About

Professor Laura Barre is associated with the Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research at Cornell University. The center assists faculty in developing translational research projects, providing support such as proposal preparation, training, technical support, and fostering collaborative relationships. The center offers workshops, an intensive summer institute, and talks on current research, aiming to facilitate the dissemination and funding of translational research. While specific details about Professor Barre's individual research focus or background are not provided on the page, her affiliation indicates involvement in research that aligns with the center's mission to support translational research efforts.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Artificial Intelligence
• Computer Science
• Psychology
• Internal medicine
• Cognitive psychology
• Social psychology
• Clinical psychology
• Economics
• Biochemistry
• Psychiatry
• Epistemology
• Physical therapy
• Philosophy
• Cognitive science
• Biology
• Endocrinology

Selected publications

• A Feasibility and Acceptability Study of Virtually Sharing a Meal over Video Chat while Aging-in-Place (Preprint)

  2025-04-14

  preprintSenior author

  <sec> <title>BACKGROUND</title> Using video chat to eat commensally, i.e. VideoDining, may address eating alone and loneliness, risk factors for malnutrition. </sec> <sec> <title>OBJECTIVE</title> We conducted a mixed-methods feasibility and acceptability study to determine if adults aging-in-place could independently VideoDine. </sec> <sec> <title>METHODS</title> We recruited older adults in collaboration with the Office for Aging in a rural community. Participants were asked to use an Amazon EchoShow to VideoDine with family or friends once a week for four weeks. </sec> <sec> <title>RESULTS</title> Participants (n=11) were a mean age of 88 and 91% female. Eight participants (73%) VideoDined at least twice. Sessions occurred primarily in the evening (16/25) for an average of 35 minutes. Most participants enjoyed VideoDining and rated sessions easy and comfortable. Facilitators to VideoDining included easy-to-prepare meals and challenges were identifying a partner and scheduling. Office for Aging administrators reported continued use of VideoDining one year later. </sec> <sec> <title>CONCLUSIONS</title> VideoDining once a week was feasible and acceptable for older adults aging-in-place. </sec>

  PublisherDOI

• Evaluating the Effectiveness of Daily Self-Weighing to Prevent Age-Related Weight Gain

  Research Square · 2023-06-30

  preprintOpen access

  Abstract Objective Age-related weight gain refers to the gain in adult body weight with age. What makes age-related weight gain a serious public health problem is that the higher the rate of age-related weight gain, the greater the incidence of many weight related diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and heart disease. We examined the efficacy of daily self-weighing to reduce age-related weight gain among university employees. Design: Participants were randomized into two groups. One group (experimental) were given internet-based scales and asked to weigh themselves daily. They received an email reminder if more than three days elapsed between weighings. The other group (control), like the experimental group, was weighed at the beginning and the end of the two-year experimental period. Settings: The initial and final weighing occurred in the Metabolic Unit of the Division of Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY. Participants: The participants were 286 adult employees of a Cornell University Results Using the conventional Intent-to-Treat analysis neither the within subject weight change over time (-0.38kg [-1.27kg, 0.50kg], control: 0.19kg [-0.56kg, 0.93kg]) nor the between groups (0.40kg, p = 0.183) reached statistical significance. However, when the non-compliers from both the experimental and control group were removed, the self-weighers gained significantly less weight than the controls (0.59 kg (p = 0.048)). Analyses controlled for baseline weight, gender, ethnicity, age, education, marital status, weight change the year before the study, and baseline weighing frequency. Conclusion Compliers to daily self-weighing gained significantly less weight over two years than a matched group who did not self-weigh.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Randomized control trial of a single-session intervention targeting sociocultural pressures of body image in college sorority women

  Journal of American College Health · 2022 · 3 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Psychology
  • Medicine
  • Clinical psychology

  A one-hour peer-led community-level intervention can lead to positive changes in sociocultural pressures in new initiates to a sorority.

