E Quinn
Biographic Data
| ID | 67649 |
|---|---|
| NAME | E Quinn |
| GIVEN NAMES | E |
| FAMILY NAME | Quinn |
| SIGNATURE | QUINN E |
| AFFILIATIONS | Washington University in St. Louis |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-7212-8271 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 29 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 136 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 29 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1971 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Celebrating Over 10 Years of Human Milk Research in the Human Biology Association
Since we published “Field and Laboratory Methods in Human Milk Research” in 2013, human milk research has increased dramatically in both number and diversity of studies. Anthropological human biologists and biological anthropologists have played key roles in the realization of this research, arguing that evolutionary, developmental, and biocultural perspectives as essential for understanding variation in human milk. The purpose of this review is …
Biocultural Lactation
This review examines anthropological contributions over the past decade to the biocultural processes and practices of lactation via the analytical pillars of colonialism, racial capitalism, and medicalization. The nexus of these three processes has been foundational to the profound disruption and decline of breastfeeding in the mid-twentieth century and is still impacting ongoing efforts to restore and facilitate breastfeeding. Anthropologists ha…
Maternal perceptions of human milk expression output
Repeatability of adaptive traits among ethnic Tibetan highlanders
OBJECTIVES: Connecting traits to biological pathways and genes relies on stable observations. Researchers typically determine traits once, expecting careful study protocols to yield measurements free of noise. This report examines that expectation with test-retest repeatability analyses for traits used regularly in research on adaptation to high-altitude hypoxia, often in settings without climate control. METHODS: Two hundred ninety-one ethnic Ti…
Pandemic policies and breastfeeding
The United States is one of the few countries, and the only high-income country, that does not federally mandate protection of postpartum employment through paid postpartum maternity and family leave policies. At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S., stay-at-home orders were implemented nationally, creating a natural experiment in which to document the effects of de facto paid leave on infant feeding practices in the first postpartum ye…
Centering human milk composition as normal human biological variation
The Covid ‐19 liquid gold rush
Maternal birth weight is associated with milk epidermal growth factor in Filipino women
OBJECTIVES: Lactational programming, through which milk-borne bioactives influence both neonatal and long-term biological development, is well established. However, almost no research has investigated how developmental stimuli during a mother's early life may influence her milk bioactives in adulthood. Here, we investigated the association between maternal birth weight and milk epidermal growth factor (EGF) and epidermal growth factor receptor (E…
Trekking and toddlers
OBJECTIVES: Rapid socioeconomic change, associated with development and a growing tourism industry is occurring across the Himalayas. The health impact of this rapid economic development is poorly understood, especially for infants and young children. This study investigated the associations between village level economic differences as indexed by economic development and tourism engagement on infant and young child growth and health in a populat…
Salivary secretory immunoglobulin A variation between female varsity athletes and nonathletes
Cardiovascular activity did not predict salivary sIgA secretion rates in this sample of female college students, and athletes did not show significantly different sIgA secretion rates than nonathletes. Together, these findings suggest that exercise may not be associated with altered immune function in well-nourished college-aged women. The increase in secretion rates among both athletes and nonathletes suggests that additional factors shared by b…
Evolutionary life history theory as an organising framework for cohort studies
By tracking a group of individuals through time, cohort studies provide fundamental insights into the developmental time course and causes of health and disease. Evolutionary life history theory seeks to explain patterns of growth, development, reproduction and senescence, and inspires a range of hypotheses that are testable using the longitudinal data from cohort studies. Here we review two decades of life history theory-motivated work conducted…
Diversity and temporal dynamics of primate milk microbiomes
