D Enette Larson-Meyer

Assistant Professor

Email: enette@uwyo.edu

Office: (307)766-4378

Fax: 766-5686

Education :

PhD.  Nutrition Sciences /Exercise Physiology – University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), 1998

M.S. Clinical Dietetics/Emphasis in Sports&Exercise – MGH Institute of Health Professions, Boston, 1990

Dietetic Internship – Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Boston, 1988

B.S. Dietetics – University of Wyoming, 1987

Internship – United States Olympic Training Center, Colorado Springs, 1986

Accreditation and Fellowships:

Registered Dietitian – The American Dietetics Association, 1987

Fellow – The American Collect of Sports Medicine, 2002

Professional Experience:

• Assistant Professor – Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Baton Rouge, LA, 2003-2004
• Instructor – Pennington Biomedical Research Center, 2001-2003
• Post Doctoral Research Fellow –Division of Physiology and Metabolism, UAB, 1999-2000
• Sports Nutritionist –UAB Athletic Department, 1995-2000
• Research Dietitian – Clinical Diabetes and Nutrition Section, NIDDK, NIH, Phoenix, 1990-1994
• Research Associate.  Cardiopulmonary Exercise Laboratory, MGH, Boston, 1989-1990
• Diet Research Technician.   Mallinckrodt General Clinical Research Center, MGH, 1988-1990
• Contract Nutritionist. US Army Research Institute For Environmental Medicine, Natick, 1990

Professional Memberships:

• The American College of Sports Medicine  (ACSM)
• North American Association for the Study of Obesity (NAASO)
• The American Dietetics Association (ADA)
• ADA Sports, Cardiovascular and Wellness Nutritionists Dietetic Practice Group (SCAN)
• ADA Vegetarian Nutrition Dietetic Practice Group
• ADA Nutrition Research Dietetic Practice Group
• ADA Women & Reproductive Nutrition
• The American Medical Athletic Association
• The Vegetarian Resource Group

·        Women’s Sports Foundation

Instruction:

Maternal, Infant & Adolescent Nutrition (FCSC 3140), Community Nutrition (FCSC 3147), Sports Nutrition and Metabolism (FCSC 3145), Therapeutic Nutrition (FCSC 4146)

Research Interests:

My overall research interests are in the health and performance of active individuals (particularly females) at all stages of the lifecycle and at all levels of performance, from the casual exerciser to the elite athlete. I am particularly interested in: skeletal muscle and whole body metabolism, its relationship to food intake, and its influence on both disease prevention and athletic performance; and the benefits of exercise on overall health. Recently, my research has focused on: a) the dietary fat and carbohydrate recommendations for trained individuals; b) the use of magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) and electron microscopy (EM) morphometric procedures as tools for studying skeletal muscle metabolism; c) the laboratory assessment of endurance running performance; and d) the benefits of exercise on overall health in women after child bearing (i.e., the postpartum period).

Dietary Fat Requirements of Endurance-Trained Athletes. It is generally accepted knowledge that intramyocellular lipids (IMCL) serve as an important fuel source during prolonged moderate-intensity exercise. However, it is not yet established whether athletes have a certain fat requirement that would promote optimal performance or health by influencing (among other things) IMCL stores. My initial studies in the area found that IMCL stores are reduced by a 2-hour bout of moderate running and that IMCL recovery is dependent on the fat content of the post-exercise recovery diet. Current research in my laboratory is attempting to determine whether differences in IMCL in response to differences in dietary fat intake results in differences in fat metabolism and endurance performance. Future studies will continue investigating how energy and/or macronutrient intake influences health and performance in active individuals.

Magnetic Resonsnce Spectroscopy (MRS) and Electron Microscopy (EM) for Assessing Human Skeletal Muscle Metabolism. MRS is a non-invasive technique that allows for the in vivo study of skeletal muscle metabolism; while EM is a powerful imaging technique for assessing substrate storage and mitochondrial “density” in vitro from a muscle biopsy sample. Much of my research has involved employing ³¹P and ¹H MRS to assess: a)  the bioenergetic state of exercising skeletal muscle in recreational athletes fed substrate altered diets; b) oxidative and non-oxidative metabolism in relation to obesity susceptibility, weight reduction, endurance training and exercise-induced muscle damage (see #1, #2, #3); c) muscle lipid stores in endurance athletes in response to prolonged running and fat-altered diets; and d) muscle and liver lipid stores in relation to insulin resistance. My resent research has been employing EM morphometric procedures to assess skeletal muscle lipid volume and mitochondria lipid contact. 

Assessment of Endurance Performance. Accurate assessment of endurance performance in a laboratory is difficult and is often limited by the reliability and applicability of the test to “real life” sports performance. Recent work in my laboratory has focused on establishing a highly reliable and valid measurement of endurance running performance. Thus far, we have determined that a laboratory simulated 10-k performance run on a treadmill following a 90-min preload run (at 65% VO₂max) is highly reproducible (CV = 1%) and may also be a good indicator of race performance. Future interests include conducting further evaluations on this performance test, and employing it in future studies assessing endurance running performance.

Benefits of Exercise on Overall Health in Postpartum Women. Epidemiological studies suggest that childbearing may contribute to the development of obesity. While regular exercise participation is likely to have many important benefits after childbirth, research in this area is lacking (see #4, #5). A recently initiated pilot project (nearing completion at the Pennington Center) is determining whether lactating and non-lactating women who participate in regular postpartum exercise experience a greater loss of pregnancy-associated body weight/body fat and have higher cardiovascular fitness and overall strength than sedentary controls, and to also assess the role of ghrelin in postpartum body weight regulation. My future plans include pursuing studies looking at the benefits of exercise training and lactation on overall health in postpartum women.

