M Fujita
Biographic Data
| ID | 48702 |
|---|---|
| NAME | M Fujita |
| GIVEN NAMES | M |
| FAMILY NAME | Fujita |
| SIGNATURE | FUJITA M |
| AFFILIATIONS | Michigan State University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-9173-6678 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 25 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 58 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 25 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2004 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Dual Behavioral–Physiological Buffering of Mothers' Milk Facilitates Drought Adaptability of Pastoralists and Agropastoralists in Northern Kenya
BACKGROUND: Mothers physiologically buffer key milk nutrient content against nutritional stress. How this is nested in upstream behavioral buffering is not well understood. OBJECTIVES: The study explored whether pastoralists and agropastoralists' economic or other behavioral coping strategies against droughts, such as livestock sales and child fosterage, influence maternal risk for malnutrition or milk nutrient content. METHODS: Using data from 2…
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 …
Lactose in human milk is associated with lower rates of infection during a drought
Mothers' milk may protect infants against infection through a broad range of immune and nutrient components. In the context of severe drought with heightened nutritional and disease stress, lactose may protect against infection or decrease in the presence of an infection
Effects of household composition on infant feeding and mother–infant health in northern Kenya
BACKGROUND: Households with alloparents, individuals other than the mother who care for an infant, can shift members' roles and affect mother-infant health. AIMS: To investigate how household composition relates to infant feeding and infectious disease risk in mother-infant dyads, the team utilized data from breastfeeding dyads (n 208) surveyed during a prolonged drought and food scarcity in northern Kenya. METHODS: Households were classified by …
Maternal and infant predictors of proinflammatory milk immune activity in Kilimanjaro , Tanzania
OBJECTIVES: The immune system of milk (ISOM) creates a mother-infant immune axis that plays an important role in protecting infants against infectious disease (ID). Tradeoffs in the immune system suggest the potential for both protection and harm, so we conceive of two dimensions via which the ISOM impacts infants: promotion of protective activity and control of activity directed at benign targets. High variability in ISOM activity across mother-…
Protective effects of diversified diets for dietary folate adequacy and serum homocysteine in breastfeeding mothers amid historic drought
OBJECTIVES: The United Nations recommends that women consume ≥5 food groups, also known as the minimum dietary diversity score for women (MDD-W), for nutritional health. This is increasingly unattainable for populations in climate hot zones coping with food insecurity by prioritizing calories over dietary breadth. Breastfeeding mothers may be particularly vulnerable to adverse health impacts of low dietary diversity due to elevated nutritional re…
Does the immune system of milk increase activity for infants experiencing infectious disease episodes in Kilimanjaro, Tanzania
INTRODUCTION: Multiple studies have reported that milk immune content increases for infants experiencing infectious disease (ID) episodes, suggesting that the immune system of milk (ISOM) offers enhanced protection when needed to combat ID. METHODS: To test the hypothesis that ISOM content and/or activity increases during an infant's ID episode, we characterized milk secretory immunoglobulin A (sIgA; a major ISOM constituent) and in vitro interle…
Human milk lactoferrin variation in relation to maternal inflammation and iron deficiency in northern Kenya
Results suggest that mothers of vulnerable young infants deliver more lactoferrin when they have inflammation/infection but mothers with older infants do not, and that maternal delivery of lactoferrin is unaffected by their IDA. Longitudinal research should verify these findings
Age and Socioeconomic Status in Relation to Risk of Maternal Anemia among the Ariaal Agropastoralists of Northern Kenya
Variation in breast milk macronutrient contents by maternal anemia and hemoglobin concentration in northern Kenya
Maternal anemia and hemoglobin concentration may be associated with complex changes in milk macronutrients. Future research should clarify the impact of maternal anemia on a range of breast milk components while accounting for other maternal characteristics
Buffered or impaired: Maternal anemia, inflammation and breast milk macronutrients in northern Kenya
BACKGROUND: Maternal anemia has adverse consequences for the mother-infant dyad. To evaluate whether and how milk nutrient content may change in ways that could "buffer" infants against the conditions underlying maternal anemia, this study assessed associations between milk macronutrients and maternal iron-deficiency anemia (IDA), non-iron-deficiency anemia (NIDA), and inflammation. METHODS: A secondary analysis of cross-sectional data and milk f…