Milk is inhabited by a community of bacteria and is one of the first postnatal sources of microbial exposure for mammalian young. Bacteria in breast milk may enhance immune development, improve intestinal health, and stimulate the gut‐brain axis for infants. Variation in milk microbiome structure (e.g., operational taxonomic unit [OTU] diversity, community composition) may lead to different infant developmental outcomes. Milk microbiome structure…
When women work
OBJECTIVES: This study explores the acute endocrine reactivity of testosterone and cortisol in women engaging in everyday physical activity in a high altitude environment. METHODS: Data were collected from 35 women living in the Himalayas, with women recruited from both high (>10 000 ft.) and low altitude villages (<10 000 ft.). Saliva samples were collected at 3 time points (pre-activity, 30 and 60 minutes) and women wore the wGT3X-BT Actigraph …
Ecological pressures and milk metabolic hormones of ethnic Tibetans living at different altitudes
Milk leptin and adiponectin were not associated with infant growth in the rural Nubri sample, but were both inversely associated with infant WAZ in the Kathmandu sample. It appears that, in ecologically stressful environments, associations between milk hormones and growth during infancy may not be detectable in cross-sectional studies
Milk at altitude
OBJECTIVE: The physiological challenges of high altitude have led to population-specific patterns of adaptation. These include alterations to child growth and reproduction, including lactation. However, while breastfeeding has been investigated, nothing is known about milk composition in high altitude adapted populations. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Here, we investigate milk macronutrient composition, volume, and energy in a sample of 82 Tibetans livi…
Lower levels of human milk adiponectin predict offspring weight for age
Prior studies have reported a significant, inverse association between adiponectin in human milk and offspring growth velocity. Less is known about this association in populations characterised by a loss of weight for age z-scores (WAZs) in early life. We investigated the association between maternal body composition and milk adiponectin in a sample of Filipino mothers. We then tested for an association between milk adiponectin and size for age i…
Too much of a good thing
Recently, there has been considerable debate regarding the appropriate amount of iron fortification for commercial infant formula. Globally, there is considerable variation in formula iron content, from 4 to 12 mg iron/L. However, how much fortification is necessary is unclear. Human milk is low in iron (0.2–0.5 mg/L), with the majority of infant iron stores accumulated during gestation. Over the first few months of life, these stores are deplete…
Lower hemoglobin levels in first time mothers from Cebu, Philippines
OBJECTIVES: The association between parity and hemoglobin status in mothers is unclear. Closely spaced pregnancies may predict decreased hemoglobin in women, as these shorter intervals may limit the time available for iron repletion, or maternal age may be associated with general declines in hemoglobin. This study investigated the association between parity and hemoglobin status in a 1-year birth cohort of mothers from Cebu, Philippines, with var…
Opioid overdose rates and implementation of overdose education and nasal naloxone distribution in Massachusetts
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the impact of state supported overdose education and nasal naloxone distribution (OEND) programs on rates of opioid related death from overdose and acute care utilization in Massachusetts. DESIGN: Interrupted time series analysis of opioid related overdose death and acute care utilization rates from 2002 to 2009 comparing community-year strata with high and low rates of OEND implementation to those with no implementation. S…
Field and laboratory methods in human milk research
Human milk is a complex and variable fluid of increasing interest to human biologists who study nutrition and health. The collection and analysis of human milk poses many practical and ethical challenges to field workers, who must balance both appropriate methodology with the needs of participating mothers and infants and logistical challenges to collection and analysis. In this review, we address various collection methods, volume measurements, …
Acute effects of a herb extract formulation and inulin fibre on appetite, energy intake and food choice
No evidence for sex biases in milk macronutrients, energy, or breastfeeding frequency in a sample of filipino mothers
Maternal reproductive investment includes both the energetic costs of gestation and lactation. For most humans, the metabolic costs of lactation will exceed those of gestation. Mothers must balance reproductive investment in any single offspring against future reproductive potential. Among mammals broadly, mothers may differentially invest in offspring based on sex and maternal condition provided such differences investment influence future offsp…
