Andrea L Deierlein

Director of Public Health Nutrition

Associate Professor of Public Health Nutrition

Professional overview

Dr. Andrea Deierlein’s research focuses on examining how dietary, behavioral, and
environmental factors contribute to reproductive health outcomes and chronic-disease
development throughout the lifespan.

Dr. Deierlein is trained as a nutritional epidemiologist. Much of her research has
examined predictors and outcomes of maternal metabolic health-related conditions during
pregnancy and the postpartum, specifically, excessive gestational weight gain,
hyperglycemia, and obesity. She contributed to a systematic evidence-based review
examining outcomes of weight gain during pregnancy at the Agency of Healthcare
Research and Quality. This review informed the development of the 2009 Institute of
Medicine Gestational Weight Gain Guidelines. Dr. Deierlein received the K99/R00
Pathway to Independence Award to expand her training to include the study of toxic
environmental chemicals and metals. She conducted research examining associations of
endocrine-disrupting toxicant exposures during childhood and changes in anthropometric
measurements through adolescence among girls. She also conducted a series of analyses
examining maternal prenatal exposures to phthalates with weight gain and biomarkers of
cardiometabolic health in women during pregnancy and throughout the postpartum.
Recently, Dr. Deierlein has expanded her research to include disability-related disparities
in nutrition and reproductive health.

Education

BS, Animal Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

MS, Health Nutrition, Columbia University, New York, NY

MPH, Epidemiology, Columbia University, New York, NY

PhD, Nutrition Epidemiology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC

Honors and awards

Travel Scholarship, Be Our Voice Childhood Obesity Prevention Advocacy Training, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (2013)

New York Academy of Sciences Education Fellowship (2012)

Postdoctoral Fellowship in Pediatric Environmental Health, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (2010)

Travel Scholarship, Researching Women’s Environmental Health: Food, Nutrition, and Obesity, University of Rochester Medical Center (2010)

Travel Scholarship, Childhood Obesity Symposium, University of Southern California (2010)

Areas of research and study

Environmental Public Health Services

Epidemiology

Maternal and Child Health

Nutrition

Women's Health

Publications

Publications

Dietary energy density but not glycemic load is associated with gestational weight gain

Deierlein, A. L., Siega-Riz, A. M., & Herring, A. (n.d.).

Publication year

2008

Journal title

American Journal of Clinical Nutrition

Volume

88

Issue

3

Page(s)

693-699

10.1093/ajcn/88.3.693

Abstract

Abstract

Background: Most pregnant women gain more weight than the ranges recommended. Excessive weight gain is linked to pregnancy complications and to long-term maternal and child health outcomes. Objective: The objective was to examine the impact of dietary glycemic load and energy density on total gestational weight gain and the weight gain ratio (observed weight gain/expected weight gain). Design: Data are from 1231 women with singleton pregnancies who participated in the Pregnancy, Infection, and Nutrition Cohort Study. Dietary information was collected at 26-29 wk of gestation with the use of a semiquantified food-frequency questionnaire. Linear regression models were used to estimate the associations between quartiles of glycemic load and energy density with total gestational weight gain and weight gain ratio. Results: Dietary patterns of pregnant women significantly differed across many sociodemographic and behavioral characteristics, with the greatest contrasts seen for glycemic load. After adjustment for covariates, compared with women in the first quartile consuming a mean dietary energy density of 0.71 kcal/g (reference), women in the third quartile consuming a mean energy density of 0.98 kcal/g gained an excess of 1.13 kg (95% CI: 0.24, 2.01), and women in the fourth quartile consuming a mean energy density of 1.21 kcal/g gained an excess of 1.08 kg (95% CI: 0.20, 1.97) and had an increase of 0.13 (95% CI: 0.006, 0.24) units in the weight gain ratio. All other comparisons of energy intakes were not statistically significant. Glycemic load was not associated with total gestational weight gain or weight gain ratio. Conclusion: Dietary energy density is a modifiable factor that may assist pregnant women in managing gestational weight gains.

Outcomes of maternal weight gain.

Viswanathan, M., Siega-Riz, A. M., Moos, M. K., Deierlein, A. L., Mumford, S., Knaack, J., Thieda, P., Lux, L. J., & Lohr, K. N. (n.d.).

Publication year

2008

Journal title

Evidence report/technology assessment

Issue

168

Page(s)

1-223

Abstract

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: The RTI International-University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Evidence-based Practice Center (RTI-UNC EPC) systematically reviewed evidence on outcomes of gestational weight gain and their confounders and effect modifiers, outcomes of weight gain within or outside the 1990 Institute of Medicine (IOM) guidelines, risks and benefits of weight gain recommendations, and anthropometric measures of weight gain. DATA SOURCES: We searched MEDLINE Cochrane Collaboration resources, Cumulative Index to Nursing & Allied Health Literature, and Embase. REVIEW METHODS: We included studies published in English from 1990 through October 2007. We excluded studies with low sample size (based on study design: case series