Faculty

Niyati Parekh

Assistant Professor of Nutrition and Public Health

Niyati Parekh

Phone: 212.998.9008
Email:

Niyati Parekh is a nutritional epidemiologist who researches diet in relation with chronic diseases. She has made important contributions to the relationships of vitamin D to eye health among older adults, as well as in the area of obesity and cancer, for which she has received awards. Dr. Parekh seeks to investigate the impact of obesity and related metabolic abnormalities, lifestyle and genetic factors in relation to cancer development among American adults. Additionally, she is also interested in international health and issues related to immigrant populations in the US. In the past decade, Dr. Parekh has led numerous community outreach activities related to nutrition in disease prevention, in urban and rural settings in India and the US. She has authored several peer-reviewed scientific publications as well as popular press articles to communicate the intricacies of nutrition and health to lay persons. Dr. Parekh received her MS in Foods, Nutrition, and Clinical Dietetics in 1997, and is a credentialed Registered Dietitian from India. In 2005, she received a PhD in Nutritional Sciences and Population Health, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has had 2 years of postdoctoral experience at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Cancer Institute of New Jersey, where she studied lifestyle and obesity in relation with cancer.


Degrees Held

  • B.S. St. Xavier's College, Mumbai, India 1995
    Life Sciences and Biotechnology
  • M.S. Nirmala Niketan College Mumbai, India 1997
    Nutrition
  • Ph.D. University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 2005
    Nutritional Epidemiology
  • Registered Dietitian's Certification (RD) Indian Dietetic Association 1998

Publications

  • Moeller S.M., Parekh N., Blodi B., Chappell R.C., Ritenbaugh C, Mares J.A. “Associations between age-related macular degeneration and lutein and zeaxanthin in the diet and serum in the Carotenoids in Age-Related Eye Disease Study (CAREDS). Arch Ophthalmol. 2006 Aug;124(8):1151-62.
  • Parekh N., Chappell R, Millen A.E, Albert D, Mares J. “Association of Vitamin D and Age-related maculopathy in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III).” Arch Ophthalmol. 2007 May;125(5):661-9.
  • Moeller SM, Voland R, Tinker L, Blodi B, Klein M, Gehrs K, Johnson E, Snodderly M, Wallace R, Chappell RJ, Parekh N, Ritenbaugh C, and Mares JA. “Associations between age-related nuclear cataract and lutein and zeaxanthin in the diet and serum in the Carotenoids in Age-Related Eye Disease Study (CAREDS). Arch Ophthalmol. 2008 Mar;126(3):354-64. PMCID: PMC2562026
  • Parekh N., Lin Y, Marcella SW, Kant AK, Lu-Yao G. Associations of lifestyle and physiological factors with prostate-specific antigen concentrations: evidence from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2001-2004). Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2008 Sep;17(9):2467-72. NIHMSID # 173542
  • Parekh N. Dietary fats and age related macular degeneration. Topics in Clinical Nutrition. October/December 2008: 23(4); 347–356.
  • Parekh N, Okada T, Lu-Yao G. Obesity, insulin resistance and cancer prognosis: implications for practice for providing care among cancer survivors. JADA 2009 Aug; 109 (8): 1364-53. PMCID:PMC2758648.
  • Parekh N, Voland RP, Moeller SM, Blodi BA, Ritenbaugh C, Chappell RJ, Wallace RB, Mares JA, CAREDS Research Study Group. Association between dietary fats and age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in the Carotenoids in Age-Related Eye Disease Study (CAREDS), an ancillary study of the Women’s Health Initiative. Arch Ophthalmol. 2009 Nov;127 (11):1483-93.
  • Fitzgerald, N. Parekh, N. Vegetable intake as a preventive measure against type 2 diabetes and cancer. In: Papareschi A, Eppolito H, eds. Fruit and Vegetable Consumption and Health. Nova Science Publishers, Inc., 2009.
  • Parekh N, Roberts C, Vadiveloo M, Puvananayagam T, Albu JB, and Lu-Yao GL:“Lifestyle, anthropometric and obesity-related physiologic determinants of insulin-like growth factor-1 in the Third National Health And Nutrition Examination Survey.” Ann Epidemiol 2010 Mar;20(3):182-93
  • Parekh N, Lin Y, Hayes RB, Albu, JB, Lu-Yao GL. Longitudinal associations of blood markers of insulin and glucose metabolism and cancer mortality in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Cancer Causes and Control 2010 Apr21(4):631-42.
  • Parekh N. Protective Role of Vitamin D Against Age-Related Macular Degeneration: A Hypothesis. Topics in Clinical Nutrition. Volume 25.4, Nov 2010. No impact factor available.
  • Millen AE, Voland R, Sondel SA, Parekh N, Horst RL, Wallace RB, Hageman GS, Chappell R, Blodi BA, Klein M.L, Gehrs KM, Sarto G.E., Mares JA, for the CAREDS Study Group. ‘Vitamin D Status and Intermediate Age-Related Macular Degeneration in Postmenopausal Women’. Arch Ophthalmol; Scheduled to appear in Jan 2011.
  • Parekh N, Lin Y, DiPaola RS, Marcella S, Lu-Yao GL. Obesity and prostate cancer detection: insights from three national surveys. Am J Med. 2010 Sep;123(9):829-835.
  • Mares JA, Voland R, Adler R, Tinker L, Millen AE, Moeller SM, Blodi B, Gehrs KM, Wallace RB, Chappell RJ, Neuhouser ML, Sarto GE; CAREDS Group* Healthy diets and the subsequent prevalence of nuclear cataract in women. Arch Ophthalmol. 2010 Jun;128(6):738-49. *Parekh N is a member of the CAREDS Research Group.

