Exercise and eat a nutritious diet. There\u2019s yet another reason to pursue both those goals to lower the chances of disease down the road.<\/p>\n
\u201cI study metabolic diseases and late onset of Alzheimer\u2019s disease as a metabolic disease,\u201d says Assistant Professor of Health Sciences Rebecca MacPherson (PhD \u201914). \u201cThere can be a genetic component of it but a large component is also lifestyle factors.<\/p>\n
\u201cInactivity is a risk factor, poor diet is a risk factor, but there are other things, like cardiovascular disease or insulin resistance,\u201d she says, adding that lifestyle choices \u201ckind-of add all risk factors together.\u201d<\/p>\n
For her research on metabolic diseases and late onset of Alzheimer\u2019s disease, MacPherson has been awarded Brock University\u2019s inaugural Award for Early Career Research and Creative Activity<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI am very pleased to see Dr. MacPherson\u2019s outstanding and important work being recognized with this inaugural award,\u201d says Vice-President, Research Tim Kenyon.<\/p>\n \u201cHer research impresses upon us the importance of diet and exercise in preventing late onset Alzheimer\u2019s disease and, indeed, for a healthy life overall.\u201d<\/p>\n MacPherson completed her PhD studies in Brock\u2019s Faculty of Applied Health Sciences near the end of 2013. Her thesis examined skeletal muscle fat metabolism and involved three separate studies and a review paper that were published in peer reviewed journals.<\/p>\n That same year, she captured first prize in the graduate student research showcase<\/a> at the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology\u2019s (CSEP) annual conference. CSEP is the principal body for physical activity, health and fitness research and personal training in Canada.<\/p>\n After pursuing a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Guelph, MacPherson returned to Brock in 2016 to take up a position as an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences.<\/p>\n She has co-authored or authored several important studies in recent years including an award-winning review article<\/a> for new investigators in the American Journal of Physiology (Regulatory Integrative and Comparative Physiology) <\/em>in 2017, where she was the only author. In a 2017 study<\/a>, working with then-post-doctoral fellow Val Fajardo, they found that trace elements of lithium in drinking water can slow death rates from Alzheimer\u2019s disease.<\/p>\n Another study<\/a> in 2018 reported that a diet high in saturated fats and sucrose can lead to increases in markers related to Alzheimer\u2019s disease when paired with the normal aging process. Other publications have focused on the effects of estrogen loss<\/a>, and exercise in cell culture<\/a>, rodent<\/a> and human<\/a> models.<\/p>\n MacPherson was awarded funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation\u2019s John R. Evans Leaders Fund (JELF)<\/a> to purchase specialized equipment to study the interactions between diet and exercise, metabolism disturbances that lead to disorders like obesity, Type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer\u2019s disease.<\/p>\n Other research funding MacPherson received includes grants from NSERC, the Scottish Rite Charitable Foundation of Canada, and the Alzheimer Society of Brant, Haldimand Norfolk, Hamilton and Halton.<\/p>\n She attributes much of her success to her students. Last year her research group worked together to publish a review paper<\/a> that was selected as a winner of the Applied Physiology, Nutrition and Metabolism Award for Nutrition Translation.<\/p>\n