Nutritional, inflammatory, and ecological correlates of maternal retinol allocation to breast milk in agro‐pastoral Ariaal communities of northern Kenya
OBJECTIVES: Vitamin A (VA) is an essential micronutrient required for a range of biological functions throughout life. VA deficiency (VAD) claims an estimated 1 million preschool children's lives annually. Human milk is enriched with VA (retinol) from the maternal blood, which originates from the hepatic reserve and dietary intake. Secreting retinol into milk will benefit the nursing infant through breast milk, but retaining retinol is also impor…
A test of the optimal iron hypothesis among breastfeeding Ariaal mothers in northern Kenya
OBJECTIVE: The optimal iron hypothesis posits a trade-off in iron nutrition-iron deficiency restricts iron available to infectious agents, protecting against severe infection, but also compromises immune defense-such that mild-to-moderate iron deficiency may be more adaptive than either iron-replete or severe deficiency in environments with high infectious disease load. This hypothesis has not been tested among adults. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A se…
Nutrient intakes associated with elevated serum C‐reactive protein concentrations in normal to underweight breastfeeding women in Northern K enya
OBJECTIVES: Low-grade elevation of C-reactive protein (CRP) is a non-specific inflammatory marker, used as a predictor for cardiovascular disease development and chronic inflammatory risks. Research investigating dietary influences on inflammation has focused primarily on the relationship between dietary characteristics, CRP elevation and BMI in the populations at greatest risk for cardiovascular disease, namely those in the overweight and obese …
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, …
Response to primack's comment: Mother's milk
Peer Reviewed
Low serum vitamin A mothers breastfeed daughters more often than sons in drought-ridden northern Kenya: A test of the Trivers–Willard hypothesis
Dietary diversity score is a useful indicator of vitamin A status of adult women in Northern Kenya
OBJECTIVES: Diets consisting of diverse food items provide a wide range of nutrients that can enhance nutritional quality of the diet. Few studies have, however, assessed dietary diversity and its effects on micronutrient health in rural populations in field settings. This study assesses how well Dietary Diversity Score (DDS), an indicator of dietary diversity based on a simple count of food groups consumed, predicts the micronutrient status, foc…
In poor families, mothers' milk is richer for daughters than sons: A test of Trivers–Willard hypothesis in agropastoral settlements in Northern Kenya
The Trivers–Willard hypothesis predicts the unequal parental investment between daughters and sons, depending on maternal condition and offspring reproductive potential. Specifically, in polygynous populations where males have higher reproductive variance than females, it predicts that mothers in good condition will invest more in sons, whereas mothers in poor condition will invest more in daughters. Previous studies testing this hypothesis focus…
Vitamin A dynamics in breastmilk and liver stores: A life history perspective
OBJECTIVES: Newborns are dependent on breastmilk vitamin A for building hepatic stores of vitamin A that will become critical for survival after weaning. It has been documented that vitamin A concentrations in breastmilk decline across the first year postpartum in both well-nourished and malnourished populations. The reason for this decline has been assumed to be a sign of concurrently depleting maternal hepatic stores. This study investigates th…
P1-188 Analysis of questionnaire surveys on mothers' anxieties about child-rearing in rural areas of Japan
Background In Japan, as society changes, becoming ever more isolated and with rises in nuclear families, mothers are increasingly concerned and uneasy about child care. These changes have also coincided with a significant decrease in birth rates. The government took out the “indicator of support plan for the 21st century” in 2001. So, each prefecture had to draw up a concrete plan by 2005. Purpose The purpose of study was to explore factors affec…
HIV/Aids risk and worry in Northern Kenya
Data from a 2003 survey of sexual behaviour (n = 400) conducted in the Ariaal community of Karare, Marsabit District, northern Kenya, were used to delineate patterns of risk and worry about contracting HIV/AIDS. Despite widespread reporting of high-risk sexual behaviours (including multiple partners, concurrency, sexual mixing and not using condoms) by survey participants, logistic regression analysis found only one statistically significant posi…
New insights into pig taxonomy, domestication and human dispersal in Island South East Asia: Molar shape analysis ofSusremains from Niah Caves, Sarawak
