Lydia A. Bazzano, M.D.
Associate Professor & Lina B. and H. Leighton Steward Professor in Nutrition Research
Areas of Expertise
Biography
As a clinician-investigator trained in epidemiology and internal medicine, Dr. Lydia Bazzano has expertise in a broad range of clinical research with a focus on cardiovascular disease and its risk factors, with an emphasis on the role of cardio-metabolic factors, including diet, obesity, lipids and glucose, in the development of vascular disease and its consequences over the life course. She has served as PI of a highly successful NIH-funded randomized controlled of a behavioral intervention to improve weight and cardio-metabolic risk factors through dietary change (subproject of P20RR017659). Since 2010, Dr. Bazzano has been working with the Bogalusa Heart Study and currently serves as chair of the Bogalusa Heart Study Program Steering Committee, Medical Director of the Bogalusa Heart Study, and Principal Investigator of NIH/NIA R01AG041200 investigating the role of vascular aging in cognitive and physical performance in the Bogalusa Heart Study cohort. She has over 100 peer-reviewed publications and a strong track record of collaboration and funding in exploring cardio-metabolic diseases among men and women.
Education
Tulane University
Tulane University
Tulane University
Tulane University
Accomplishments
American College of Medicine
Fellow
Jeremiah and Rose Stamler Research Award
Finalist
American College of Nutrition
Fellow
Janet M. Glasgow Memorial Achievement
Citation
Links
Articles
Sex and race differences in the association between sleep duration and adiposity: the Bogalusa Heart Study.
2019
Short sleep duration has been consistently associated with obesity. However, few studies in adults have assessed whether this association varies by sex and race.
Black-White Difference in the Impact of Long-Term Blood Pressure From Childhood on Adult Renal Function: The Bogalusa Heart Study.
2018
To examine racial difference in the impact of long-term burden of blood pressure (BP) from childhood on adult renal function between middle-aged blacks and whites.
Childhood cardiovascular health and subfertility: the Bogalusa Heart Study.
2018
Although childhood cardiovascular risk can contribute to adult cardiovascular disease, and fertility and adult cardiovascular health are linked, the association between early-life cardiovascular risk and female infertility has not been studied.
An Analysis of Informed Consent Form Readability of Oncology Research Protocols.
2018
Twenty-two percent of adults in the United States have only basic health literacy skills. We used a multiple linear regression model to identify associations between readability of informed consent documents with study sponsor, study phase, and approval year using a sample of 143 oncology studies at Ochsner Medical Center. The M ± SD Flesh-Kincaid Reading Grade Level (RGL) was 10.33 ± 0.85 and Flesh Reading Ease (FRE) was 52.89 ± 5.49. National Cancer Institute studies had a significantly lower mean RGL and FRE as compared with other sponsors (RGL 9.85 ± 0.66 vs. 10.72 ± 0.79; p value < .0001). Mean RGL did not differ by study phase. Future research should include assessment and improvement of the readability of informed consent documents.
Hyponatremia in Association With Second-Generation Antipsychotics: A Systematic Review of Case Reports.
2018
Hyponatremia is generally defined as a serum sodium level
Media Appearances
Why Isn’t There a Diet That Works for Everyone?
The results seemed to reinforce a general, even obvious consensus among nutrition researchers — and yet they generated criticism anyway, much of which highlights fundamental challenges in designing dietary experiments. One charge leveled against Hall’s study, for example: It was too short to observe metabolic and behavioral changes that often take place more than two weeks after a new diet is started. But as Hall points out, it would have been hard to recruit people to live longer under such strict conditions. What’s more, outside the lab, subjects often fail to stick to a diet precisely, and their habits are so variable that it can be tricky to tell for sure whether the meal plan in question is having an effect. Yet it’s impossible to say whether a diet that works in the lab will succeed unless you can study it in real life. “I do think there are ways to get accurate data in free-living people,” Dr. Lydia Bazzano, an epidemiologist at the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, says. “If you can’t, we’re all sunk.”
Here’s Why Kids Need Regular Blood Pressure Screenings Too
“Based on our results, the guidelines are pretty accurate at identifying individuals who go on to have adult hypertension or other indicators of heart disease risk,” Dr. Lydia A. Bazzano, senior author of the study and associate professor of epidemiology at the Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in New Orleans, told Healthline. “That is actually a good thing because it allows parents and kids to make changes if needed that can benefit their health over a lifetime.”
Food Companies at the Table in Trump Administration’s Dietary Guidelines Committee
Of course, low-carb is the diet of choice for Atkins Nutritionals, the company that nominated DGAC member Dr. Lydia Bazzano. Her research on the short-term effects of low-carbohydrate diets on weight loss and cardiovascular risk factors has helped to buoy its popularity. Atkins Nutritionals has lobbied Capitol Hill and the USDA on the guidelines, as have groups like The Nutrition Coalition, which questions the dangers of saturated fats and red meat and has praised the appointment to the 2020 committee of Bazzano and Leidy.
Could a spinach extract help with weight loss?
"It’s a leafy green, and leafy greens have been shown to help decrease the incidence of cardiovascular disease, heart disease and stroke, primarily. They’re also really healthy foods to eat because they have a relatively low-calorie content and a lot of nutrients in them,” said Dr. Lydia Bazzano, a nutrition expert in Tulane University’s School of Public Health, who holds both a medical degree and a PhD in epidemiology.
A Call for a Low-Carb Diet That Embraces Fat
Many nutritionists and health authorities have “actively advised against” low-carbohydrate diets, said the lead author of the new study, Dr. Lydia A. Bazzano of the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. “It’s been thought that your saturated fat is, of course, going to increase, and then your cholesterol is going to go up,” she said. “And then bad things will happen in general.”
