Johanna Lampe, PhD, RD

Dr. Johanna Lampe is an experimental nutritionist and cancer prevention researcher who studies how one’s diet, particularly the consumption of plant foods, affects cancer risk. She uses nutrition-intervention studies to investigate differences in how people respond to various foods. She also uses such feeding studies to search for biomarkers, or molecular signals, of dietary exposure. Such biomarkers are more accurate than relying on individuals to self-report the foods they eat. Dr. Lampe and colleagues found that for people who are overweight and obese, a “slow-carb” diet rich in slowly digested carbohydrates, such as whole grains, significantly reduced markers of inflammation associated with chronic disease. She also showed that cruciferous vegetables like broccoli increase the activity of enzymes that help break down cancer-causing compounds. Such findings one day may contribute to personalized dietary recommendations to lower cancer risk. Dr. Lampe’s team also studies how bacteria in the intestinal tract influence the risk of colon and breast cancer.