Nutrition and Foods Program

Background

Dr. Root has been at Appalachian since 2008. He started his career in science as a research technician in Entomology (insects) biochemistry and toxicology at Cornell University. He moved from there to Nutrition and spent 16 years in the lab of T. Colin Campbell involved in research in diet and chronic disease, particularly involving animal models of liver cancer. From 1980 to 1996 he was involved in an epidemiologic study in rural China that examined the dietary correlates of chronic diseases. From there he took a position at a start-up firm in Chapel Hill, NC that developed and packaged risk models for chronic diseases into web-based services to health promotion and insurance companies. He and a colleague patented a statistical tool for aggregating risk factors into these models. During this time Dr. Root taught adjunct courses in Chemistry at the local community college. This and early teaching experience in New York confirmed his interest in teaching. In 2008 Dr. Root moved to Boone and became a member of the Nutrition and Foods faculty. Dr. Root is married with 3 grown children and seven grandchildren. He enjoys hiking, canoeing, and gardening and attends church at Crosspoint.

Education

• Ph.D. Nutrition, Cornell University
• M.S. Toxicology, Cornell University
• B.S. Biochemistry, Cornell University

Current Courses Being Taught

• NUT 2202 Nutrition and Health
• NUT 2351 Global Nutrition
• NUT 4200 Advanced Nutrition I
• NUT 4206 Advanced Nutrition II
• NUT 5000 Research Methods in Nutrition and Foods

Professional Affiliations/Organizations

• American Society for Nutrition
• American Chemical Society
• American Scientific Affiliation

Research & Scholarly Interests

• Diet and chronic diseases
• Apple phytochemicals
• Nutritional biomarkers
• Nutritional epidemiology

Selected Publications & Presentations

• Root, M., Nielsen, M., Smith TJ, and Meaux, KM. Healthy Eating Index-2010 and Physical Activity and Disabilities of Old Age. Nutrition and Healthy Aging. 5:61-89 (2019) DOI 10.3233/NHA-170040. 
• Lofley, AC., Root, MM. Macronutrients Association with Change in Waist and Hip Circumference Over 9 Years. Journal of the American College of Nutrition. 36:57-63 (2016)
• Root M, Ravine E, Harper A. Flavonol intake and cognitive decline in middle-aged adults. Journal of Medicinal Foods. DOI: 10.1089/jmf.2015.0010 (2015)
• Anderson JJB, Root MM, Garner SC. HUMAN NUTRITION: HEALTHY OPTIONS FOR LIFE. Jones & Bartlett Learning, Burlington, MA 2015
• Hu G, Root M, Duncan A. Adding Multiple Risk Factors Improves the Framingham Coronary Heart Disease Risk Scores. Vascular Health and Risk Management. 10:557-62 (2014).
• Root MM, Houser SM, Anderson JJB, Dawson HR. Healthy Eating Index 2005 and selected macronutrients are correlated with improved lung function in humans. Nutrition Research. 34(4):277-284. doi: 10.1016/j.nutres.2014.02.008. (2014).
• Root MM and Dawson HR. DASH-like diets high in protein or monounsaturated fats improve metabolic syndrome and calculated vascular risk. International Journal for Vitamin and Nutrition Research. 83(4):224-231. DOI 10.1024/0300 – 9831/a000164 (2013)
• Root M, Collier SR, Zwetsloot KA, West KL, and McGinn MC. A randomized trial of fish oil omega-3 fatty acids on arterial health, inflammation, and metabolic syndrome in a young healthy population. Nutrition Journal. 12:40; doi:10.1186/1475-2891-12-40 (2013).
• Root, MM, McGinn, MC, Nieman, DC, et al. Combined Fruit and Vegetable Intake Is Correlated with Improved Inflammatory and Oxidant Status from a Cross-Sectional Study in a Community Setting. Nutrients, 4:29-41 (2012).
• Hu, G, Root, MM, and Anderson, JJB. Epidemiology of Osteoporosis. in DIET, NUTRITION AND BONE HEALTH, Eds: Anderson, JJB, Klemmer, PJ, and Garner, SC, Taylor& Francis, Boca Raton, FL, (2012).
• Zhou, XH, Hu, N, Hu, G, and Root, M. Synthesis analysis of regression models with a continuous outcome. Statistics in Medicine 28:1620–1635 (2009).
• Chen, J, Peto, R, Pan, W, Liu, B, Campbell, TC, Boreham, J, Parpia,B, Cassano, P, Chen, Z, Feng, Z, Gelband, H, Li, J, Pan, H, Root, M, Wu, Y, and Youngman, L. MORTALITY, BIOCHEMISTRY, DIET, AND LIFESTYLE IN RURAL CHINA. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK, 2006.
• Hu, G and Root, M. Building prediction models for coronary heart disease by synthesizing multiple longitudinal research findings. European Journal of Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation, 12:459-464 (2005).
• Root, M. and Anderson, JJB (2004). Dietary effects on nontraditional risk factors for heart disease. Nutrition Research 24 (10): 827-838.
• Root MM, Hu J, et al. (1999). Determinants of plasma retinol concentrations of middle-aged women in rural China. Nutrition 15(2): 101-7. 
• Cheng, Z, Root M, et al. (1997). Use of an improved method for analysis of urinary aflatoxin M1 in a survey of mainland China and Taiwan. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 6(7): 523-9.