Predictors of breast milk macronutrient composition in filipino mothers
OBJECTIVES: There is increasing evidence that breastfeeding has long-term effects on offspring biology and health, which has heightened interest in understanding the extent of variation in breast milk composition and its underlying determinants. Here, we report variation in milk macronutrient composition in a well-characterized cohort of young Filipino mothers and test underlying maternal predictors of this variation. METHODS: Morning breast milk…
Experimental study to investigate the impact of a patented herb extract formulation Yerbe Maté, Guarana and Damiana (YGD; Zotrim®) on food intake and appetite ratings in women
Developmental Origins of Adult Function and Health
Many biological systems have critical periods that overlap with the age of maternal provisioning via placenta or lactation. As such, they serve as conduits for phenotypic information transfer between generations and link maternal experience with offspring biology and disease outcomes. This review critically evaluates proposals for an adaptive function of these responses in humans. Although most models assume an adult function for the metabolic re…
Developmental Origins of Adult Function and Health
Many biological systems have critical periods that overlap with the age of maternal provisioning via placenta or lactation. As such, they serve as conduits for phenotypic information transfer between generations and link maternal experience with offspring biology and disease outcomes. This review critically evaluates proposals for an adaptive function of these responses in humans. Although most models assume an adult function for the metabolic re…
Age‐related variation in isotopic indicators of diet at medieval Kulubnarti, Sudanese Nubia
This study compares trends in dietary composition in two large cemetery populations from the site of Kulubnarti (AD 550–800) in Sudanese Nubia. Bone collagen and bone apatite carbonate were analysed to characterise stable carbon, nitrogen and oxygen isotopes. Previous research on these cemeteries has suggested marked differences in nutritional status and health between the populations. Contrary to expectations, there were no significant relations…
Milk at altitude
OBJECTIVE: The physiological challenges of high altitude have led to population-specific patterns of adaptation. These include alterations to child growth and reproduction, including lactation. However, while breastfeeding has been investigated, nothing is known about milk composition in high altitude adapted populations. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Here, we investigate milk macronutrient composition, volume, and energy in a sample of 82 Tibetans livi…
Leptin in a lean population of Filipino adolescents
To clarify the role of leptin as a signal of energy status in humans, this study investigated the relationship of leptin to measures of body composition, maturity, and lifestyle factors in a lean sample of 293 male and 303 female Filipino adolescents (age 14–16 years). Participants were selected from the Cebu Longitudinal Health and Nutrition Survey, a representative birth cohort study begun in 1983. Using IOTF criteria, the prevalence of overwei…
No evidence for sex biases in milk macronutrients, energy, or breastfeeding frequency in a sample of filipino mothers
Maternal reproductive investment includes both the energetic costs of gestation and lactation. For most humans, the metabolic costs of lactation will exceed those of gestation. Mothers must balance reproductive investment in any single offspring against future reproductive potential. Among mammals broadly, mothers may differentially invest in offspring based on sex and maternal condition provided such differences investment influence future offsp…
Maternal perceptions of human milk expression output
Pandemic policies and breastfeeding
The United States is one of the few countries, and the only high-income country, that does not federally mandate protection of postpartum employment through paid postpartum maternity and family leave policies. At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S., stay-at-home orders were implemented nationally, creating a natural experiment in which to document the effects of de facto paid leave on infant feeding practices in the first postpartum ye…
Acute effects of a herb extract formulation and inulin fibre on appetite, energy intake and food choice
Works of Italian Interest Published in Great Britain in 1970
Works of Italian Interest Published in Great Britain in 1971
Leptin in a lean population of Filipino adolescents
To clarify the role of leptin as a signal of energy status in humans, this study investigated the relationship of leptin to measures of body composition, maturity, and lifestyle factors in a lean sample of 293 male and 303 female Filipino adolescents (age 14–16 years). Participants were selected from the Cebu Longitudinal Health and Nutrition Survey, a representative birth cohort study begun in 1983. Using IOTF criteria, the prevalence of overwei…
