Maret G. Traber | |
---|---|
Born | 1950 |
Spouse | Biff Traber |
Academic background | |
Education | BSc, Nutrition and Food Science, 1972, PhD, Nutrition, 1976, University of California, Berkeley |
Thesis | Cholesterol absorption: a mechanism for control of cholesterol pool size in cholesterol fed guinea pigs. (1976) |
Academic work | |
Institutions | Linus Pauling Institute Oregon State University New York University Grossman School of Medicine Rutgers University |
Main interests | bioavailable vitamin E |
Maret Gillett Traber (born 1950) is an American research biochemist. She is the Ava Helen Pauling Professor at the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University.
Traber was born in Stockton,California in 1950 to a milkman father and Estonian immigrant mother. [1] She attended the University of California,Berkeley for her Bachelor of Science and PhD in nutrition during the 1970s. [2] Upon graduating,she followed her husband Biff to New Jersey and accepted a part time position assisting graduate students at Rutgers University. [1]
Following her nine-month stint at Rutgers,Traber became a research scientist at the New York University Grossman School of Medicine. [1] While at NYU Grossman,she became interested in Vitamin E research as its deficiencies were attributed to neurological disorders. [3] Traber worked with a research team to study low-density lipoprotein receptors in individuals suffering from inherited disorders of metabolic diseases. This led Traber and her colleagues to begin investigating the absorption and transport of Vitamin E. [1]
Traber remained in New York for 17 years before becoming an associate research biochemist at her alma mater. [2] In this role,her research team found evidence that gamma-tocopherol played a crucial and complementary role in the body similar to those provided by vitamin E supplements with alpha-tocopherol. [4] In 1998,Traber accepted a tenure-track position at Oregon State University to explore vitamin E metabolism and its role in degenerative diseases. [5]
Upon joining the faculty at Oregon State University,Traber was appointed to the Panel on Antioxidants and Related Nutrients,Food and Nutrition Board for the National Academy of Sciences. In this role,she helped raise the Recommended Dietary Allowance of vitamin E to 15 milligrams. [6] By 2005,Traber continued to tout the benefits of Vitamin E and became the principal investigator on a study examining its benefits for athletes. Her research team examined the benefits of vitamin E supplements for runners in a 50-kilometre ultramarathon and found that they did not experience the usual increase in lipid oxidation. [7] She also disputed the results of a 10-year study of women over 45 who took vitamin E that found it was ineffective at preventing heart disease. Traber argued that they did not show there was a 34 per cent reduction in heart attacks and a 49 per cent reduction in cardiovascular deaths. [8] She continued to study the effects of Vitamin E on children and in 2010,led a clinical study showing a possible link between peripheral neuropathy and vitamin E deficiencies. She reached this conclusion by analysing eight children with third-degree burns who had lost almost half of their stored vitamin E despite being given a high-calorie diet that contained about 150 percent of the recommended daily allowance of the vitamin. [3]
Following her promotion to an OSU Endowed Chair position, [1] Traber found that vitamin E improve mental acuity tests and had less of the brain shrinkage typical of Alzheimer's disease. [9] By 2013,Traber gained recognition for "pioneering the use of deuterium-labeled Vitamin E for studies evaluating Vitamin E status in humans." [10] As such,she received the DSM Nutritional Sciences Award for her "lifetime commitment and scientific achievements in the field of vitamin E research." [11] She also earned the 2013 Pfizer Consumer Healthcare Nutritional Sciences Award in recognition of recent investigative contributions of significance to the basic understanding of human nutrition. [10]
As a result of her studies into evaluating vitamin E status in people using stable isotopes,Traber received the Medical Research Foundation of Oregon's 2021 Discovery Award. [12] [13] She was also elected a Fellow of the American Society for Nutrition Foundation for "shedding light on key mechanisms for the regulation of vitamin E bioavailability,transport and antioxidant activity." [14]
Traber and her husband Biff have one daughter together. [15]
Linus Carl Pauling was an American chemist,biochemist,chemical engineer,peace activist,author,and educator. He published more than 1,200 papers and books,of which about 850 dealt with scientific topics. New Scientist called him one of the 20 greatest scientists of all time,and as of 2000,he was rated the 16th most important scientist in history. For his scientific work,Pauling was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1954. For his peace activism,he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1962. He is one of five people to have won more than one Nobel Prize. Of these,he is the only person to have been awarded two unshared Nobel Prizes,and one of two people to be awarded Nobel Prizes in different fields,the other being Marie Curie.
