Clara Cho
Nutrition, Dietetics and Food Sciences
One-Carbon Metabolism, Methyl Nutrients, Obesity, Metabolic Syndrome

Contact Information
Office Location: NFS 303Phone: (435) 797-5369
Email: clara.cho@usu.edu
Website: http://www.claracho.com/
Educational Background
Biography
I obtained my PhD in Nutritional Sciences at the University of Toronto in 2014. My PhD thesis was on the role of methyl group vitamins in hypothalamic development of food intake regulation in Wistar rats. I completed my postdoctoral fellowship from 2014-2016 in the Division of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell University examining the impact of diet and gut microbiota on trimethylamine-N-oxide production and fate in humans. I am currently an Assistant Professor in Nutrition, Dietetics and Food Sciences at Utah State University.
Teaching Interests
My teaching interests include integrating concepts from nutritional sciences, physiology and biochemistry in specialized upper-year courses, as well as building foundational knowledge in introductory courses. I have developed a new course on Nutritional Neuroscience (NDFS 5400/6400) that focuses on how nutrition influences brain function, and how nutrition and the brain interact to impact human health.
Research Interests
My research focuses on one-carbon metabolism and methyl nutrients, and their role as determinants of obesity, metabolic syndrome and chronic disease risk. My work utilizes animal models and human studies to answer mechanistic questions from genetic, epigenetic, physiologic, metabolic and microbiome perspectives.
Awards
Planetary Thinking in the Utah State University Curriculum, 2019
Utah State University
Award Finalist, 2016
American Society for Nutrition, Postdoctoral Research Award Competition, Experimental Biology
Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2015
Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)
Publications | Journal Articles
Academic Journal
- Cho, C.E, Aardema, N.D, Bunnell, M.L, Larson, D.P, Aguilar, S.S, Bergeson, J.R, Malysheva, O.V, Caudill, M.A, Lefevre, M., (2020). Effect of choline forms and gut microbiota composition on trimethylamine-N-oxide response in healthy men. Nutrients, 12, 2220. doi: 10.3390/nu12082220
- Cullen, C.M, Aneja, K.K, Beyhan, S., Cho, C.E, Woloszynek, S., Convertino, M., McCoy, S.J, Zhang, Y., Anderson, M., Alvarez-Ponce, D., Smirnova, E., Karstens, L., Dorrestein, P.C, Li, H., Sen Gupta, A., Cheung, K., Gloeckner Powers, J., Zhao, Z., Rosen, G., (2020). Emerging priorities for microbiome research. Frontiers in Microbiology, 11, 136.
- Palzer, L., Bader, J.J, Angel, F., Witzel, M., Blaser, S., McNeil, A., Wandersee, M.K, Leu, N.A, Lengner, C.J, Cho, C.E, Welch, K.D, Kirkland, J.B, Meyer, R., Meyer-Ficca, M., (2018). Alpha-Amino-Beta-Carboxy-Muconate-Semialdehyde Decarboxylase Controls Dietary Niacin Requirements for NAD+ Synthesis. Cell Reports, 25:5, 1359-1370. doi: doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2018.09.091
- Hintze, K.J, Benninghoff, A., Cho, C.E, Ward, R.E, (2018). Modeling the Western diet for pre-clinical investigations. Advances in Nutrition, 9:3, 263-271. doi: 10.1093/advances/nmy002
- Taesuwan, S., Cho, C.E, Malysheva, O.V, Bender, E., King, J.H, Yan, J., Thalacker-Mercer, A.E, Caudill, M.A, (2017). The metabolic fate of isotopically labeled trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO) in humans. The Journal of nutritional biochemistry, 45, 77-82; #Taesuwan S and Cho CE are shared first-authors.
- Cho, C.E, Caudill, M.A, (2017). Trimethylamine-N-Oxide: Friend, Foe, or Simply Caught in the Cross-Fire?. Trends in endocrinology and metabolism: TEM, 28:2, 121-130.
- Cho, C.E, Taesuwan, S., Malysheva, O.V, Bender, E., Tulchinsky, N.F, Yan, J., Sutter, J.L, Caudill, M.A, (2017). Trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO) response to animal source foods varies among healthy young men and is influenced by their gut microbiota composition: A randomized controlled trial. Molecular nutrition & food research, 61:1
- Cho, C.E, Taesuwan, T., Malysheva, O.V, Bender, E., Yan, J., Caudill, M.A, (2016). Choline and one-carbon metabolite response to egg, beef and fish among healthy young men: a short-term randomized clinical study. Clin Nutr Exp , 10, 1-11.
- Sanchez-Hernandez, D., Anderson, G.H, Poon, A.N, Pannia, E., Cho, C.E, Huot PSP, , Kubant, R., (2016). Maternal fat-soluble vitamins, brain development, and regulation of feeding behavior: an overview of research. Nutrition research (New York, N.Y.), 36:10, 1045-1054.
- Pannia, E., Cho, C.E, Kubant, R., Sanchez-Hernandez, D., Huot, P.S, Harvey Anderson, G., (2016). Role of maternal vitamins in programming health and chronic disease. Nutrition reviews, 74:3, 166-80.