Age‐related variation in isotopic indicators of diet at medieval Kulubnarti, Sudanese Nubia
This study compares trends in dietary composition in two large cemetery populations from the site of Kulubnarti (AD 550–800) in Sudanese Nubia. Bone collagen and bone apatite carbonate were analysed to characterise stable carbon, nitrogen and oxygen isotopes. Previous research on these cemeteries has suggested marked differences in nutritional status and health between the populations. Contrary to expectations, there were no significant relations…
Developmental Origins of Adult Function and Health
Many biological systems have critical periods that overlap with the age of maternal provisioning via placenta or lactation. As such, they serve as conduits for phenotypic information transfer between generations and link maternal experience with offspring biology and disease outcomes. This review critically evaluates proposals for an adaptive function of these responses in humans. Although most models assume an adult function for the metabolic re…
Experimental study to investigate the impact of a patented herb extract formulation Yerbe Maté, Guarana and Damiana (YGD; Zotrim®) on food intake and appetite ratings in women
Predictors of breast milk macronutrient composition in filipino mothers
OBJECTIVES: There is increasing evidence that breastfeeding has long-term effects on offspring biology and health, which has heightened interest in understanding the extent of variation in breast milk composition and its underlying determinants. Here, we report variation in milk macronutrient composition in a well-characterized cohort of young Filipino mothers and test underlying maternal predictors of this variation. METHODS: Morning breast milk…
Opioid overdose rates and implementation of overdose education and nasal naloxone distribution in Massachusetts
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the impact of state supported overdose education and nasal naloxone distribution (OEND) programs on rates of opioid related death from overdose and acute care utilization in Massachusetts. DESIGN: Interrupted time series analysis of opioid related overdose death and acute care utilization rates from 2002 to 2009 comparing community-year strata with high and low rates of OEND implementation to those with no implementation. S…
Field and laboratory methods in human milk research
Human milk is a complex and variable fluid of increasing interest to human biologists who study nutrition and health. The collection and analysis of human milk poses many practical and ethical challenges to field workers, who must balance both appropriate methodology with the needs of participating mothers and infants and logistical challenges to collection and analysis. In this review, we address various collection methods, volume measurements, …
Acute effects of a herb extract formulation and inulin fibre on appetite, energy intake and food choice
No evidence for sex biases in milk macronutrients, energy, or breastfeeding frequency in a sample of filipino mothers
Maternal reproductive investment includes both the energetic costs of gestation and lactation. For most humans, the metabolic costs of lactation will exceed those of gestation. Mothers must balance reproductive investment in any single offspring against future reproductive potential. Among mammals broadly, mothers may differentially invest in offspring based on sex and maternal condition provided such differences investment influence future offsp…
Too much of a good thing
Recently, there has been considerable debate regarding the appropriate amount of iron fortification for commercial infant formula. Globally, there is considerable variation in formula iron content, from 4 to 12 mg iron/L. However, how much fortification is necessary is unclear. Human milk is low in iron (0.2–0.5 mg/L), with the majority of infant iron stores accumulated during gestation. Over the first few months of life, these stores are deplete…
Lower hemoglobin levels in first time mothers from Cebu, Philippines
OBJECTIVES: The association between parity and hemoglobin status in mothers is unclear. Closely spaced pregnancies may predict decreased hemoglobin in women, as these shorter intervals may limit the time available for iron repletion, or maternal age may be associated with general declines in hemoglobin. This study investigated the association between parity and hemoglobin status in a 1-year birth cohort of mothers from Cebu, Philippines, with var…
Lower levels of human milk adiponectin predict offspring weight for age
Prior studies have reported a significant, inverse association between adiponectin in human milk and offspring growth velocity. Less is known about this association in populations characterised by a loss of weight for age z-scores (WAZs) in early life. We investigated the association between maternal body composition and milk adiponectin in a sample of Filipino mothers. We then tested for an association between milk adiponectin and size for age i…
