Martha Field has been developing crucial research on how folate and vitamin B12 affect mitochondrial DNA integrity and mitochondrial function, examining how these nutrients impact chronic diseases, aging, and soldiers’ cognitive and physical performance.
Research at risk: optimizing the US military’s nutritional ‘secret weapon’
By Laura Reiley, Cornell Chronicle
A research project that explores new ways to ensure active-duty military personnel get adequate nutrition has been halted – with further implications for the nutritional needs of the aging and those suffering from chronic diseases.
Martha Field, Ph.D. ’07, assistant professor in the Division of Nutritional Sciences in the College of Human Ecology (CHE), studies how the micronutrients vitamin B12 and folate – also known as vitamin B9 – can optimize health outcomes for combat-stressed soldiers.
In 2022, Field and her lab received a three-year, $450,000 grant from the Army Research Office, part of the U.S. Department of Defense, to use a novel assay and mouse models to see how folate availability could improve cellular energy production in muscle and the brain. Folate plays a crucial role in cell growth and development, DNA synthesis and energy production.
The research focuses on mitochondrial dysfunction, which contributes to the aging process, impacting energy production, DNA damage and cell function. Specifically, age-related declines in mitochondrial function lead to reduced energy capacity, increased oxidative stress and, ultimately, cellular loss and organ failure.
“This is relevant to the Department of Defense because combat stresses can change nutrient status,” Field said. “We have also seen some unexpected changes in the way dietary folate affects brain folate uptake. This has implications for the aging brain and for things like depression.”
With only six months left to go on the grant, on April 9, Field received a stop-work order, grinding data collection to a halt.
Martha Field, right, assistant professor in the Division of Nutritional Sciences, works with Chloe Purello in her Kinzelberg Hall lab.
“The stop-work order essentially means we’ve only accomplished about half of our work,” Field said. “We can’t measure all the things we intended to, and the time and effort we have put in seem a waste.”
Moreover, three Ph.D. students’ dissertations relied upon this grant’s data.
Without completion of the study, the researchers won’t know how folate changes affect cellular energy production in muscle and tissue, Field said. “We won’t understand the whys, or how we can really fix problems.”
With approximately 2 million active personnel in the military and an aging population, the U.S. has a strong incentive to invest in interventions that maximize energy and reduce risks for certain chronic diseases, Field said.
“There really isn’t anyone else doing this research right now.”
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