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Arnold School of Public Health

Dietary Patterns

Identifying dietary patterns that promote weight control and reduce risk of chronic disease is a key focus of nutrition research at USC. Effects of diet on health and accurate measurement of dietary behavior and monitoring nutritional status are foundational challenges in understanding and evaluating nutrition's impact on health.

Current Novel Research Efforts

  • Promotion of healthy and sustainable diets to reduce chronic disease.
  • Dietary approaches that do not require dietary self-monitoring, such as the vegan and vegetarian diets.
  • Discovering ways to help people eat healthier, lose weight, and prevent chronic disease.
  • Quantitative evaluation of consequences and determinants of nutrition status.
  • Nutritional assessment for epidemiologic studies.
  • Development of methods to study nutritional assessment.
  • DIDACTIC: Dissemination and Implementation of a Diet and Activity Community Trial in Churches.
  • Inflammatory Potential of Diet and Risk of Cancer Mortality in Women.
  • Developing the Dietary Inflammatory Index for Clinical Application.
  • Vitamin D and Related Genes, Race and Prostate Cancer Aggressiveness.
  • Diet and Activity Community Trial: High-Risk Colon Polyps.
  • Dietary Inflammatory Index and Risk of Breast and Colorectal Cancers.
  • Role of Genetic and Dietary Factors in Breast Cancer Risk: Study of a Population in Demographic Transition.
  • Epigenetics and Diet in the Carcinogenesis Process.
  • A Documentary Film About the Implementation of the Right Choice, Healthy Start Farmers Market.

Associated Affiliate Scholars

  • Abdollahpour I, Saneei P, Moradmand Z, Hebert JR, et al. Dietary Diversity Score Associated With a Reduced Risk of Breast Cancer: A Large Population-Based Incident Case–Control Study. Current Developments in Nutrition. 2026;10(4):107675. doi:10.1016/j.cdnut.2026.107675 
  • Aydin HZ, Okpara N, Dubois KE, Wilcox S, Liese AD, McGrievy GM, et al. Perceptions of the Three Dietary Patterns of the 2020-2025 United States Dietary Guidelines Among African American Adults After a 12-Week Randomized Intervention Trial to Reduce Type 2 Diabetes Risk: A Qualitative Study. Nutrients. 2025;17(21):3453. doi:10.3390/nu17213453 
  • Bailey S, Turner-McGrievy GM, Keseko EA, Wilcox S, Liese AD, et al. The Diet Guidelines: 3 Diets (DG3D) study protocol of a behavioral teaching kitchen intervention for type-2 diabetes prevention among African American adults. Contemp Clin Trials. 2025;159:108109. doi:10.1016/j.cct.2025.108109 
  • de Oliveira RMV, Vasques ACJ, Romero SA, Wirth MD, Hebert JR, et al. Dietary inflammatory index and objective disease activity in IBD: no association found. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2026;80(5):491-497. doi:10.1038/s41430-026-01713-6
  • Healy HG, Hoar C, Ahmed W, Bowes DA, et al. Wastewater Surveillance to Inform Cancer Epidemiology and Evidence-Based Interventions. Environ Sci Technol. Published online June 4, 2026. doi:10.1021/acs.est.6c01391 
  • Jancsura MK, Grobman WA, Wu J, Wirth MD, et al. Association between a Periconception Healthy Plant-Based Diet and Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes. The Journal of Nutrition. 2026;156(6):101577. doi:10.1016/j.tjnut.2026.101577
  • Julceus EF, Liese AD, Alfalki AM, et al. The Association of Levels of Food Insecurity and Disordered Eating Behaviors Among Youth and Young Adults With Diabetes: The SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth Study. Int J Eat Disord. Published online March 12, 2025. doi:1002/eat.24411
  • Kase BE, Liese AD, Zhang J, Murphy EA, Steck SE. Association Between the Dietary Index for Gut Microbiota (DI-GM) and Colorectal Cancer in the PLCO Cohort. Nutrients. 2026;18(7):1088. doi:10.3390/nu18071088 
  • Lasalle C, Castanyo-Vinyals G, Dierssen-Sotos T, Hebert JR, et al. Can an Anti-inflammatory Diet Offset the Increased Cancer Risk Associated with Night Shift Work? In: Sleep Science. Vol 18. Thieme Revinter Publicações Ltda.; 2025:A024. doi:10.1055/s-0045-1812705
  • Marcadenti A, Bersch-Ferreira AC, Vieira Machado RH, Hebert JR, Zhao L, et al. Supplementation with mixed nuts does not improve inflammatory biomarkers or dietary inflammatory potential in post-myocardial infarction: a secondary analysis of the DICA-NUTS Trial. Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases. Published online February 11, 2026:104625. doi:10.1016/j.numecd.2026.104625
  • Ritchie LD, McLain AC, Dowda M, Pate R, Frongillo EA, et al. Family matters: home characteristics related to dietary intake of fruit, vegetables and sugar-sweetened beverages in a national cross-sectional sample of school-aged children in the U.S. BMC Nutr. Published online May 2, 2026. doi:10.1186/s40795-026-01339-8
  • Su LJ, O’Connor S, Ramirez Aguilar D, Steck SE, et al. Association Between Dietary Folate and Prostate Cancer Aggressiveness Among African Americans and European Americans. Nutrients. 2026;18(5):748. doi:10.3390/nu18050748

  • Zhao L, Chen Y, Clay-Gilmour A, Zhang J, Zhang X, Steck SE. Metabolomic and Proteomic Signatures of Ultra-processed Foods Are Positively Associated with Adverse Liver Outcomes. The Journal of Nutrition. Published online May 5, 2025. doi:10.1016/j.tjnut.2025.04.034

  • Zhao L, Zhang Y, Liu J,Hebert JR, Steck SE, et al. Trends in dietary supplement use among U.S. adults between 2011 and 2023. Eur J Nutr. 2025;64(8):304. doi:10.1007/s00394-025-03825-4

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