Nutrition and Food Science Department Poster Day

On Friday, May 5 the UMD dietetic interns had the opportunity to present abstract posters for the University of Maryland’s Department of Nutrition and Food Science Research Day, which was held at the National Agricultural Library.

The day started off with a keynote speaker, Dr. Eric Brown, Ph.D. Dr. Brown is the director of the Division of Microbiology in the Office of Regulatory Science at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The topic of his presentation was “The Rise of Whole Genome Sequencing for Food Safety and its Role in Augmenting Traceback of Foodborne Pathogens Back to Their Source.” To put it simply, we learned about the advancements in technology that the FDA is using during foodborne illness outbreaks, such as salmonella, to determine the original source of the bacteria. While the topic is serious, Dr. Brown was able to add an element of humor to this presentation by showing a decision tree for how people determine whether they will eat something they dropped on the ground.  Points to be considered included “did anyone see,” “was the food sticky,” etc.

Dr. Brown and his decision tree presentation slide

After the keynote presentation and lunch, we presented our posters to four judges, all of whom are in the dietetics field. Posters were either in the “case study” category or “special project” category. We spent approximately ten minutes talking with each judge about our posters, explaining our topic, and answering questions.

My abstract poster was about Recovery Record, an application (app) for eating disorder treatment. There are two different apps: one for the clinician and one for the client. The client can log food, feelings and behaviors in their app. The clinician uses the app to see a newsfeed of clients and their current moods, eating patterns, and behaviors. This app can be used for any kind of eating disorder and eliminates the need for a 24-hour food recall or counting on the client’s memory when determining what foods have been eaten recently. The client’s version differs from food trackers in that it does not include  calories, macronutrients, or a food database. Food is entered in as free text and then the client is prompted to document if they ate too much food (binged), an adequate amount of food, or not enough (restricted).  The clinician can easily see progress being made by the patient in a HIPAA compliant app, and can send messages back. The app allows for more frequent communication between the clinician and client between visits. This is important for those recovering from eating disorders. I believe the concept of this app, encouraging mindful and intuitive eating rather than calorie-based tracking, could be successfully used for apps for weight loss and other disease states.

Me (left), Angela, Ben, Tuesday (middle), and Paula (right) with our abstract posters. (Click to view larger.)

After presenting my poster to the judges, I was able to view the graduate students’ posters. The  research poster topics ranged from social determinants of food insecurity to respiratory quotients in men related to blackberry consumption. The event concluded with a poster award ceremony. From our internship class, Angela won the “case study” category with her abstract poster “MNT in Stage 5 Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD): diet instruction with a cultural twist” and I was thrilled to have won the “special project” category with my poster “New Technology Tool: Aid in Eating Disorder Management.”

Me (left) and Angela (right) with our certificates of excellence for our abstract posters.