STEINHARDT’S PAREKH RECEIVES GRANT TO STUDY OBESITY AND CANCER MORTALITY

Niyati Parekh, assistant professor of nutrition and public health at the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, was recently awarded a $100,000 grant from the National Cancer Institute to study the links between obesity and cancer mortality.
    Working with co-collaborator, Grace Lu-Yao, a cancer epidemiologist at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Parekh aims to investigate the impact of metabolic syndrome, which includes conditions associated with obesity, such as insulin resistance, high triglyceride levels, hypertension, and others.
    Using data from a national sample of health records compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Parekh is investigating the impact of metabolic syndrome on overall cancer mortality. Secondary aims of the study are to evaluate the impacts of lifestyle risk factors, such as physical activity, low calorie diets, and the use of aspirin, on cancer mortality among individuals with metabolic syndrome.
    The study is the first large, national, longitudinal effort of its kind. Parekh’s findings will be instrumental in designing future intervention trials and will aid in the design of individualized cancer treatments.