James Thomas Brenna (born October 15, 1959) is an American scientist specializing in analytical chemistry, and in human nutrition and foods, specifically fats. He is a professor of Paediatrics at Dell Medical School, having previously been a professor of human nutrition, chemistry, chemical biology and food science at Cornell University.[1]
Career
editFloyd Landis trials
editBrenna was the key expert witness in the action of the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) against 2006 Tour de France first place finisher Floyd Landis, adjudicated in a hearing of the Tribunal Arbitral du Sport/Court for Arbitration in Sport held in Malibu, California. He testified to the accuracy of Carbon Isotope Ratio (CIR) tests conducted by the French Antidoping laboratory at Châtenay-Malabry.[2][3] Landis conducted a high profile, multimillion dollar defense but lost the 2007 original hearing[4] with the decision relying for technical opinion on Brenna’s testimony.[5] Landis later lost a 2008 de novo case before the American Arbitration Association also relying on Brenna’s testimony[6] and was stripped of his title. Years later Landis revealed he was doping and filed a whistle-blower lawsuit under the federal False Claims Act against Lance Armstrong that was settled with multimillion dollar payments by Armstrong.[7]
DHA in Infant Formula
editBrenna visited the FDA infant formula team in late 2001 to encourage omega-3 DHA to be included in infant formula. A few weeks later the FDA issued its “no questions” letter accepting this suggestion and citing his work.[8]
Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee
editBrenna was a member of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee advising on the 2015 U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans.[9] He was one of four members of the Food Sustainability and Safety subcommittee whose work on sustainability was excluded from consideration by an act of Congress.[10]
Coconut oil
editComments in the New York Times about the healthfulness of coconut oil in late 2015[11][12] were covered in 200+ newspapers globally. Brenna opined that 21st-century virgin coconut oil does not cause heart disease but that earlier coconut oils may cause heart disease due to process contaminants.[13]
Vegetarian gene
editIn 2016 he was co-lead of a team that discovered an insertion-deletion polymorphism, rs66698963, is under positive selective pressure depending on whether ancestral diets were primarily animal/seafood-based or plant-based.[14][15][16] Global news widely reported that it would lead to potentially greater risk of disease,[17] though this was corrected later.[18]
References
edit- ^ "Tom Brenna, Ph.D." Dell Medical School. Retrieved 28 March 2024.
- ^ Expert Testifies in Landis Doping Case. By EDDIE PELLS. The Washington Post. Wednesday, May 23, 2007; 2:52 PM
- ^ Griffiths, Rajendrani Mukhopadhyay and Jennifer (2007-12-01). "The science behind Floyd Landis's guilty verdict". Analytical Chemistry. 79 (23): 8823–8825. doi:10.1021/ac0719960. ISSN 0003-2700.
- ^ "Doping: Arbitrators find Floyd Landis guilty of doping, The Associated Press has learned". The New York Times. 2007-09-20. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-07-04.
- ^ The North American Court of Arbitration for Sport/AAA Panel. Arbitration Award, Case No: 30 190 00847 06. September 21, 2007.
- ^ Hiltzik, Michael A. (2008-07-01). "Sports court upholds Landis' doping charges". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2024-03-23.
- ^ Hart, Matt (2018-04-19). "The Man Who Brought Down Lance Armstrong". The Atlantic. ISSN 2151-9463. Retrieved 2024-03-23.
- ^ GRAS Notice No. GRN 000080, Dec 11, 2001, FDA to Mead John Nutritionals.
- ^ Scientific Report of the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. https://health.gov/sites/default/files/2019-09/Scientific-Report-of-the-2015-Dietary-Guidelines-Advisory-Committee.pdf
- ^ New Dietary Guidelines Will Not Include Sustainability Goal. https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/10/06/446369955/new-dietary-guidelines-will-not-include-sustainability-goal
- ^ Rabin, Roni Caryn (2015-12-24). "Ask Well: Is Coconut Oil a Healthy Fat?". Well. Retrieved 2024-03-23.
- ^ Rabin, Roni Caryn; Egan, Sophie (2018-08-21). "Is Coconut Oil Good or Bad for You?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-07-04.
- ^ Liu et al., Food Chem Toxicol. 2019 May;127:135-142. Glycerol derived process contaminants in refined coconut oil induce cholesterol synthesis in HepG2 cells. doi: 10.1016/j.fct.2019.03.005.
- ^ Kothapalli, Kumar S. D.; Ye, , Kaixiong; Gadgil, Maithili S.; Carlson, Susan E.; O’Brien, Kimberly O.; Zhang, Ji Yao; Park, Hui Gyu; Ojukwu, Kinsley; Zou, James; Hyon, Stephanie S.; Joshi, Kalpana S.; Gu, Zhenglong; Keinan, Alon; Brenna, J.Thomas. "Positive Selection on a Regulatory Insertion–Deletion Polymorphism in FADS2 Influences Apparent Endogenous Synthesis of Arachidonic Acid". Molecular Biology and Evolution. 33 (7): 1726–1739. doi:10.1093/molbev/msw049. ISSN 0737-4038. PMC 4915354. PMID 27188529.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ "Are we what we eat?". ScienceDaily. Retrieved 2024-03-23.
- ^ Nield, David (2016-03-30). "A Vegetarian Diet Could Cause Long-Term Genetic Changes". ScienceAlert. Retrieved 2024-03-23.
- ^ "Vegetarian Diet Not So Healthy After All; Could Make Indians More Prone To Heart Disease!". IndiaTimes. 2016-04-11. Retrieved 2024-03-23.
- ^ "Vegetarian diet does NOT increase cancer risk: Researchers clarify". The Indian Express. 2016-04-06. Retrieved 2024-03-23.