Evidence Synthesis Hub
The faculty in the Center have extensive research and outreach programs in New York State and in multiple countries around the world. We are a PAHO/World Health Organization Collaborating Center, the only such center focused on nutrition in the US. As part of this work, we established the annual Cochrane/Cornell/World Health Organization Summer Institute for Systematic Reviews in Nutrition for Global Policy Making. During the past eight years, we have trained over 140 participants from 25 countries in the development of systematic reviews, in partnership with Cochrane and PAHO/WHO. Using rigorous Cochrane methods, systematic reviews authored by our faculty contribute to the evidence base informing WHO guidelines that are the cornerstone for the policies in WHO member states. The impact of the Institute is significant with systematic reviews authored by Institute participants now contributing to over 10 WHO Guidelines on nutrition and health.
Our work helps connect individual level guidance to population level policies and to bridge academic research to translation
Relevant Publications:
With the current focus on nutrition and its importance across the disease and health spectrum, it is also important to use Cochrane methods to generate systematic evidence for international guideline-setting organizations such as the WHO, CDC, and Health Canada; policy makers; and consumers. We have worked with partners at these agencies as well as trained staff at these organizations through our Summer Institute and our faculty work with these partners in identifying the most pressing needs for their organization and for their constituencies.
The core faculty of the evidence synthesis hub (Cassano, Finkelstein, and Mehta) routinely conduct systematic reviews and synthesize evidence on topics relevant to nutrition and health in partnership with guideline-forming agencies and implementing organizations - a few recent examples are listed below. Separately, we are also conducting living systematic reviews on the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 through breastfeeding - updates can be found here.
Under Review
Huey SL, Islam S, Koniecynszki EM, Mehta NH, Krisher JT, Bhargava A, Friesen VM, Mbuya MNN, Monterrosa E, Nyangaresi AM, Mehta S. Review of the facilitators and barriers to adoption of biofortified foods and food products. Under review in: Nutrition Research Reviews.
Huey SL, Gannon BM, Mehta NH, Shrestha N, Rogers LM, Garcia-Casal MN, Mehta S. Diagnostic test accuracy of selected laboratory-based biomarkers for assessing vitamin A deficiency in at-risk individuals: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Under review in: Cochrane Library, Infectious Diseases Group.
Huey SL, Mehta NH, Steinhouse RS, Jin Y, Kuriyan R, Finkelstein J, Mehta S. Precision nutrition-based interventions for the management of obesity in children and adolescents 0 to 19 years of age. Systematic Review. Under review in: Cochrane Library, Metabolic and Endocrine Disorders Group.
Published
Biofortification
Huey SL, Konieczynski EM, Mehta NH, Krisher JT, Bhargava A, Friesen VM, Mbuya MNN, Monterrosa EC, Nyangaresi AM, Mehta S. A systematic review of the impacts of post-harvest handling on provitamin A, iron and zinc retention in seven biofortified crops. Nat Food. 2023 Nov;4(11):978-985. doi: 10.1038/s43016-023-00874-y. Epub 2023 Nov 9. PMID: 37945785; PMCID: PMC10661739.
Huey SL, Bhargava A, Friesen VM, Koniecynszki EM, Krisher JT, Mbuya MNN, Mehta NH, Monterrosa E, Nyangaresi AM, Mehta S. Sensory acceptability of biofortified foods and food products: a systematic review. Nutrition Reviews. 2023;, nuad100. doi: 10.1093/nutrit/nuad100. PMID: 37634146.
Huey SL, Mehta NH, Konieczynski EM, Bhargava A, Friesen VM, Krisher JT, Mbuya MNN, Monterrosa E, Nyangaresi AM, Boy E, Mehta S. Bioaccessibility and bioavailability of biofortified food and food products: Current evidence. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr. 2022 Nov 17:1-23. doi: 10.1080/10408398.2022.2142762. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36384354.