  PublisherDOI

• Healthcare and Wellness Practitioner Confidence in Provision of Nutrition Education and Use of Evidence-Based Nutrition Resources

  Current Developments in Nutrition · 2022-06-01

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Differences in messaging from healthcare and wellness practitioners can lead to consumer confusion and mistrust in nutrition. The regular use of evidence-based nutrition resources by practitioners could improve consistency in patient education. The confidence registered dietitians (RDNs) and non-RDN practitioners have in providing nutrition education and the use of evidence-based nutrition resources in patient education is not known. Objectives: 1) To evaluate how confident RDN and non-RDN practitioners are in providing nutrition education, and 2) to evaluate RDN and non-RDN use of evidence-based nutrition resources. An exploratory, online, cross-sectional study was conducted with a convenience sample of 34 RDNs and 32 non-RDN practitioners. The 15 question survey was tested for face validity and revised accordingly. Recruitment occurred via email and through local and state-wide professional organization list-serves. Confidence questions were measured using Likert scales and were scored from 1 (not at all confident) to 5 (extremely confident). Differences in confidence between groups were determined using Mann-Whitney U tests (P < 0.05). Eighty-five % of RDNs and 31% of non-RDNs felt very or extremely confident in their ability to find evidence-based nutrition information; 65% of RDNs and 31% of non-RDNs felt very or extremely confident in their ability to provide evidence-based nutrition information to their patients. Non-RDNs felt less confident than RDNs both in finding (P < 0.01) and providing (P < 0.01) evidence-based nutrition information. Forty-one % of non-RDNs reported providing nutrition education to more than a quarter of their patients over the past year. More than 60% of RDNs and more than 70% of non-RDNs reported being unfamiliar with or never using multiple resources for evidence-based nutrition information, including Cochrane, Nutrition Evidence Systematic Reviews, and Practice-based Evidence in Nutrition. The majority of RDNs and a third of non-RDNs felt highly confident in their ability to find and provide evidence-based nutrition information. However, more than half of RDNs and non-RDNs reported being unfamiliar with or never using multiple resources for evidence-based nutrition information. College at Oneonta Foundation and the SUNY Oneonta Alumni Association.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The Rise and Fall of Physiological Theories of the Control of Human Eating Behavior

  Frontiers in Nutrition · 2022 · 7 citations

  • Computer Science
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Psychology

  Kuhns was the first to suggest that theories in science do not develop in small increments but rather in major leaps to paradigms that examine the same question through very different perspectives. Theories on the mechanism responsible for control of human food intake fall into Kuhn's description. This article describes how the two major theories of the control of food intake in humans, the Glucostatic Theory, and the Lipostatic Theory, showed initial promise as explanations, but later deteriorated with the slow accumulation experimental data. The locus of theories considered eating behavior as a part of physiological system that regulates the storage of energy on the body. We challenge this fundamental belief with data which suggests that we must be ready to accept a major change in the way we think about eating behavior if we are ever to decrease the prevalence of obesity.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Video Chat Use and Mealtime Behaviors in Older Adults Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic

  Innovation in Aging · 2021-12-01

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract Video chat allows people to connect when not physically together. Using video chat while sharing a meal (VideoDining) may decrease loneliness and improve older adults' nutritional intake. We conducted a cross-sectional online survey study using Amazon Mechanical Turk in June 2020. The objectives were to learn about eating with others, the use of video chat, and interest in VideoDining in older adults during the pandemic. There were 1331 survey attempts with 167 responses meeting the criteria for age (65 years of age or older), U.S. residency, and quality. Participants were 64% male, 77% white, 65% college-educated, and a median age of 67 years (IQR=2 years). Few participants lived alone (17%), yet 76% reported feeling isolated. Eating with others regularly, defined as several times a week or more, declined in the pandemic (44% vs. 59% pre-pandemic, p=0.0002). The use of video chat and eating when video chatting increased during the pandemic versus pre-pandemic (82% vs. 74%, p=0.003; 47% vs. 37%, p=0.0005). The majority of participants said they would VideoDine (50%) or consider trying it (37%). Interest in VideoDining did not vary by age, race, or gender. Participants who used video chat were more likely to say they would VideoDine than participants who had never used video chat (OR=3.1; 95% CI=1.25, 8.35; p=0.02). This data suggests most adults 65 years of age and older, already using the Internet, are experiencing isolation and decreased mealtime commensality during the pandemic. The vast majority are using video chat and are interested in trying VideoDining.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Feasibility and Acceptability of VideoChat During Meals in Adults Aging in Place of Average Age 88