Corvallis is a city and the county seat of Benton County in central western Oregon,United States. It is the principal city of the Corvallis,Oregon Metropolitan Statistical Area,which encompasses all of Benton County. As of the 2020 United States Census,the population was 59,922. Corvallis is the location of Oregon State University and Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center. Corvallis is the westernmost city in the contiguous 48 states with a population larger than 50,000.
Vitamin E is a group of eight fat soluble compounds that include four tocopherols and four tocotrienols. Vitamin E deficiency,which is rare and usually due to an underlying problem with digesting dietary fat rather than from a diet low in vitamin E,can cause nerve problems. Vitamin E is a fat-soluble antioxidant which may help protect cell membranes from reactive oxygen species. Worldwide,government organizations recommend adults consume in the range of 3 to 15 mg per day. As of 2016,consumption was below recommendations according to a worldwide summary of more than one hundred studies that reported a median dietary intake of 6.2 mg per day for alpha-tocopherol.
Tocopherols are a class of organic compounds comprising various methylated phenols),many of which have vitamin E activity. Because the vitamin activity was first identified in 1936 from a dietary fertility factor in rats,it was named tocopherol,from Greek τόκοςtókos 'birth' and φέρεινphérein 'to bear or carry',that is 'to carry a pregnancy',with the ending -ol signifying its status as a chemical alcohol.
A nutrient is a substance used by an organism to survive,grow,and reproduce. The requirement for dietary nutrient intake applies to animals,plants,fungi,and protists. Nutrients can be incorporated into cells for metabolic purposes or excreted by cells to create non-cellular structures,such as hair,scales,feathers,or exoskeletons. Some nutrients can be metabolically converted to smaller molecules in the process of releasing energy,such as for carbohydrates,lipids,proteins,and fermentation products,leading to end-products of water and carbon dioxide. All organisms require water. Essential nutrients for animals are the energy sources,some of the amino acids that are combined to create proteins,a subset of fatty acids,vitamins and certain minerals. Plants require more diverse minerals absorbed through roots,plus carbon dioxide and oxygen absorbed through leaves. Fungi live on dead or living organic matter and meet nutrient needs from their host.
Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant research university based in Corvallis,Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the seventh-largest engineering college in the nation for 2023. Undergraduate enrollment for all colleges combined averages around 35,000,making it the state's largest university. Out-of-state students make up over one-quarter of undergraduates and an additional 5,500 students are engaged in graduate coursework through the university. Since its founding,over 272,000 students have graduated from OSU. It is classified among "R1:Doctoral Universities –Very high research activity".
Orthomolecular medicine is a form of alternative medicine that aims to maintain human health through nutritional supplementation. The concept builds on the idea of an optimal nutritional environment in the body and suggests that diseases reflect deficiencies in this environment. Treatment for disease,according to this view,involves attempts to correct "imbalances or deficiencies based on individual biochemistry" by use of substances such as vitamins,minerals,amino acids,trace elements and fatty acids. The notions behind orthomolecular medicine are not supported by sound medical evidence,and the therapy is not effective for chronic disease prevention;even the validity of calling the orthomolecular approach a form of medicine has been questioned since the 1970s.
Phytochemicals are chemical compounds produced by plants,generally to help them resist fungi,bacteria and plant virus infections,and also consumption by insects and other animals. The name comes from Greek φυτόν (phyton) 'plant'. Some phytochemicals have been used as poisons and others as traditional medicine.
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The Linus Pauling Institute is a research institute located at the Oregon State University with a focus on health maintenance. The mission statement of the institute is to determine the functional roles of micronutrients and phytochemicals in promoting optimal health and to treat or prevent human disease,and to determine the role of oxidative stress and inflammation in health and disease. There are several major areas of research occurring at the institute,focused on many vitamins,minerals and other compounds found in the diet.
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Mary Jo Nye is an American historian of science and Horning Professor in the Humanities emerita of the History Department at Oregon State University. She is known for her work on the relationships between scientific discovery and social and political phenomena.
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Ava Helen Pauling was an American human rights activist. Throughout her life,she was involved in various social movements including women's rights,racial equality,and international peace.
Robert William MacVicar (1918–1998) was an American chemist and academic administrator who served as the chancellor of Southern Illinois University,and the 11th president of Oregon State University from 1970 and 1984.
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Angelicque E. White is an American oceanographer. She is an associate professor at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology and director of the Hawaii Ocean Time-series (HOT) program.