Presentations

  • 1/2010 ‘Nutrition Transition and the prospect of cancer’, New York University, Non-Infectious disease class, Masters in Global Public Health program
  • 1/2009 ‘Obesity, Insulin Resistance, and Cancer Mortality,’ New York Obesity Group, Columbia University
  • 1/2009 Moderator for Global Health Session on International Food Security Treaty, New York University
  • 4/2008 ‘Obesity and chronic diseases – biological mechanisms and potential interventions’. UMDNJ, Department of family medicine.
  • 12/2006 ‘Vitamin D and eye disease.’ Department of Nutrition, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ
  • 12/2006 ‘Diet and eye disease.’ Department of Nutrition, New York University, NY, NY
  • 7/2006 ‘Obesity and prostate cancer.’ Department of Family Medicine, UMDNJ, Somerset, NJ
  • 12/2005 ‘Association of vitamin D and age-related maculopathy in NHANES III.’ Young Investigators Award Competition, FASEB, San Diego, CA
  • 2/2005 ‘Nutrition in the US vs. India - current issues.’ Nirmala Niketan College, Mumbai, India
  • 12/2004 'Micronutrients and age-related maculopathy.’ Dept. of Population Sciences, UW-Madison. Madison,WI

Courses

  • FOOD-GE 2190 Section 1 - Research Methods Introduction
  • PUHE-UE 1315 - Introduction to Public Health Nutrition
  • NUTR-UE 1187 - International Nutrition
  • NUTR-GE 2187 - Global Issues in Nutrition
  • NUTR-GE 2289 - Advanced Research Seminar in Diet and Cancer

Research Interests

  • Diet, lifestyle and chronic diseases in older adults
  • Nutrition and cancer
  • Obesity, metabolic syndrome, related blood biomarkers and cancer
  • Interrelationships of dietary and genetic factors and cancer
  • Lifestyle and dietary determinants of obesity and the metabolic syndrome

Awards

  • 2002 : The J. Watumull Scholarship
  • 2004 : Recipient for the Nell Mondy Research Scholarship Award
  • 2005 : Finalist for the American Soceity of Nutrition, Young Investigators Award, Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, San Diego
  • 2006 : The Department of Defense postdoctoral fellowship for prostate cancer research
  • 2007 : Gallo Award, Cancer Institute of New Jersey, for outstanding cancer research
  • 2009 : American Soceity of Nutrition award to present at the quart-annual International Congress of Nutrition Bangkok, Thailand