Arkansas Children’s Nutrition Center15 Children’s Way Little Rock Arkansas 72202

A Word from the Director...

Our Children, Our NutritionA publication of Arkansas Children’s Nutrition CenterVolume 17

2014 marks the twentieth birthday of the Arkansas Children’s Nutrition Center (ACNC), and throughout this year, we will celebrate with a look back on the history of the Center. The ACNC is truly a unique resource for the State of Arkansas that would not exist without the amaz-ing commitment of Arkansas Children’s Hospital, the Arkansas families who have participated in our studies, and the myriad of supporters who have contributed to our development in so many meaningful ways. The ACNC is one of six in the National Human Nutrition Research Centers (HNRC) Pro-gram funded through the United States Depart-ment of Agriculture (USDA). The HNRC Program started in the 1890’s with the establishment of the first center in Beltsville, Maryland. Today, its mission is to “define the role of food and food components in optimizing health throughout the life cycle for all Americans by conducting high national priority research.” HNRC research has basically been delineated by the Life Cycle theme, with the Centers at Little Rock and Hous-ton being devoted to child development; those at Davis, CA, Grand Forks, ND and Beltsville, MD being focused on mid-life adults; and research in Boston addressing nutrition and health in ag-ing adults. Interestingly, the FY13 budget for the HNRC Program was $86M, compared to more than $2.5B listed for nutrition research within the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Given this large NIH investment in nutrition research, one might ask why human nutrition research is also funded by the USDA, which is a department known for its agriculture and land use programs.

The initial reasons for establishing human

nutrition research in the USDA were probably

because agriculture produces the food essential

for human growth, development and health,

and it seemed logical that research on foods,

nutrient requirements and health benefits of

foods should also be at the USDA. However,

later as biomedical research at the NIH contin-

ued to grow, it became clear that essentially all

human nutrition research within NIH was aimed

at the diagnosis and treatment of diseases,

rather than expanding our knowledge of the

role food, food components and nutritional

status plays in body functions and maintain-

ing health status to prevent diseases. Few NIH

resources were made available to develop an

understanding of the nutrient requirements

for human development or aging. For example,

as infant formulas started to become popular,

insufficient information was available to know

what the composition of formulas should be

to promote healthy development and prevent

developmental disorders. NIH was not funding

this type of research and thus the HNRC pro-

gram started to develop food-based approaches

to human development, maintaining health and

preventing disease throughout the lifecycle.

In the insert of this newsletter, we

detail important facts about the ACNC; its past,

present and future hope for the children of Ar-

kansas and the world. This is the first in a series

of articles to highlight research conducted in

the ACNC’s first twenty years. Thanks for help-

ing us celebrate the twentieth birthday of the

ACNC.

Winter 2014

Fall Festival Fun

Special 20th Birthday Edition

Volume 17

A History of

Changing Science, Changing Lives

1980’s

Dr. Robert Fiser, Chair-man of the UAMS Department of Pediatrics begins planning for a state-of-the-art pediatric research program at ACH and a national human nutrition research center for children in Arkansas

1997 A new ACNC building opens its’ doors with more than 25,000 sq ft of clinical research space containing a live-in unit, outpatient unit, clinical nutrition lab and a new human brain development unit that allowed ACNC to begin clinical studies in an area unique to the Human Nutrition Research Centers Program, “understanding the effects of non-nutritive, bioactive dietary factors on human development and disease prevention”

1986

Dr. Thomas Badger is recruited from Har-vard Medical School to help build a nationally competitive pediatric research program (later to be the ACHRI) and to develop a national chil-dren’s nutrition center. His research group is housed at UAMS until new facilities are built at ACH

1995 Clinical research on child brain development begins in temporary facilities in the ACH Sturgis building under the direction of Dr. Roscoe Dykman in collaboration with Developmental Pedia-trician Dr. Pat Casey

2000USDA/ARS scientist, Dr. Ron Prior, joins ACNC and becomes the most highly published ARS scientist

Dr. Terry Pivik joins ACNC as Director of the Human Brain Develop-ment Laboratory

1989Arkansas Children’s Hos-pital Research Institute (ACHRI) is established for UAMS pediatric research faculty who are located on ACH campus

Dr. Badger becomes first ACHRI President

1990ACH buys old Baptist Hospital immediately ad-jacent to ACH and deeds the Surgery/Radiology building to ACHRI to be renovated for research

1994 Congress competitive-ly awards the Arkan-sas Children’s Nutri-tion Center to ACH

ACNC is Born!