Despite the almost ubiquitous presence of HoloceneSusremains in Island South East Asia (ISEA), the domestication of pigs and their dispersal in this region remains somewhat confused. Using molar shape geometric morphometric analysis, archaeologicalSusdental series from the Sarawak caves of Niah (Aceramic, Neolithic) and Lobang Kudih (Ming period), are compared with extant ISEA wild pigs to establish their taxonomic status and to further explore t…
Self-deception does not explain high-risk sexual behavior in the face of HIV/Aids: A test from northern Kenya
Sedentism, seasonality, and economic status: A multivariate analysis of maternal dietary and health statuses between pastoral and agricultural Ariaal and Rendille communities in northern Kenya
This paper examines longitudinal data to assess the effects of the recent transition from pastoralism to sedentary agriculture for Ariaal and Rendille mothers in northern Kenya. Dietary, morbidity, and anthropometric data resulting from bimonthly repeated surveys of the pastoral community of Lewogoso and the sedentary agricultural community of Songa, covering the period from September 1994–July 1995, were used to test two hypotheses: 1) that sede…
In poor families, mothers' milk is richer for daughters than sons: A test of Trivers–Willard hypothesis in agropastoral settlements in Northern Kenya
The Trivers–Willard hypothesis predicts the unequal parental investment between daughters and sons, depending on maternal condition and offspring reproductive potential. Specifically, in polygynous populations where males have higher reproductive variance than females, it predicts that mothers in good condition will invest more in sons, whereas mothers in poor condition will invest more in daughters. Previous studies testing this hypothesis focus…
Sedentism, seasonality, and economic status: A multivariate analysis of maternal dietary and health statuses between pastoral and agricultural Ariaal and Rendille communities in northern Kenya
This paper examines longitudinal data to assess the effects of the recent transition from pastoralism to sedentary agriculture for Ariaal and Rendille mothers in northern Kenya. Dietary, morbidity, and anthropometric data resulting from bimonthly repeated surveys of the pastoral community of Lewogoso and the sedentary agricultural community of Songa, covering the period from September 1994–July 1995, were used to test two hypotheses: 1) that sede…
New insights into pig taxonomy, domestication and human dispersal in Island South East Asia: Molar shape analysis ofSusremains from Niah Caves, Sarawak
Despite the almost ubiquitous presence of HoloceneSusremains in Island South East Asia (ISEA), the domestication of pigs and their dispersal in this region remains somewhat confused. Using molar shape geometric morphometric analysis, archaeologicalSusdental series from the Sarawak caves of Niah (Aceramic, Neolithic) and Lobang Kudih (Ming period), are compared with extant ISEA wild pigs to establish their taxonomic status and to further explore t…
Buffered or impaired: Maternal anemia, inflammation and breast milk macronutrients in northern Kenya
BACKGROUND: Maternal anemia has adverse consequences for the mother-infant dyad. To evaluate whether and how milk nutrient content may change in ways that could "buffer" infants against the conditions underlying maternal anemia, this study assessed associations between milk macronutrients and maternal iron-deficiency anemia (IDA), non-iron-deficiency anemia (NIDA), and inflammation. METHODS: A secondary analysis of cross-sectional data and milk f…
Lactose in human milk is associated with lower rates of infection during a drought
Mothers' milk may protect infants against infection through a broad range of immune and nutrient components. In the context of severe drought with heightened nutritional and disease stress, lactose may protect against infection or decrease in the presence of an infection
A test of the optimal iron hypothesis among breastfeeding Ariaal mothers in northern Kenya
OBJECTIVE: The optimal iron hypothesis posits a trade-off in iron nutrition-iron deficiency restricts iron available to infectious agents, protecting against severe infection, but also compromises immune defense-such that mild-to-moderate iron deficiency may be more adaptive than either iron-replete or severe deficiency in environments with high infectious disease load. This hypothesis has not been tested among adults. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A se…
Sedentism, seasonality, and economic status: A multivariate analysis of maternal dietary and health statuses between pastoral and agricultural Ariaal and Rendille communities in northern Kenya
This paper examines longitudinal data to assess the effects of the recent transition from pastoralism to sedentary agriculture for Ariaal and Rendille mothers in northern Kenya. Dietary, morbidity, and anthropometric data resulting from bimonthly repeated surveys of the pastoral community of Lewogoso and the sedentary agricultural community of Songa, covering the period from September 1994–July 1995, were used to test two hypotheses: 1) that sede…
Self-deception does not explain high-risk sexual behavior in the face of HIV/Aids: A test from northern Kenya
HIV/Aids risk and worry in Northern Kenya