  Innovation in Aging · 2021-12-01

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Abstract Older adults in the United States prefer to age-in-place. However, living and eating alone are risk factors for malnutrition. Using videochat during mealtimes, i.e., VideoDining, can provide commensality and social facilitation to improve nutritional intake. The objective of this study was to determine if older adults aging-in-place can independently VideoDine with family or friends. We recruited eleven older adults from Full Circle America Steuben, a virtual assisted living program for adults aging-in-place in rural New York. All participants had Amazon EchoShow devices for videochat. Participants were instructed on VideoDining and asked to independently schedule four VideoDine sessions with a family/friend in four weeks. Surveys were collected at baseline, after VideoDine sessions, and end-of-study. Participants were 91% female and 100% white. The average age was 88 years. All participants were widowed and living alone except for one married couple. Overall, 45% of participants VideoDined four times, 36% of participants VideoDined two to three times, and 27% not at all, for an average of 2.7 sessions in a month. Participants VideoDined during all meals, although dinner was most common (66% of meals), and breakfast least common (12% of meals). Average comfort was rated 7.6/10 (1=not comfortable, 10=comfortable), median enjoyment was 9.3/10 (1=not enjoyable, 10=enjoyable), and median ease of VideoDining was 4.1/5 (1=very difficult, 5=very easy). On average, participants rated their VideoDining meal experience a 7.6/10 (1=poor, 10=excellent). With access to videochat technology, older adults can connect with a dining partner and have a favorable experience sharing a meal over videochat.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Protein and amino acids for skeletal muscle health in aging

  Advances in food and nutrition research · 2020 · 25 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Biology
  • Endocrinology
  • Internal medicine
  PublisherDOI

• Reducing an entrée portion size does not affect the amount of dessert consumed

  Appetite · 2020-03-29 · 1 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

• VIDEODINING IN OLDER ADULTS AGING IN PLACE: A FEASIBILITY AND ACCEPTABILITY STUDY

  Innovation in Aging · 2019-11-01 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract Loneliness and a loss of commensality contribute to the decline in nutritional status observed in older adults. The use of video chatting while dining, i.e. “VideoDining”, provides an opportunity for older adults to eat with another person virtually while dining at home. We tested the acceptability and feasibility of VideoDining in older adults receiving Meals on Wheels (MOW) and explored whether it changed meal intake. Participants were recruited from a rural county in NY and ate their MOW meal while VideoDining with a companion diner at a different location. To assess acceptability, we conducted semi-structured qualitative interviews with each participant and companion diners completed a written survey. The amount of the VideoDining meal consumed was compared to usual intake from three days of food records. 140 MOW clients were contacted,13 agreed to participate and 10 completed the VideoDining experience. Barriers to participation included being uncomfortable with the technology, lack of internet service and illness. Participants were 80% female, 100% white, and all lived alone. Average meal length was 39 minutes and 40% ate more than usual, 30% ate the same, and 30% ate less. Reasons for eating less included being nervous and eating when not their usual mealtime. All participants reported they would VideoDine again and companion diners rated the overall experience a 9.2 out of 10. Older adults are able to VideoDine with a new acquaintance and have a positive experience. Further study is needed to determine if VideoDining can increase dietary intake and decrease loneliness in older adults.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Stephen J. Bartels

  Massachusetts General Hospital

  44 shared

• Kelly A. Aschbrenner

  Dartmouth–Hitchcock Medical Center

  32 shared

• John A. Naslund

  Harvard Global Health Institute

  31 shared

• Gregory J. McHugo

  Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice

  27 shared

• Sarah I. Pratt

  Dartmouth–Hitchcock Medical Center

  27 shared

• Rosemarie Wolfe

  Dartmouth College

  27 shared

• Daniel E. Jimenez

  Danbury Hospital

  26 shared

• Haiyi Xie

  Dartmouth College

  26 shared

Education

• B.S., Nutritional Sciences

  Cornell University

  1991

• M.D.

  Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth

  2001