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Samantha Jezak and Olivia Templeton have known each other since their freshman year at Syracuse University. After working side by side for three years, the pair decided to take a new endeavor in nutrition research.

Jezak and Templeton, senior nutrition science and nutrition majors, respectively, at SU’s Falk College, chose to conduct research on the benefits of vegetarian diets on the human body.

Having read existing studies on vegetarian diets, the pair said many studies focused on people who had followed a certain type of diet for different time frames. The pair started to wonder if the results from these samples are really reliable.

“These vegetarian studies were including participants who had been on a vegetarian diet for say three months and then some of their other participants had been on the diet for like three years,” Jezak said. “And we started to question whether these two types of individuals were even comparable.”

Jezak and Templeton then started their own research to answer if the effects of diet changing become apparent in a three-month time frame. Additionally, they decided to observe if a change in the quality of a vegetarian diet affects markers such as body fat percentage and waist circumference.

“You can follow a vegetarian diet and eat only Oreos and chips, but you can also follow a vegetarian diet with lots of vegetables, fiber and different proteins,” Templeton said.

For their research, participants are required to complete three laboratory visits for data collection. The participants also complete several questionnaires, including a 24-hour diet recall, a self-evaluation of stress level and a food frequency questionnaire where participants recall how frequently they ate certain food items in the past month, Templeton said.

The pair said they enjoyed working on the same project with different focuses, as they’ve known each other for a long time and the data they need overlaps often.

“We’ve been working together side by side for three years now, and I personally just felt like we both work really well together, and we both hold each other accountable,” Templeton said.

The pair received a total of $6,000 funding through the Syracuse Office of Undergraduate Research and Creative Engagement. Both said the funding was crucial to sustain every aspect of their research project.

“Everything that you do, you need money for it,” Templeton said. “I’m really glad that both (Olivia) and I, as undergrads, had the opportunity to take advantage of the funding that Syracuse provides us with for research,” Jezak added.

Both said this research experience helped them plan for their future careers. Jezak recently submitted her applications for graduate schools. She said she hopes to pursue a Ph.D. program in molecular nutrition and said she’s happy to be able to develop her research background during her undergraduate years.

Templeton is planning to become a registered dietitian in the future. This research opportunity also helped her application for a dietetic internship, she said, which is the next step to further achieving her career goal.

“(This research) helps me figure out my passion in nutrition and also helps me stand out amongst other candidates,” Templeton said.

“You have to read the research that’s out there in order to come up with your research question,” Jezak said. “(The research) definitely helped me identify what I want to do with nutrition in the future.”

Published on December 1, 2021 at 12:38 am

Contact Francis: btang05@syr.edu | @francis_towne