Data from a 2003 survey of sexual behaviour (n = 400) conducted in the Ariaal community of Karare, Marsabit District, northern Kenya, were used to delineate patterns of risk and worry about contracting HIV/AIDS. Despite widespread reporting of high-risk sexual behaviours (including multiple partners, concurrency, sexual mixing and not using condoms) by survey participants, logistic regression analysis found only one statistically significant posi…
New insights into pig taxonomy, domestication and human dispersal in Island South East Asia: Molar shape analysis ofSusremains from Niah Caves, Sarawak
Despite the almost ubiquitous presence of HoloceneSusremains in Island South East Asia (ISEA), the domestication of pigs and their dispersal in this region remains somewhat confused. Using molar shape geometric morphometric analysis, archaeologicalSusdental series from the Sarawak caves of Niah (Aceramic, Neolithic) and Lobang Kudih (Ming period), are compared with extant ISEA wild pigs to establish their taxonomic status and to further explore t…
Vitamin A dynamics in breastmilk and liver stores: A life history perspective
OBJECTIVES: Newborns are dependent on breastmilk vitamin A for building hepatic stores of vitamin A that will become critical for survival after weaning. It has been documented that vitamin A concentrations in breastmilk decline across the first year postpartum in both well-nourished and malnourished populations. The reason for this decline has been assumed to be a sign of concurrently depleting maternal hepatic stores. This study investigates th…
P1-188 Analysis of questionnaire surveys on mothers' anxieties about child-rearing in rural areas of Japan
Background In Japan, as society changes, becoming ever more isolated and with rises in nuclear families, mothers are increasingly concerned and uneasy about child care. These changes have also coincided with a significant decrease in birth rates. The government took out the “indicator of support plan for the 21st century” in 2001. So, each prefecture had to draw up a concrete plan by 2005. Purpose The purpose of study was to explore factors affec…
Low serum vitamin A mothers breastfeed daughters more often than sons in drought-ridden northern Kenya: A test of the Trivers–Willard hypothesis
Dietary diversity score is a useful indicator of vitamin A status of adult women in Northern Kenya
OBJECTIVES: Diets consisting of diverse food items provide a wide range of nutrients that can enhance nutritional quality of the diet. Few studies have, however, assessed dietary diversity and its effects on micronutrient health in rural populations in field settings. This study assesses how well Dietary Diversity Score (DDS), an indicator of dietary diversity based on a simple count of food groups consumed, predicts the micronutrient status, foc…
In poor families, mothers' milk is richer for daughters than sons: A test of Trivers–Willard hypothesis in agropastoral settlements in Northern Kenya
The Trivers–Willard hypothesis predicts the unequal parental investment between daughters and sons, depending on maternal condition and offspring reproductive potential. Specifically, in polygynous populations where males have higher reproductive variance than females, it predicts that mothers in good condition will invest more in sons, whereas mothers in poor condition will invest more in daughters. Previous studies testing this hypothesis focus…
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, …
Response to primack's comment: Mother's milk
Peer Reviewed
Nutrient intakes associated with elevated serum C‐reactive protein concentrations in normal to underweight breastfeeding women in Northern K enya
OBJECTIVES: Low-grade elevation of C-reactive protein (CRP) is a non-specific inflammatory marker, used as a predictor for cardiovascular disease development and chronic inflammatory risks. Research investigating dietary influences on inflammation has focused primarily on the relationship between dietary characteristics, CRP elevation and BMI in the populations at greatest risk for cardiovascular disease, namely those in the overweight and obese …
Nutritional, inflammatory, and ecological correlates of maternal retinol allocation to breast milk in agro‐pastoral Ariaal communities of northern Kenya
OBJECTIVES: Vitamin A (VA) is an essential micronutrient required for a range of biological functions throughout life. VA deficiency (VAD) claims an estimated 1 million preschool children's lives annually. Human milk is enriched with VA (retinol) from the maternal blood, which originates from the hepatic reserve and dietary intake. Secreting retinol into milk will benefit the nursing infant through breast milk, but retaining retinol is also impor…
A test of the optimal iron hypothesis among breastfeeding Ariaal mothers in northern Kenya
OBJECTIVE: The optimal iron hypothesis posits a trade-off in iron nutrition-iron deficiency restricts iron available to infectious agents, protecting against severe infection, but also compromises immune defense-such that mild-to-moderate iron deficiency may be more adaptive than either iron-replete or severe deficiency in environments with high infectious disease load. This hypothesis has not been tested among adults. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A se…
