During her summer break, Delaina Sigman was handed a protractor, a pencil, a sheet of paper, and a compass. Then she was told to navigate her way through the wilderness. This was just the beginning of Cadet Summer Training, an experience Sigman participated in as a student in the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s ROTC program.

The Division of Nutritional Sciences (DNS), housed within the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences

The Division of Nutritional Sciences (DNS), housed within the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences

The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has been at the forefront of nutritional science research and education for over 100 years.

ONE MINUTE, wheelchair racer Susannah Scaroni, ’14 ACES, MS ’22 ACES, was pushing through a normal long training session, heading east on Windsor Road not far from campus. The next, she was moving ahead much more quickly than she expected.

It was early morning on Sept. 16, 2021. A month before, Scaroni had been in Tokyo for the Paralympics, where she won a gold medal in the 5,000 meters and a bronze medal in the 800 meters.

When scientists transplanted the gut microbes of aged mice into young “germ-free” mice — raised to have no gut microbes of their own — the recipient mice experienced an increase in inflammation that parallels inflammatory processes associated with aging in humans. Young germ-free mice transplanted with microbes from other young mice had no such increase. 

The findings suggest that changes to the gut microbiome play a role in the systemwide inflammation that often occurs with aging, the researchers said. 

For people whose kidneys don’t function properly, hemodialysis is a lifesaving process. Patients visit dialysis centers multiple times per week, getting hooked up to machines that filter impurities and excess fluid out of their blood. Between sessions, dietary choices — especially sodium intake — determine the amount of fluid patients accumulate, affecting weight gain and overall quality of life. And the more fluid that needs to be taken off, the more difficult the dialysis session.

Early childhood is an important time for learning about nutrition and establishing healthy eating behaviors. Young children rely on parents to provide food options, and the availability of food in the home affects their dietary choices.

March is National Nutrition Month™, an educational and informational campaign sponsored by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. This year’s theme is “Beyond the Table,” encouraging people to think about nutrition from farm to fork, including food production and distribution to grocery stores and farmers markets.