NFS 402 Principles of Nutrition Research Exam 2
Steven Trasino, MSc, Ph.D. Spring 2017
Please read all questions carefully. Please submit a hardcopy of Exam #2 by the last day of class on May 25r,
Room SB218 @ 1:10 pm.
Evaluation of A Research Paper (15 pts)
Choose a research article from a peer-reviewed journal examining the relationship between diet and health.
The journal you select MUST be indexed on PubMed. Please provide the citation of the article you are
analyzing. (Reviews and Meta-Analysis Papers are not permitted)
Answer the following 3 questions thoroughly BUT on one SINGLE SHEET OF PAPER (points off if > 1 page).
One or two sentence answers will not be accepted. You must demonstrate that you have a thorough
understanding of the paper. (150 words maximum per response)
1) Explain in detail what is the purpose of this research study and what are the key findings? (5 pts)
2) Did the authors present sufficient data to support the hypothesis? Explain how they did OR did not
present data which supported the hypothesis (5 pts)
3) Propose a new study design that would be a logical follow-up study. It must be a comprehensive and
specific follow-up study design that enhances the research. If you choose a less rigid study design you
will lose points. (You cannot just increase the # of subjects) (5 pts)
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Short Answers Questions (5 pts each). If you include citations to support your responses for any of the
short answers, they must be in AJCN format.
1. List and briefly explain two (2) clear advantages that a 24 hour Diet Diary Recall has over a Food
Frequency Questionnaire with respect to dietary assessment.
(1)______________________________________________________________________
(2) _____________________________________________________________________
2. Describe two (2) biomarkers used to validate information on dietary intake obtained from recalls, FFQ
or diet diaries AND FOR EACH tell what information (e.g. on the questionnaire) is specifically being
validated.
(1)______________________________________________________________________
(2) _____________________________________________________________________2
3. Describe fetal origins of life theory of nutritional epigenetics and how this might influence the outcome
of a nutrition RCT study. (150 words max)
4. Briefly describe two approaches for undertaking a nutritional genetics prospective cohort study and
the limitations of each. (150 words max)
5. You are a registered dietician nutritionist and your client has come for your advice because they have
completed a home DNA mutation kit (i.e. 23 and me) and discovered they are heterozygous for a gene
variant that alters the function of a protein involved in carbohydrate (CHO) metabolism. They are very
distressed because in some population studies this gene variant is linked with increased risk for cancer.
The kit suggests they should adopt a high protein, low carbohydrate, moderate fat diet to mitigate their
risk for cancer. Using the current best understanding of dietetics, nutrigenetics, and research, provide a
rationale for whether they should or should not follow the advice of the kit. (150 words max.)
6. List and briefly explain two (2) advantages and two (2) disadvantages for using animal models in
nutrition related research studies.
7. List and describe the three guiding principles put forward on the ethics involved in the use of animals
in research.
8. What is meant by each of the following (below) for research using animal models of human disease,
and what are the implications of a high and low degree for each in interpreting results from an animal
nutrition study?
Internal validity ________________________________________________________________
External validity _________________________________________________________________
9. You are doing a human study on the effect of fish oils on risk of heart attack. Instead of screening each
patient for artery plaque formation (risk for a heart attack), it is cheaper to use three blood biomarkers
that should predict risk of a heart attack occurring. You complete the study but find no differences in
the levels of your biomarkers between control and treated groups. What are three possible reasons
why your biomarkers might have confounded your results? (150 words max)
10. You are investigating the effect of a ketogenic diet on the antioxidant defense in humans.
a. List two (2) potential exclusion criteria for your subjects and justify each.
b. Describe one effective means of assessing dietary compliance in this study and justify its use.