- Sanchez-Hernandez, D., Poon, A.N, Kubant, R., Kim, H., Huot, P.S, Cho, C.E, Pannia, E., Reza-Lopez, S.A, Pausova, Z., Bazinet, R.P, Anderson, G.H, (2016). High vitamin A intake during pregnancy modifies dopaminergic reward system and decreases preference for sucrose in Wistar rat offspring. The Journal of nutritional biochemistry, 27, 104-11.
- Kubant, R., Poon, A.N, Sanchez-Hernandez, D., Domenichiello, A.F, Huot, P.S, Pannia, E., Cho, C.E, Hunschede, S., Bazinet, R.P, Anderson, G.H, (2015). A comparison of effects of lard and hydrogenated vegetable shortening on the development of high-fat diet-induced obesity in rats. Nutrition & diabetes, 5, e188.
- Sanchez-Hernandez, D., Poon, A.N, Kubant, R., Kim, H., Huot, P.S, Cho, C.E, Pannia, E., Pausova, Z., Anderson, G.H, (2015). A gestational diet high in fat-soluble vitamins alters expression of genes in brain pathways and reduces sucrose preference, but not food intake, in Wistar male rat offspring. Applied physiology, nutrition, and metabolism = Physiologie appliquee, nutrition et metabolisme, 40:4, 424-31.
- Cho, C.E, Pannia, E., Huot, P.S, Sanchez-Hernandez, D., Kubant, R., Dodington, D.W, Ward, W.E, Bazinet, R.P, Anderson, G.H, (2015). Methyl vitamins contribute to obesogenic effects of a high multivitamin gestational diet and epigenetic alterations in hypothalamic feeding pathways in Wistar rat offspring. Molecular nutrition & food research, 59:3, 476-89.
- Pannia, E., Cho, C.E, Kubant, R., Sanchez-Hernandez, D., Huot, P.S, Chatterjee, D., Fleming, A., Anderson, G.H, (2015). A high multivitamin diet fed to Wistar rat dams during pregnancy increases maternal weight gain later in life and alters homeostatic, hedonic and peripheral regulatory systems of energy balance. Behavioural brain research, 278, 1-11.
- Sanchez-Hernandez, D., Cho, C.E, Kubant, R., Reza-Lopez, S.A, Poon, A.N, Wang, J., Huot, P.S, Smith, C.E, Anderson, G.H, (2014). Increasing vitamin A in post-weaning diets reduces food intake and body weight and modifies gene expression in brains of male rats born to dams fed a high multivitamin diet. The Journal of nutritional biochemistry, 25:10, 991-6.
- Cho, C.E, (2014). Role of methyl group vitamins in hypothalamic development of food intake regulation in Wistar rats. App Physiol Nutr Metab, 39:7, 844.
- Cho, C.E, Norman, M., (2013). Reply: To PMID 22939691. American journal of obstetrics and gynecology, 209:5, 496-7.
- Cho, C.E, Sanchez-Hernandez, D., Reza-Lopez, S.A, Huot, P.S, Kim, Y.I, Anderson, G.H, (2013). Obesogenic phenotype of offspring of dams fed a high multivitamin diet is prevented by a post-weaning high multivitamin or high folate diet. International journal of obesity (2005), 37:9, 1177-82.
- Cho, C.E, Sanchez-Hernandez, D., Reza-Lopez, S.A, Huot, P.S, Kim, Y.I, Anderson, G.H, (2013). High folate gestational and post-weaning diets alter hypothalamic feeding pathways by DNA methylation in Wistar rat offspring. Epigenetics, 8:7, 710-9.
- Cho, C.E, Norman, M., (2013). Cesarean section and development of the immune system in the offspring. American journal of obstetrics and gynecology, 208:4, 249-54.
- Huot, P.S, Dodington, D.W, Mollard, R.C, Reza-Lopez, S.A, Sanchez-Hernandez, D., Cho, C.E, Kuk, J., Ward, W.E, Anderson, G.H, (2013). High Folic Acid Intake during Pregnancy Lowers Body Weight and Reduces Femoral Area and Strength in Female Rat Offspring. Journal of Osteoporosis, 2013, 154109.
- Akhavan, T., Luhovyy, B.L, Brown, P.H, Cho, C.E, Anderson, G.H, (2010). Effect of premeal consumption of whey protein and its hydrolysate on food intake and postmeal glycemia and insulin responses in young adults. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 91:4, 966-75.
- Anderson, G.H, Cho, C.E, Akhavan, T., Mollard, R.C, Luhovyy, B.L, Finocchiaro, E.T, (2010). Relation between estimates of cornstarch digestibility by the Englyst in vitro method and glycemic response, subjective appetite, and short-term food intake in young men. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 91:4, 932-9.
An asterisk (*) at the end of a publication indicates that it has not been peer-reviewed.
Publications | Other
An asterisk (*) at the end of a publication indicates that it has not been peer-reviewed.