Huey SL, Krisher JT, Morgan D, Mkambula P, Gannon BM, Mbuya MNN, Mehta S. A review of portable quantitative and semi-quantitative devices for measurement of vitamin A in biological samples. Curr Res Biotechnol. 2022 May 12;4:253-274. doi: 10.1016/j.crbiot.2022.04.003. PMID: 36033130; PMCID: PMC9407042.
Finkelstein JL, Fothergill A, Hackl LS, Haas JD, Mehta S. Iron biofortification interventions to improve iron status and functional outcomes. Proc Nutr Soc. 2019 May;78(2):197-207. doi: 10.1017/S0029665118002847. Epub 2019 Jan 30. PubMed PMID: 30698117.
Infectious Diseases
Crider K, Williams J, Qi YP, Gutman J, Yeung L, Mai C, Finkelstain J, Mehta S, Pons-Duran C, Menéndez C, Moraleda C, Rogers L, Daniels K, Green P. Folic acid supplementation and malaria susceptibility and severity among people taking antifolate antimalarial drugs in endemic areas. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2022 Feb 1;2(2022):CD014217. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD014217. PMID: 36321557; PMCID: PMC8805585.
Oeschger TM, McCloskey DS, Buchmann RM, Choubal AM, Boza JM, Mehta S, Erickson D. Early Warning Diagnostics for Emerging Infectious Diseases in Developing into Late-Stage Pandemics. Acc Chem Res. 2021 Oct 5;54(19):3656-3666. doi: 10.1021/acs.accounts.1c00383. Epub 2021 Sep 15. PMID: 34524795.
Centeno-Tablante E, Medina-Rivera M, Finkelstein JL, Herman HS, Rayco-Solon P, Garcia-Casal MN, Rogers L, Ghezzi-Kopel K, Zambrano Leal MP, Andrade Velasquez JK, Chang Asinc JG, Peña-Rosas JP, Mehta S. Update on the Transmission of Zika Virus Through Breast Milk and Breastfeeding: A Systematic Review of the Evidence. Viruses. 2021 Jan 18;13(1). doi: 10.3390/v13010123. PubMed PMID: 33477428; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7830280.
Centeno-Tablante E, Medina-Rivera M, Finkelstein JL, Rayco-Solon P, Garcia-Casal MN, Rogers L, Ghezzi-Kopel K, Ridwan P, Peña-Rosas JP, Mehta S. Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 through breast milk and breastfeeding: a living systematic review. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2021 Jan;1484(1):32-54. doi: 10.1111/nyas.14477. Epub 2020 Aug 28. PubMed PMID: 32860259.
Medina-Rivera M, Centeno-Tablante E, Finkelstein JL, Rayco-Solon P, Peña-Rosas JP, Garcia-Casal MN, Rogers L, Ridwan P, Martinez SS, Andrade J, Layden AJ, Chang J, Zambrano MP, Ghezzi-Kopel K, Mehta S. Presence of Ebola virus in breast milk and risk of mother-to-child transmission: synthesis of evidence. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2020 Oct 28;. doi: 10.1111/nyas.14519. [Epub ahead of print] Review. PubMed PMID: 33113592.
Diagnostics/Assessment
Shanmugakani RK, Srinivasan B, Glesby MJ, Westblade LF, Cárdenas WB, Raj T, Erickson D, Mehta S.Current state of the art in rapid diagnostics for antimicrobial resistance. Lab Chip. 2020 Aug 7;20(15):2607-2625. doi: 10.1039/d0lc00034e. Epub 2020 Jul 9. PubMed PMID: 32644060; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7428068.
Gannon BM, Colt S, Rogers LM, Garcia-Casal M, Martinez RX, Lopez-Perez L, Ghezzi-Kopel K, Mehta S. Selected laboratory‐based biomarkers for assessing vitamin A deficiency in at‐risk individuals (Protocol). The Cochrane database of systematic reviews. 2020 October; (10). doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD013742.