1996 Dr. Badger and his ACNC research group move into the newly renovat-ed ACHRI research building

2002 Enrollment begins for the Beginnings Study, a longitudinal study of health con-sequences of early diet in which breast and formula-fed infants are studied from age 3 months through age 6 years

Winter 2014

2013 Dr. Nianbai Fang joins the ACNC as the Director of the Analytical Core.

Drs. Laxmi Yeruva, Roger Rank and Ester Prince de-velop the Gastrointestinal Development unit

Dr. Elisabet Borsheim joins the ACNC from Norway (via Galveston, TX) to es-tablish the Energy Metabo-lism and Physical Activity Units Research Program

2004

ACH breaks ground for a $17 million expansion which includes 36,000 sq ft of ACHRI space and a 2nd floor (>25,000 sq ft) to the ACNC building, allowing all research teams to be housed in one building

2010Enrollment begins for the Glowing Study, a longitudinal study of maternal programming of fetal metabolism in which Dr. Aline Andres is the lead scientist

2003

Dr. Kartik Shankar joins ACNC and would later be-come Director of the Molec-ular Genomics Core focusing on genomics research

ACNC begins studies of pregnancy, fetal/neonatal development

Dr. Martin Ronis named As-sociate Director of the Basic Sciences Lab

2008 Dr. Shankar publishes results on maternal programming of fetal metabolism which later leads to the Glowing Study

Dr. Aline Andres ap-pointed Director of the Human Studies Core

2011 Mario Cleves joins the ACNC to de-velop the Statistical Core

Dr. Horacio Gomez-Acevedo is brought on board to develop the Bioinformatics Unit

2014Exercise Physiology Lab opens!

2005 Jin-Ran Chen joins the ACNC and establishes the Bone Growth and Develop-ment Unit

2001Dr. Martin Ronis becomes Director of the Analytical Chemistry Core

2006 Dr. Badger’s group moves to the new 2nd floor

15 Children’s WayLittle Rock, Arkansas 72202

Changing Science, Changing Lives

Glowing Study The purpose of this study is to learn how the health of a mom at conception affects the health of her child. Families are followed through pregnancy and until the child is 2 years old.

Qualifications Women must be less than 10‐weeks pregnant or planning to become pregnant with their second child. Moms must be healthy at conception and meet specific entry criteria.

Compensation Monetary compensation is provided, as well as diapers for one year.

To learn more: 501-364-3309

email: acncstudies@

uams.edu

Currently Enrolling:

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Our Children, Our Nutritionis published by

Arkansas Children’s Nutrition Center15 Children’s Way

Little Rock, Arkansas 72202(501)364-3309

www.arkansaschildrensnutritioncenter.com

Send comments or change of address information to acncstudies@uams.edu

Editor: Amanda Garner, B.S. Contributors: Aline Andres, Ph.D. Christine Alongi, M.S., R.D. Thomas Badger, Ph.D.

Arkansas Children’s Nutrition Center (ACNC) is part of the National Human Nutrition Research Centers Program funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service. It is housed on the campus of one of the ten largest children’s hospitals in the United States. ACNC is a partnership between the USDA, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, the Arkansas Children’s Hospital Research Institute and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.

fMRI StudyThis is a short-term study designed to look at how the food kids ate as babies affects how they think today. Participants attend up to three study visits on the campus of Arkansas Children’s Hospital.

QualificationsChildren participating in this study must be healthy, between the ages of 7½ and 8½ and have been fed mostly breast milk, milk-based formula or soy-based formula from birth until their first birthday.

CompensationThose completing each visit will receive mon-etary compensation.