Variation in breast milk macronutrient contents by maternal anemia and hemoglobin concentration in northern Kenya
Maternal anemia and hemoglobin concentration may be associated with complex changes in milk macronutrients. Future research should clarify the impact of maternal anemia on a range of breast milk components while accounting for other maternal characteristics
Buffered or impaired: Maternal anemia, inflammation and breast milk macronutrients in northern Kenya
BACKGROUND: Maternal anemia has adverse consequences for the mother-infant dyad. To evaluate whether and how milk nutrient content may change in ways that could "buffer" infants against the conditions underlying maternal anemia, this study assessed associations between milk macronutrients and maternal iron-deficiency anemia (IDA), non-iron-deficiency anemia (NIDA), and inflammation. METHODS: A secondary analysis of cross-sectional data and milk f…
Age and Socioeconomic Status in Relation to Risk of Maternal Anemia among the Ariaal Agropastoralists of Northern Kenya
Human milk lactoferrin variation in relation to maternal inflammation and iron deficiency in northern Kenya
Results suggest that mothers of vulnerable young infants deliver more lactoferrin when they have inflammation/infection but mothers with older infants do not, and that maternal delivery of lactoferrin is unaffected by their IDA. Longitudinal research should verify these findings
Does the immune system of milk increase activity for infants experiencing infectious disease episodes in Kilimanjaro, Tanzania
INTRODUCTION: Multiple studies have reported that milk immune content increases for infants experiencing infectious disease (ID) episodes, suggesting that the immune system of milk (ISOM) offers enhanced protection when needed to combat ID. METHODS: To test the hypothesis that ISOM content and/or activity increases during an infant's ID episode, we characterized milk secretory immunoglobulin A (sIgA; a major ISOM constituent) and in vitro interle…
Effects of household composition on infant feeding and mother–infant health in northern Kenya
BACKGROUND: Households with alloparents, individuals other than the mother who care for an infant, can shift members' roles and affect mother-infant health. AIMS: To investigate how household composition relates to infant feeding and infectious disease risk in mother-infant dyads, the team utilized data from breastfeeding dyads (n 208) surveyed during a prolonged drought and food scarcity in northern Kenya. METHODS: Households were classified by …
Maternal and infant predictors of proinflammatory milk immune activity in Kilimanjaro , Tanzania
OBJECTIVES: The immune system of milk (ISOM) creates a mother-infant immune axis that plays an important role in protecting infants against infectious disease (ID). Tradeoffs in the immune system suggest the potential for both protection and harm, so we conceive of two dimensions via which the ISOM impacts infants: promotion of protective activity and control of activity directed at benign targets. High variability in ISOM activity across mother-…
Protective effects of diversified diets for dietary folate adequacy and serum homocysteine in breastfeeding mothers amid historic drought
OBJECTIVES: The United Nations recommends that women consume ≥5 food groups, also known as the minimum dietary diversity score for women (MDD-W), for nutritional health. This is increasingly unattainable for populations in climate hot zones coping with food insecurity by prioritizing calories over dietary breadth. Breastfeeding mothers may be particularly vulnerable to adverse health impacts of low dietary diversity due to elevated nutritional re…
Dual Behavioral–Physiological Buffering of Mothers' Milk Facilitates Drought Adaptability of Pastoralists and Agropastoralists in Northern Kenya
BACKGROUND: Mothers physiologically buffer key milk nutrient content against nutritional stress. How this is nested in upstream behavioral buffering is not well understood. OBJECTIVES: The study explored whether pastoralists and agropastoralists' economic or other behavioral coping strategies against droughts, such as livestock sales and child fosterage, influence maternal risk for malnutrition or milk nutrient content. METHODS: Using data from 2…
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 …
Lactose in human milk is associated with lower rates of infection during a drought
Mothers' milk may protect infants against infection through a broad range of immune and nutrient components. In the context of severe drought with heightened nutritional and disease stress, lactose may protect against infection or decrease in the presence of an infection
Biology (20 works) · Medicine (18 works) · Child Nutrition and Water Access (16 works) · Demography (10 works) · Environmental health (10 works) · Internal Medicine (9 works) · Physiology (9 works) · Infant Nutrition and Health (8 works) · Pediatrics (8 works) · Sociology (8 works)