Understanding the relative importance of caloric intake and physical activity, among other factors, for the development of obesity and other chronic conditions remains very important for setting public health priorities and policies, especially in resource-constrained environments. Epidemiologic and global health research on energy intake and energy expenditure, including physical activity, relied on self-reported measures until very recently, often yielding inaccurate outcomes. In the mid-1980’s, the doubly labeled water method for objectively measuring total energy expenditure was adapted for use in humans and we have subsequently employed it in epidemiologic field work in West Africa, the Caribbean, and suburban Chicago.
In this presentation, we will discuss the methodologies and their strengths and limitations that our group and global colleagues have utilized to understand the relationships between energy metabolism and non-communicable diseases over the past 30 years.
Amy Luke obtained her undergraduate degree in Food Science & Human Nutrition from the University of Maine at Orono. She received her doctorate in Human Nutrition & Nutritional Biology from the University of Chicago in 1994, focusing on the objective measurement of energy metabolism and body composition using stable isotopes. She has been at Loyola University Chicago in the Department of Public Health Sciences since, conducting chronic disease epidemiologic research among African-origin populations, as well as community-based and community-engaged health programming in low-resourced communities in western Cook County.
Dr. Luke has spent a significant amount of time conducting field research in Africa (Nigeria, Ghana, Seychelles, and South Africa) and the Caribbean (Jamaica), as well as in her own backyard in the suburbs of Chicago. She is currently an endowed professor of public health and the associate dean for faculty affairs at Loyola’s Parkinson School of Health Sciences and Public Health.
Lauren Carr
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