châtenay-Malabry.[2][3] Landis conducted a high profile, multimillion dollar defense but lost the 2007 original hearing [4] with the decision relying for technical opinion on Brenna’s testimony.[5] Landis later lost a 2008 de novo case before the American Arbitration Association also relying on Brenna’s testimony[6] and was stripped of his title. Years later Landis revealed he was doping and filed a whistle-blower lawsuit under the federal False Claims Act against Lance Armstrong that was settled with multimillion dollar payments by Armstrong.[7]

DHA in Infant Formula[edit]

Brenna visited the FDA infant formula team in late 2001 to encourage omega-3 DHA to be included in infant formula. A few weeks later the FDA issued its “no questions” letter accepting this suggestion and citing his work.[8]

Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee[edit]

Brenna was a member of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee advising on the 2015 U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans.[9] He was one of four members of the Food Sustainability and Safety subcommittee whose work on sustainability was excluded from consideration by an act of Congress.[10]

Coconut oil[edit]

Comments in the New York Times about the healthfulness of coconut oil in late 2015[11][12] were covered in 200+ newspapers globally. Brenna opined that 21th century virgin coconut oil does not cause heart disease but that earlier coconut oils may cause heart disease due to process contaminants.[13]

Vegetarian gene[edit]

In 2016 he was co-lead of a team that discovered an insertion-deletion polymorphism, rs66698963, is under positive selective pressure depending on whether ancestral diets were primarily animal/seafood-based or plant-based.[14][15][16] Global news widely reported that it would lead to potentially greater risk of disease,[17] though this was corrected later.[18]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Tom Brenna, Ph.D." Dell Medical School. Retrieved 28 March 2024.
  2. ^ Expert Testifies in Landis Doping Case. By EDDIE PELLS. The Washington Post. Wednesday, May 23, 2007; 2:52 PM
  3. ^ Griffiths, Rajendrani Mukhopadhyay and Jennifer (2007-12-01). "The science behind Floyd Landis's guilty verdict". Analytical Chemistry. 79 (23): 8823–8825. doi:10.1021/ac0719960. ISSN 0003-2700.
  4. ^ Doping: Arbitrators find Floyd Landis guilty of doping, The Associated Press has learned. The New York Times, Sept 20, 2007. https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/20/sports/20iht-20dope.7587237.html
  5. ^ The North American Court of Arbitration for Sport/AAA Panel. Arbitration Award, Case No: 30 190 00847 06. September 21, 2007.
  6. ^ Hiltzik, Michael A. (2008-07-01). "Sports court upholds Landis' doping charges". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2024-03-23.
  7. ^ Hart, Matt (2018-04-19). "The Man Who Brought Down Lance Armstrong". The Atlantic. ISSN 2151-9463. Retrieved 2024-03-23.
  8. ^ GRAS Notice No. GRN 000080, Dec 11, 2001, FDA to Mead John Nutritionals.
  9. ^ Scientific Report of the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. https://health.gov/sites/default/files/2019-09/Scientific-Report-of-the-2015-Dietary-Guidelines-Advisory-Committee.pdf
  10. ^ New Dietary Guidelines Will Not Include Sustainability Goal. https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/10/06/446369955/new-dietary-guidelines-will-not-include-sustainability-goal
  11. ^ Rabin, Roni Caryn (2015-12-24). "Ask Well: Is Coconut Oil a Healthy Fat?". Well. Retrieved 2024-03-23.
  12. ^ Is Coconut Oil Good or Bad for You? August 21, 2018 https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/21/well/eat/coconut-oil-good-bad-health.html
  13. ^ Liu et al., Food Chem Toxicol. 2019 May;127:135-142. Glycerol derived process contaminants in refined coconut oil induce cholesterol synthesis in HepG2 cells. doi: 10.1016/j.fct.2019.03.005.
  14. ^ Positive Selection on a Regulatory Insertion–Deletion Polymorphism in FADS2 Influences Apparent Endogenous Synthesis of Arachidonic Acid. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4915354/
  15. ^ "Are we what we eat?". ScienceDaily. Retrieved 2024-03-23.
  16. ^ Nield, David (2016-03-30). "A Vegetarian Diet Could Cause Long-Term Genetic Changes". ScienceAlert. Retrieved 2024-03-23.
  17. ^ "Vegetarian Diet Not So Healthy After All; Could Make Indians More Prone To Heart Disease!". IndiaTimes. 2016-04-11. Retrieved 2024-03-23.
  18. ^ "Vegetarian diet does NOT increase cancer risk: Researchers clarify". The Indian Express. 2016-04-06. Retrieved 2024-03-23.


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