Ellen W. Demerath, PhD
Professor, Epidemiology and Community Health
Contact information
University of Minnesota
Biography
Ellen Demerath received her Ph.D. in Biological Anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania and is Professor of Epidemiology and Community Health at the University of Minnesota, School of Public Health. Her research is at the interface of nutrition, human biology, and child development, and seeks to understand how maternal and early-life nutritional factors alter health trajectories across the life course. Her current studies focus on maternal nutrition and gestational diabetes in shaping lactation and human milk composition, and identifying nutritional indicators of preterm infant growth that predict neurodevelopmental outcomes. Dr. Demerath has published over 200 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters on nutrition, obesity, breastfeeding, and child growth and development, and her research has been continuously funded by NIH since 2005. She has served on federal expert panels on nutrition during pregnancy, breastfeeding and human milk, and infant adiposity sponsored by the National Institutes of Health and the National Academy of Sciences.
Published articles
Ellen W. Demerath - PubMed articles
Characterisation and validation of lactation information from structured electronic health records for use in pharmacoepidemiological studies
CONCLUSIONS: Breastfeeding information in structured EHR fields have the potential to accurately classify lactation status. The validity of these data should be assessed in populations with a lower breastfeeding prevalence.
Assembly, stability, and dynamics of the infant gut microbiome are linked to bacterial strains and functions in mother's milk
The establishment of the gut microbiome in early life is critical for healthy infant development. Although human milk is recommended as the sole source of nutrition for the human infant, little is known about how variation in milk composition, and especially the milk microbiome, shapes the microbial communities in the infant gut. Here, we quantified the similarity between the maternal milk and the infant gut microbiome using 507 metagenomic samples collected from 195 mother-infant pairs at one,...
Body composition after implementation of an enhanced parenteral nutrition protocol in the neonatal intensive care unit: a randomised pilot trial
CONCLUSION: In this pilot trial, enhanced parenteral nutrition in the first week of life was not associated with significant differences in infant growth or body composition during hospitalisation.
Understanding the genetic complexity of puberty timing across the allele frequency spectrum
Pubertal timing varies considerably and has been associated with a range of health outcomes in later life. To elucidate the underlying biological mechanisms, we performed multi-ancestry genetic analyses in ~800,000 women, identifying 1,080 independent signals associated with age at menarche. Collectively these loci explained 11% of the trait variance in an independent sample, with women at the top and bottom 1% of polygenic risk exhibiting a ~11 and ~14-fold higher risk of delayed and precocious...
Human Cytomegalovirus in breast milk is associated with milk composition, the infant gut microbiome, and infant growth
Human cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a highly prevalent herpesvirus that is often transmitted to the neonate via breast milk. Postnatal CMV transmission can have negative health consequences for preterm and immunocompromised infants, but any effects on healthy term infants are thought to be benign. Furthermore, the impact of CMV on the composition of the hundreds of bioactive factors in human milk has not been tested. Here, we utilize a cohort of exclusively breastfeeding full term mother-infant pairs...
Parental factors that impact the ecology of human mammary development, milk secretion, and milk composition-a report from "Breastmilk Ecology: Genesis of Infant Nutrition (BEGIN)" Working Group 1
The goal of Working Group 1 in the Breastmilk Ecology: Genesis of Infant Nutrition (BEGIN) Project was to outline factors influencing biological processes governing human milk secretion and to evaluate our current knowledge of these processes. Many factors regulate mammary gland development in utero, during puberty, in pregnancy, through secretory activation, and at weaning. These factors include breast anatomy, breast vasculature, diet, and the lactating parent's hormonal milieu including...
Enhanced Parenteral Nutrition Is Feasible and Safe in Very Low Birth Weight Preterm Infants: A Randomized Trial
CONCLUSION: Utilization of an enhanced nutrition protocol during the first week of life resulted in increased caloric intake and was feasible with no evidence of harm. Follow-up of this cohort is needed to determine if enhanced PN will result in improved growth and neurodevelopment.
Human milk variation is shaped by maternal genetics and impacts the infant gut microbiome
Human milk is a complex mix of nutritional and bioactive components that provide complete nutrition for the infant. However, we lack a systematic knowledge of the factors shaping milk composition and how milk variation influences infant health. Here, we used multi-omic profiling to characterize interactions between maternal genetics, milk gene expression, milk composition, and the infant fecal microbiome in 242 exclusively breastfeeding mother-infant pairs. We identified 487 genetic loci...
Revisiting One-Carbon Metabolites in Human Breast Milk: Focus on S-Adenosylmethionine
Breastfeeding is the gold standard for early nutrition. Metabolites from the one-carbon metabolism pool are crucial for infant development. The aim of this study is to compare the breast-milk one-carbon metabolic profile to other biofluids where these metabolites are present, including cord and adult blood plasma as well as cerebrospinal fluid. Breast milk (n = 142), cord blood plasma (n = 23), maternal plasma (n = 28), aging adult plasma (n = 91), cerebrospinal fluid (n = 92), and infant milk...