Huey SL, Krisher JT, Morgan D, Mkambula P, Srinivasan B, Gannon BM, Mbuya MNN, Mehta S. Portable Devices for Measurement of Vitamin A Concentrations in Edible Oil: Field Readiness of Available Options. ACS Omega. 2022 May 17;7(21):17502-17518. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.1c07181. PMID: 35664625; PMCID: PMC9161250.
Gut Microbiome
Guetterman HM, Huey SL, Knight R, Fox AM, Mehta S, Finkelstein JL. Vitamin B-12 and the Gastrointestinal Microbiome: A Systematic Review. Adv Nutr. 2021 Oct 6;13(2):530–58. doi: 10.1093/advances/nmab123. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 34612492; PMCID: PMC8970816.
Mehta S, Huey SL, McDonald D, Knight R, Finkelstein JL. Nutritional Interventions and the Gut Microbiome in Children. Annu Rev Nutr. 2021 Oct 11;41:479-510. doi: 10.1146/annurev-nutr-021020-025755. Epub 2021 Jul 20. PMID: 34283919.
Micronutrients
Francis DK, Awuah EB, Field MS, Karakochuk CD, Dixit R, Cassano PA. Vitamin B supplementation for sickle cell disease. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2022, Issue 10. Art. No.: CD014368. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD014368. Accessed 25 January 2023.
Huey SL, Krisher JT, Bhargava A, Friesen VM, Konieczynski EM, Mbuya MNN, Mehta NH, Monterrosa E, Nyangaresi AM, Mehta S. Review of the Impact Pathways of Biofortified Foods and Food Products. Nutrients. 2022 Mar 12;14(6):1200. doi: 10.3390/nu14061200. PMID: 35334857; PMCID: PMC8952206.
Bae S, Kamynina E, Guetterman HM, Farinola AF, Caudill MA, Berry RJ, Cassano PA, Stover PJ. Provision of folic acid for reducing arsenic toxicity in arsenic‐exposed children and adults. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2021, Issue 10. Art. No.: CD012649. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD012649.pub2. Accessed 28 November 2022.
Gomes F, King SE, Dallmann D, Golan J, da Silva ACF, Hurley KM, Bergeron G, Bourassa MW, Mehta S. Interventions to increase adherence to micronutrient supplementation during pregnancy: a systematic review. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2021 Jan 5;. doi: 10.1111/nyas.14545. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 33400303.
Huey SL, Acharya N, Silver A, Sheni R, Yu EA, Peña-Rosas JP, Mehta S. Effects of oral vitamin D supplementation on linear growth and other health outcomes among children under five years of age. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2020 Dec 8;12:CD012875. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD012875.pub2. PubMed PMID: 33305842.
Gannon BM, Jones C, Mehta S. Vitamin A Requirements in Pregnancy and Lactation. Curr Dev Nutr.2020 Oct;4(10):nzaa142. doi: 10.1093/cdn/nzaa142. eCollection 2020 Oct. Review. PubMed PMID: 32999954; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7513584.
Best CM, Xu J, Patchen BK, Cassano PA. Vitamin D supplementation in pregnant or breastfeeding women or young children for preventing asthma. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2019, Issue 8. Art. No.: CD013396. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD013396. Accessed 28 November 2022.
WHO/Cochrane/Cornell Summer Institute
This unique, two-week summer institute brings together experts from the World Health Organization (WHO), Cochrane, and Cornell University to train participants in Cochrane methods for development of systematic reviews of nutrition interventions in populations. Under the leadership of Dr. Patricia Cassano, the Summer Institute began in 2015 and the partnership between the Division of Nutritional Sciences and Cochrane was strengthened to assure the training leveraged cutting edge developments in systematic review methodologies. In 2019, DNS was part of the founding group of the Cochrane US Network. Today, DNS is an Associate Center of the Cochrane US Network.