Oprah Winfrey Show focuses on health and longevity

Program may include highlights from Appalachian’s Human Performance Lab in Kannapolis

Research being conducted at the N.C. Research Campus to improve people’s health and longevity will be the focus of “The Oprah Winfrey Show” Tuesday, March 24.

While the producers of the show are keeping the contents under wraps until broadcast time, Appalachian State University Professor David Nieman was one of the professors working at the research campus who was interviewed by the show’s producers. Researchers from UNC Chapel Hill and Duke University also were interviewed.

Appalachian became part of the N.C. Research Campus last May. Nieman and Andy Shanely, Fuxia Jin, Amy Knab and Margaret Downs West, also with Appalachian, are expanding on research related to exercise, nutrition and the immune system that has been conducted at Appalachian’s Human Performance Lab in the Department of Health, Leisure and Exercise Science.

The N.C. Research Campus is a $1.5 billion biotechnology complex founded by Dole Food Co. owner David Murdock, who has long been interested in health and nutrition.

Appalachian has leased 5,200 square feet of office and research space in N.C. State University’s Plants for Human Health Institute, which is part of the research campus.

Research conducted at Appalachian during the past decade has documented the positive impact of moderate exercise on the immune system, that carbohydrate sports drinks help athletes stay healthy after high-intensity exercise, and that quercetin – an anti-oxidant found in red grapes, red wine, red apples, green tea and broccoli – helps keep people healthy.

http://www.news.appstate.edu/2009/03/17/oprah-winfrey-show/