Awards for College of Science researchers

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Fri Sep 25 2009 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)

Awards for College of Science researchers

Friday, 25 September 2009, 3:38 pm
Press Release: Massey University

Friday, September 25, 2009

Nutrition awards for College of Science researchers

Research on iron deficiency in young New Zealand women, and on vitamin D deficiency, type 2 diabetes and bone disease in Auckland’s south Asian women has led to awards for nutritionists Pamela Von Hurst and Kathryn Beck.

The assistant lecturers at the Institute of Food, Health and Human Nutrition at the Albany campus won awards for their doctoral research at the Dietetic Association Awards ceremony in Napier this month.

Ms Von Hurst won a Food Standards Australia New Zealand award for the best postgraduate research paper presented at the association’s conference for her trial of vitamin D supplementation in south Asian women living in Auckland who are resistant to insulin and Vitamin D.

Ms Beck won the Neige Todhunter award to support postgraduate study for her PhD on the iron status of young women. She has completed three studies investigating the causes, consequences and possible solutions to iron deficiency, the most common nutritional deficiency worldwide.

Ms Von Hurst’s just completed doctoral research – titled The Role of vitamin D in metabolism and bone health - has revealed south Asian women intent on avoiding skin cancer by staying out of New Zealand's harsh sunlight are at risk of suffering diseases caused by vitamin D deficiency. Her study backs a growing body of evidence internationally that people deficient in vitamin D are at greater risk of developing diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis and other auto-immune diseases as well as cardiovascular disease, says Ms von Hurst.

The same research also won her this year's New Horizons for Women Trust research award, presented last weekend. The trust's research awards, valued up to $5000, are to assist a woman or a group to undertake research on issues of importance to women and girls in New Zealand. Ms Beck won the award last year for her research on iron deficiency.

ENDS

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