Randomized Trial of Early Enhanced Parenteral Nutrition and Later Neurodevelopment in Preterm Infants
Retrospective studies indicate that the parenteral provision of calories, proteins, and lipids in the first week of life is associated with improved later neurodevelopment. We aimed to determine whether infants randomized to an enhanced parenteral nutrition protocol had improved developmental outcomes at 4, 12, or 24 months corrected age (CA). In total, 90 preterm infants (<32 weeks gestational age and <1500 g) were randomized to receive enhanced parenteral nutrition (PN) or standard PN during...
Training the MCH workforce: the Time for Change is now
INTRODUCTION: Maternal and child health (MCH) services are critical for vulnerable populations. Workforce shortages, poor retention, and gaps in necessary trainings impede the capacity of public health systems to address needs. This manuscript characterizes the current MCH workforce, MCH program applicants and graduates, and describe findings within a national context to devise elements of a recruitment and retention strategy.
Testing the Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommendations on maternal reproductive health and associated neonatal characteristics in a transitional, Mediterranean population
CONCLUSION: High maternal pre-pregnancy BMI and excessive GWG were both significantly associated with deviated biochemical parameters and neonatal size. More careful monitoring of maternal nutritional status can lead to better pre- and perinatal maternal healthcare.
Corrigendum to: "Gestational Diabetes Mellitus Is Associated with Altered Abundance of Exosomal MicroRNAs in Human Milk" [Clin Therapeut 44(2) (2022) 172-185]
No abstract
Gestational Diabetes Mellitus Is Associated with Differences in Human Milk Hormone and Cytokine Concentrations in a Fully Breastfeeding United States Cohort
It is unclear whether gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) alters breast milk composition. We prospectively examined associations of GDM status with concentrations of six potentially bioactive elements (glucose, insulin, C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), leptin, and adiponectin) in human milk. These were measured at both 1 and 3 months postpartum in 189 fully breastfeeding women. Mixed-effects linear regression assessed GDM status-related differences in these milk bioactives,...
Infant sex differences in human milk intake and composition from 1- to 3-month post-delivery in a healthy United States cohort
CONCLUSIONS: Among healthy United States mother-infant dyads, appetite, and growth-regulating factors in human milk did not differ significantly by infant sex.
Gestational Diabetes Mellitus Is Associated with Altered Abundance of Exosomal MicroRNAs in Human Milk
PURPOSE: Human milk (HM) is a unique biological fluid that is enriched with a variety of factors, including microRNAs (miRNAs) that potentially provide both short- and long-term benefits to the infants. miRNAs are packaged within exosomes, making them bioavailable to infants. Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) may affect the abundance of exosomal miRNAs in HM, providing a mechanism for growth and adiposity variation in infants of mothers with GDM in early life. Therefore, the purposes of this...
Bioactive compounds in mothers milk affecting offspring outcomes: A narrative review
CONCLUSION: Breast milk research is gaining momentum though we must remain focused on understanding how non-nutritive bioactive components are affected by the maternal phenotype, how they subsequently impact infant outcomes. Though early, there is evidence to suggest fructose is associated with fat mass in the 1st months of life whereas 12,13 diHOME (brown fat activator) and betaine are negatively associated with early adiposity and growth.
Maternal Psychological Distress and Lactation and Breastfeeding Outcomes: a Narrative Review
PURPOSE: Despite recommendations from the World Health Organization and the American Academy of Pediatrics to exclusively breastfeed infants for their first 6 months of life, 75% of women do not meet exclusive breastfeeding guidelines, and 60% do not meet their own breastfeeding goals. Numerous observational studies have linked maternal psychological distress (eg, perceived stress, anxiety, and depression) with nonoptimal breastfeeding outcomes, such as decreased proportion and duration of...
Genetic insights into biological mechanisms governing human ovarian ageing
Reproductive longevity is essential for fertility and influences healthy ageing in women^(1,2), but insights into its underlying biological mechanisms and treatments to preserve it are limited. Here we identify 290 genetic determinants of ovarian ageing, assessed using normal variation in age at natural menopause (ANM) in about 200,000 women of European ancestry. These common alleles were associated with clinical extremes of ANM; women in the top 1% of genetic susceptibility have an equivalent...
Human Milk Glucose, Leptin, and Insulin Predict Cessation of Full Breastfeeding and Initiation of Formula Use
Objective: We aimed to investigate prospective associations between milk bioactives related to metabolic health (glucose, insulin, leptin, C reactive protein [CRP], and interleukin 6 [IL-6]) and incident formula initiation at 3 and 6 months postpartum. Design: This study included 363 mother-infant dyads who were fully breastfed at 1 month and participated in the prospective Mothers and Infants Linked for Healthy Growth study from pregnancy to 6 months postpartum. Associations between milk...