Ecological pressures and milk metabolic hormones of ethnic Tibetans living at different altitudes
Milk leptin and adiponectin were not associated with infant growth in the rural Nubri sample, but were both inversely associated with infant WAZ in the Kathmandu sample. It appears that, in ecologically stressful environments, associations between milk hormones and growth during infancy may not be detectable in cross-sectional studies
Milk at altitude
OBJECTIVE: The physiological challenges of high altitude have led to population-specific patterns of adaptation. These include alterations to child growth and reproduction, including lactation. However, while breastfeeding has been investigated, nothing is known about milk composition in high altitude adapted populations. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Here, we investigate milk macronutrient composition, volume, and energy in a sample of 82 Tibetans livi…
When women work
OBJECTIVES: This study explores the acute endocrine reactivity of testosterone and cortisol in women engaging in everyday physical activity in a high altitude environment. METHODS: Data were collected from 35 women living in the Himalayas, with women recruited from both high (>10 000 ft.) and low altitude villages (<10 000 ft.). Saliva samples were collected at 3 time points (pre-activity, 30 and 60 minutes) and women wore the wGT3X-BT Actigraph …
Diversity and temporal dynamics of primate milk microbiomes
Milk is inhabited by a community of bacteria and is one of the first postnatal sources of microbial exposure for mammalian young. Bacteria in breast milk may enhance immune development, improve intestinal health, and stimulate the gut‐brain axis for infants. Variation in milk microbiome structure (e.g., operational taxonomic unit [OTU] diversity, community composition) may lead to different infant developmental outcomes. Milk microbiome structure…
The Covid ‐19 liquid gold rush
Maternal birth weight is associated with milk epidermal growth factor in Filipino women
OBJECTIVES: Lactational programming, through which milk-borne bioactives influence both neonatal and long-term biological development, is well established. However, almost no research has investigated how developmental stimuli during a mother's early life may influence her milk bioactives in adulthood. Here, we investigated the association between maternal birth weight and milk epidermal growth factor (EGF) and epidermal growth factor receptor (E…
Trekking and toddlers
OBJECTIVES: Rapid socioeconomic change, associated with development and a growing tourism industry is occurring across the Himalayas. The health impact of this rapid economic development is poorly understood, especially for infants and young children. This study investigated the associations between village level economic differences as indexed by economic development and tourism engagement on infant and young child growth and health in a populat…
Salivary secretory immunoglobulin A variation between female varsity athletes and nonathletes
Cardiovascular activity did not predict salivary sIgA secretion rates in this sample of female college students, and athletes did not show significantly different sIgA secretion rates than nonathletes. Together, these findings suggest that exercise may not be associated with altered immune function in well-nourished college-aged women. The increase in secretion rates among both athletes and nonathletes suggests that additional factors shared by b…
Evolutionary life history theory as an organising framework for cohort studies
By tracking a group of individuals through time, cohort studies provide fundamental insights into the developmental time course and causes of health and disease. Evolutionary life history theory seeks to explain patterns of growth, development, reproduction and senescence, and inspires a range of hypotheses that are testable using the longitudinal data from cohort studies. Here we review two decades of life history theory-motivated work conducted…
Centering human milk composition as normal human biological variation
Repeatability of adaptive traits among ethnic Tibetan highlanders
OBJECTIVES: Connecting traits to biological pathways and genes relies on stable observations. Researchers typically determine traits once, expecting careful study protocols to yield measurements free of noise. This report examines that expectation with test-retest repeatability analyses for traits used regularly in research on adaptation to high-altitude hypoxia, often in settings without climate control. METHODS: Two hundred ninety-one ethnic Ti…
Medicine (22 works) · Biology (21 works) · Internal Medicine (12 works) · Breastfeeding Practices and Influences (11 works) · Demography (11 works) · Pregnancy (10 works) · Birth, Development, and Health (8 works) · Breastfeeding (8 works) · Infant Nutrition and Health (8 works) · Sociology (8 works)