Student
Texas State University
Hello everyone, I am Gunjana Saikia, a graduate student at Texas State University pursuing MS in Human Nutrition. My abstract 'Serum Choline, Betaine, and TMAO in Relation to Risk of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus' originated from my thesis project under Professor Dr. Jie Zhu. This study is a Case-Control study based on pregnant Chinese women. I am very passionate about Pediatric Nutrition and I get to explore it deeper through my thesis. Choline and betaine are one-carbon metabolism nutrients that a play major role in fetal programming during pregnancy. TMAO (Trimethylamine-N-Oxide) has been observed to be an independent risk factor for many chronic diseases like Type 2 Diabetes, Heart Disease, and liver disease. In the gut with the help of microbiota, choline and betaine can form TMA (Trimethylamine) which by liver enzymes like FMO (flavin-containing monooxygenase) can convert into TMAO. This research area is very upcoming and more research is required to get definitive guidelines.