Grant: Operating Grant-PA: INMD Start Up Funds (bridge funding) - Assistant Professors

Protein is a key component of the diet which allows growth and maintenance of health. All body proteins are made up of 20 amino acids. Among these 20 amino acids there are 9 amino acids, which our body cannot make, and therefore must come from food sources, and are called essential amino acids. The rest of the 11 amino acids can be made in our body if there is enough calories and protein in our food. But under some conditions, such as infants, people with disease, pregnant women, many of these 11 amino acids cannot be made in the body, and must come from food as well, and are then called conditionally essential amino acids. Until recently, studying pregnant women and their protein (amino acid) needs has been difficult, because previous methods require invasive techniques and week-long test diets which could harm the actively growing fetus. We have recently started to use a very minimally invasive state-of-the-art method, using stable isotopes and collection of breath samples in women during early pregnancy (11-20 weeks) and during late pregnancy (31-40 weeks). Stable isotopes are completely safe, and these methods are rapid and quick and require only one day of the test diets. We are in now in a position to study the different conditionally essential amino acid needs during different stages of pregnancy which will help in making diet recommendations to make sure both mother and baby are actively growing, and have a healthy, successful pregnancy.