2025 News Feed
Pennington Biomedical Researchers to Present at NUTRITION 2025 Conference in Orlando
Researchers from Pennington Biomedical Research Center are scheduled to present their research findings at NUTRITION 2025, the annual flagship meeting for the American Society of Nutrition, or ASN, taking place in Orlando, Florida, May 31 – June 3.
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Dr. Jacob Mey Discusses Using Your Unique Biology and Goals to Determine YOUR Best Meal Plan
What if your diet was as unique to you as your own biology, environment, socio-economic factors, individual preferences, and goals? Pennington Biomedical Assistant Professor Jacob Mey, PhD, RD posed this exact question to those gathered at the most recent Scientific Dinner hosted by Pennington Biomedical Research Foundation.
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Pennington Biomedical Welcomes Dr. Stefan Pasiakos as Director of the Center for Human Performance Optimization
Pennington Biomedical Research Center is pleased to announce that Stefan Pasiakos, PhD, has joined the faculty as Professor and Director of Human Performance Optimization. In this role, Dr. Pasiakos will lead groundbreaking research aimed at enhancing human performance and physiology across diverse environments – from the battlefield to deep space.
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Pennington Biomedical Highlights How Cellular Quality Control Contribute to Insulin Resistance Related to Type 2 Diabetes
Researchers at Pennington Biomedical Research Center have revealed critical insights into how impaired mitochondrial dynamics and quality control mechanisms in skeletal muscle influence insulin sensitivity in patients with Type 2 Diabetes, or T2D. The study, titled "Deubiquitinating Enzymes Regulate Skeletal Muscle Mitochondrial Quality Control and Insulin Sensitivity in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes," was recently published in the Journal of Cachexia, Sarcopenia and Muscle.
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Dr. Adithya Hari Joins Pennington Biomedical as Physician/Nuclear Oncologist, Adds to Center’s Strategic Expansion of Cancer Metabolism Program
Pennington Biomedical Research Center is pleased to announce the arrival of Dr. Adithya Hari, MD, as Assistant Professor and Physician/Nuclear Oncologist in the Division of Clinical Science, effective April 21. Dr. Hari’s recruitment represents a strategic expansion of Pennington Biomedical’s research capacity in cancer metabolism and nuclear medicine and was a collaborative effort involving Pennington Biomedical partners Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center, Louisiana Cancer Research Center, and LSU Health New Orleans.
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Long-Term Benefits of Lifestyle and Metformin Interventions in Reducing Type 2 Diabetes Over 21 Years in the U.S. Diabetes Prevention Program Study
The U.S. Diabetes Prevention Program, or DPP, reported on April 28 the 21-year follow-up of this randomized clinical trial showing that the original intensive lifestyle intervention reduced the development of diabetes by 24% and metformin reduced diabetes development by 17%. The DPP had previously showed that after the first 3 years of study, the intensive lifestyle, aimed at moderate weight loss and increased physical activity, and the medication metformin reduced the onset of type 2 diabetes by 58% and 31%, respectively, compared with a placebo medicine. All participants were adults at high risk of developing diabetes.
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United States Sees Disproportionate Increase in Body Mass Index Rates of More Than 60
In the past 20 years, the average rate of obesity among adults in the United States has risen by approximately 30 percent, but the rate of those with the most severe forms of obesity, or those with a body mass index, or BMI, of more than 60 kg/m2, increased by 210 percent. In a recently published research letter in the prestigious medical journal The Lancet: Diabetes & Endocrinology, researchers from Pennington Biomedical analyzed national health data from 2001 through 2023, and discovered the alarming increase in the numbers of patients with the most severe forms of obesity.
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Pennington Biomedical Research Center Investigates Tirzepatide's Role in Weight Loss and Metabolic Health
Researchers at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center conducted a first-of-its-kind study to provide insights into the mechanisms of action of tirzepatide – a drug known as Zepbound™ – on weight loss with respect to energy expenditure, fat oxidation and calorie intake. The study, “Tirzepatide did not impact metabolic adaptation in people with obesity, but increased fat oxidation,” published in Cell Metabolism, showed that tirzepatide decreased participants’ calorie intake at lunch/dinner by reducing appetite while increasing fat oxidation, thus helping participants to lose weight. However, the drug did not decrease the slowing down of their metabolic rate usually observed with weight loss.
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Pennington Biomedical's 2025 Bray Obesity Symposium to Offer On-Demand Continuing Education for Physicians
The 2025 Bray Obesity Symposium welcomes all health physicians and researchers interested in the latest in metabolic health to register for the on-demand online offerings. The online-only content is available to access upon registration, and the symposium has been designated by the American Board of Obesity Medicine, or ABOM, as a Group One Primary Medicine Continuing Medical Education partner.
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The Metabolic Demands of Nursing Drive Hormonal Adaptations in Mothers
Nursing poses major metabolic demands on mothers, to which they respond by eating more and saving energy to sustain milk production. There are significant hormonal changes during lactation, but how they lead to metabolic adaptations in nursing mothers remained unclear. In this study, which appeared in Nature Metabolism, leading researchers at Baylor College of Medicine and Pennington Biomedical Research Center uncovered a mechanism that connects prolactin, estrogen, the brain and metabolic adaptations during lactation.
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