The Tufts senior is striving for better health outcomes through her research and volunteer work
Juna Hatta-Langedyk, A27, is the lead author of a paper on ultra-processed foods. Photo: Alonso Nichols
As an undergraduate student, Juna Hatta-Langedyk, A27, already has some impressive research experience under her belt. The biology major was lead author of an ultra-processed food paper from the Food is Medicine Institute at the Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University. The study found that people who eat more ultra-processed foods have worse health outcomes, even after accounting for the overall nutritional quality of the foods.
This October, Hatta-Langedyk will present an abstract at an American Society of Clinical Oncology symposium on the impact of the Food is Medicine Institute’s NutriCare program on anxiety, depression, and quality of life.
Behind all these feats is Hatta-Langedyk’s commitment to helping others, especially children, lead healthier lives.
What sparked your passion for nutrition?
Nutrition was introduced to me through elementary school with a nutrition class—I was excited to learn more about what I was eating. In high school, I joined a club called Health Occupational Students of America, where my focus topic was nutrition. At Tufts, I found the student group Kids in Nutrition, as well as joined the Laidlaw Scholars Program, where I have been doing research with Dariush Mozaffarian, the director of the Food is Medicine Institute at the Friedman School, for about a year and a half now.
You are the lead author on the ultra-processed food paper. What did your research find?
The project looked at whether ultra-processing is associated with health harms even after accounting for established nutritional factors, like sugar, fat, or salt content. This helps determine whether the concept of ultra-processing is relevant independently of the nutritional characteristics of these foods, which is a high profile and controversial question right now.
Dr. Mozaffarian introduced me to the NOVA classification, which is a common way of ranking foods in terms of processing. We then used a Food Compass score, which has 54 different attributes, including sugar, fats, and added ingredients like vitamins and minerals. We looked at all these biomarkers and prevalent conditions and mortality to see whether different health harms still remained after adjusting for the dietary factor part of the equation.
One of the main findings was that ultra-processed foods were associated with 4% higher all-cause mortality, and that association remained after adjusting for the Food Compass score. We also saw increased ultra-processed food consumption was associated with higher prevalence of conditions such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, and lung disease.
The paper was part of an ultra-processed food edition of the American Journal of Public Health. Other papers talked about how ultra-processed foods are marketed in a similar way to tobacco, and how these kinds of foods are really addicting. You can see it in advertising for kids. I hope our paper builds increased awareness about ultra-processed foods and different health harms.
How did working on this paper help you grow as a student and researcher?
It’s helped me build a new skill set. The paper involved coding, which I had never done before. I was watching videos on how to use different programming software. I’m doing another project, looking at results from a medically tailored meal program for lung cancer patients, and again, that’s a coding project. I think learning how to ask questions and discover new information myself has been a big part of my research experience.
You’re lead director of Kids in Nutrition at Tufts. What is your work like with that group?
I joined Kids in Nutrition as a freshman. It’s a club where we go to local elementary schools with a set curriculum, as it’s a big nationwide initiative. We’ll go in and teach kids through activities about fruits, vegetables, water consumption—things to make sure that they know how to keep themselves healthy. I hope kids grow up to be excited about healthy foods. This year as lead director, I’ll be coordinating the different classrooms and getting more volunteers to join.
You spent the summer abroad in Australia. How did this connect to the work you’ve already been doing at Tufts?
It was awesome. I’ve never done qualitative research before, and I was at the George Institute for Global Health in Sydney, working on a program of produce prescription for women with gestational diabetes.
I examined women’s experiences with the program and how it’s helped them. It’s been exciting seeing how these programs manifest in different places outside of America.
