Janet Novotney, PhD
2017 Presentation Title – Evidence for Anti-Obesity and Beneficial Glucoregulatory Effects of Berries
Dr. Janet A. Novotny is a Research Physiologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Human Nutrition Research Center in Beltsville, Maryland. Holding degrees in mathematics, nutrition, and biophysics, Novotny combines her areas of expertise to conduct studies on bioavailability, metabolism, and health benefits of dietary components.
Novotny’s research involves several facets of the relationship between diet and health. One aspect of Novotny’s work is the bioavailability, pathways of metabolism, and rates of elimination of phytonutrients and micronutrients. Novotny conducts human intervention studies which combine technologies of staple isotopes, mass spectrometry, and mathematical modeling to assess nutrient absorption and pathways of metabolism. Novotny has published on the pharmacokinetics of anthocyanins, carotenoids, vitamin A, vitamin K, vitamin E, and molybdenum. Novotny also conducts clinical studies to assess mechanisms by which dietary bioactive components, especially polyphenols, reduce risk of chronic disease, including cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.
Novotny earned a B.S. in mathematics, an M.S. in Nutritional Sciences, and a Ph.D. in Biophysics from the University of Illinois, and is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Nutrition at the University of Maryland. She is active in the American Society for Nutrition, has served as an Associate Editor for Crop Science, is the Government Liaison for the International Life Sciences Institute Committee on Bioactives, and has edited two books on Mathematical Modeling.