(Internal) Erythrocyte Fatty Acid Signatures Associated with Dairy Intakes and Cardiometabolic Disease Risk Factors in a Canadian Population

Advisor: David Mutch, Human Health and Nutritional Sciences

Proposed computational advisor: Zeny Feng

Dairy foods and beverages provide various nutrients that are important for health and development, including vitamins, minerals, protein, carbohydrates, and fatty acids. Despite this, many Canadians are eating less dairy due to contradictory messaging about its effect on health. The relationship between dairy and health is complex, and may depend on the amount of dairy consumed, the type of dairy consumed, and the overall fat content of the dairy consumed. These differences may be due to the varying fatty acid compositions of different dairy products that can then modify blood fatty acid profiles in distinct ways. This is particularly important because blood fatty acid profiles are now considered markers of disease risk. The overall goal of this research project is to apply supervised and unsupervised clustering methods to investigate the relationships between dairy intakes, blood fatty acids, and risk factors for common diseases in a representative Canadian population using data collected in the Canadian Health Measures Survey (CHMS) study by Stats Canada.

The successful candidate will use supervised and unsupervised clustering techniques, as well as multiple linear regression, to explore the relationship between blood fatty acid profiles in different dairy intake groups and their associations with quantitative cardiometabolic risk markers in ~4,000 Canadians. The data used was collected as part of the Canadian Health Measures Survey (CHMS) study by Statistics Canada and will be accessed in-person through a secure Stats Canada facility at the University of Guelph main campus.

Two-semester project preferred. The student is required to be on-site for the duration of the project.