Two genomic-based studies from the Heart Healthy Lenoir study were published in the last month. Heart Healthy Lenoir was a multidisciplinary research project that aimed to reduce cardiovascular disease in Lenoir County, North Carolina by developing new approaches to care, from prevention to treatment. The lead investigator of the Heart Healthy Lenoir genomics study is Jonathan Schisler, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Pharmacology and McAllister Heart Institute.
The first paper, TAS2R38 Predisposition to Bitter Taste Associated with Differential Changes in Vegetable Intake in Response to a Community-Based Dietary Intervention, brought together specialists in nutrition, public health, and genetics to look at how common genetic variation in our taste receptors for bitter taste (such as that found in leafy green vegetables) associates with changes in vegetable intake in a lifestyle intervention designed to promote heart health. The second publication, Applicability of Precision Medicine Approaches to Managing Hypertension in Rural Populations, identified which blood pressure-related genetic variants, identified from large clinical studies, were applicable to the rural study population. They also identified genetic variants that associated with how well subjects responded to a multi-level intervention developed using community participatory methods to help improve blood pressure control among study subjects with hypertension.