Nutrition Support Services

Dietary intake is one of the most important influences of health and disease outcomes.

The Nutrition Support Shared Resource (NSSR) provides consultation in the design and implementation of studies addressing dietary intakes or nutritional status. The NSSR has a long history of coordinating nutrition-related studies, such as interventions, cross-sectional studies, and validation studies. The staff has provided education and training, as well as quality control, for multiple studies involving adults, children, and infants. The unit is committed to playing a critical role in the discovery process for mechanisms and pathways of diet’s direct impact on health and disease and has a particular focus on cancer.

Unique to the NSSR is the maintenance of an extensive food and supplement composition database with an emphasis on foods unique to Hawaiʻi and the Pacific.

The NSSR can design and process dietary questionnaires, coordinate nutrition-related studies, conduct dietary assessments, deliver group and individual intervention protocols, and train project staff. The NSSR uses equipment and technology to quantify nutrients (e.g. vitamins, minerals), non-nutritive bioactive compounds (e.g. flavonoids), dietary supplements, and overall dietary patterns (e.g. Healthy Eating Index).

Examples of dietary assessment materials

The NSSR oversees the usage of the UH Cancer Center Translational Research Clinic (TRC), the Metabolic Kitchen, and the Nutrition Education Room through scheduling, monitoring basic supplies, and ensuring compliance for safety. Since actively opening the TRC in 2013, over 18 studies have been completed or are still in progress.

Metabolic Kitchen

Clinic Exam Rooms

Nutrition Education Room