Selected Manuscripts:

1.         Larson-Meyer, D. E. Effect of Postpartum Exercise on Mothers and their Offspring: A Review of the Literature. Obes Res. 10:841-853, 2002.

2.         Larson-Meyer, D. E. The Effects of Regular Postpartum Exercise on Mother and Child. International SportMed Journal. 4: www.ismj.com/ismj/frames.asp, 2003.

3.         Larson-Meyer, D. E., G. R. Hunter, and B. R. Newcomer. Influence of endurance running and recovery diet on intramyocellular lipid content in women: A ¹H-NMR study. Am J Physiol. 282:E95-E106, 2002.

4.         Larson-Meyer, D. E., G. R. Hunter, C. A. Trowbridge, J. C. Turk, J. M. Ernest, S. L. Torman, and P. A. Harbin. The effect of creatine supplementation on muscle strength and body composition during off-season training in female soccer players. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 14:434-442, 2000.

5.         Larson-Meyer, D. E., B. R. Newcomer, G. R. Hunter, H. P. Hetherington, and R. L. Weinsier. ³¹P MRS measurement of mitochondrial function in skeletal muscle: reliability, workload sensitivity and relation to whole body oxygen uptake. NMR Biomed. 13:14-27, 2000.

6.         Larson-Meyer, D. E., B. R. Newcomer, G. R. Hunter, D. R. Joanisse, R. L. Weinsier, and M. M. Bamman. Relation between in vivo and in vitro measurements of skeletal muscle oxidative metabolism. Muscle Nerve. 24:1665-1676, 2001.

7.         Larson-Meyer, D. E., B. R. Newcomer, G. R. Hunter, J. E. McLean, H. P. Hetherington, and R. L. Weinsier. Effect of weight reduction, obesity predisposition, and aerobic fitness on skeletal muscle mitochondrial function. Am J Physiol. Endocrinol. Metab. 278:E153-E161, 2000.

8.         Larson, D. E., R. T. Ferraro, D. S. Robertson, and E. Ravussin. Energy metabolism in weight-stable postobese individuals. Am J Clin Nutr. 62:735-739, 1995.

9.         Larson, D. E., R. L. Hesslink, M. I. Hrovat, R. S. Fishman, and D. M. Systrom. Dietary effects on exercising muscle metabolism and performance by ³¹P-MRS. J Appl Physiol. 77:1108-1115, 1994.

10.       Larson, D. E., G. R. Hunter, M. J. Williams, T. Kekes-Szabo, I. Nyikos, and M. I. Goran. Dietary fat in relation to body fat and intraabdominal adipose tissue: a cross-sectional analysis. Am J Clin Nutr. 64:677-684, 1996.

11.       Larson, D. E., B. R. Newcomer, G. R. Hunter, J. E. McLean, H. P. Hetherington, and R. L. Weinsier. Effect of weight reduction, obesity predisposition and aerobic fitness on skeletal muscle maximal oxidative phosphorylation by ³¹P-MRS. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 31:S242, 1999.

12.       Russell, R. D., S. M. Redmann, E. Ravussin, G. R. Hunter, and D. E. Larson-Meyer. Reproducibility of Endurance Performance on a Treadmill Using a Preloaded Time Trial. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 36:717-724, 2004.

Books and Chapters:

• Larson DE. Vegetarian Athletes.  In: Dunford M, ed. Sports Nutrition: A Guide for the Professional Working with Active People. 4th Edition. Chicago, IL: The American Dietetic Association (in press)
• Larson DE, Niemeyer, MH. Optimal Nutrition for Active Vegetarians and Vegetarian Athletes.  In: Carlson P, ed. Nutritional Aspects of Health Benefits of a Vegetarian Diet: The University of Illinois Press (in press)
• Larson-Meyer DE. Optimal Nutrition and Hydration for the Volleyball Athlete.  In: Reeser J and Bahr R, eds. Volleyball. Handbook of Sports Medicine and Science, An International Olympic Committee Medical Commission Publication. Blackwell Publishing 2003; 45-57.

Grants (Current and In Progress):

NIH (NIDDK) KO1 DK6208, PI, July 1, 2003 – February 28, 2006

“Impact of diet on intramyocellular lipid, endurance performance and insulin sensitivity” K01 mentored scientist development grant.

NIH RO1 HD41071-01, Co-investigator; Melinda Sothern, PI, September 24, 2004 – August 31, 2006 “Insulin Sensitivity in Children with Low Birth Weight”

NIH RO1 HD049046-01, Co-investigator; Melinda Sothern, PI, May16, 2005 – Feb 28, 2010 “Mechanisms for the Metabolic Syndrome in African American Youth” 

PBRC Division of Obesity and Metabolic Diseases Pilot Project Grant, PI, Oct 1, 2003 – June 30, 2004 “Effect of regular postpartum exercise on body weight and overall fitness”

NIDDK 1R01DK/HL60412-01, Co-investigator; Eric Ravussin, PI, Sept 30, 2001 – August 31, 2006

“Fat Cell Size, Muscle Lipid Infiltration and Insulin Resistance”

1 U0 AG20478-0, Co-investigator; Eric Ravussin, PI, March 15, 2002 – February 28, 2009

“Metabolic adaptation to two-year calorie restriction”
 

Personal Interests

• Endurance Running

• Running after my 3-children

• Irish Music and Dance