Dr. Elizabeth Mayer-Davis, Cary C. Boshamer Distinguished Professor and chair of the department of nutrition at UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, has received a National Institutes of Health grant to help young people with Type 1 diabetes better control their glucose levels and weight.

[Photo: Dr. Elizabeth Mayer-Davis]

The four-year, $1.9 million award complements Dr. Mayer-Davis’ recent research, published April 13 in The New England Journal of Medicine, in which she and colleagues found increased incidence of Type 1 diabetes in young people in the decade between 2002 and 2012, especially among Hispanic youths.

The grant supports Dr. Mayer-Davis’ efforts to develop and test the efficacy of specific dietary approaches alongside behavioral approaches to help overweight young adults with Type 1 diabetes simultaneously manage blood sugar levels and achieve a healthy weight.

“Weight management in the context of Type 1 diabetes is particularly challenging due to underlying metabolic, clinical and psychosocial factors that are unique to Type 1 diabetes,” Dr. Mayer-Davis said. “Our goal is to generate much-needed science to inform clinical practice guidelines to address the ever-increasing and under-appreciated problem of overweight and obesity in this setting in which day-to-day glucose control often works against weight management.”

Dr. Mayer-Davis will work through a transdisciplinary consortium, Advance Care for Type 1 Diabetes and Obesity Network (ACTION), with researchers from UNC, Florida Hospital Translational Research Institute for Metabolism and Diabetes, and Stanford University’s Division of Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes.