J. Thomas Brenna

About

Tom Brenna, Ph.D., is Professor of Pediatrics, of Chemistry, and of Human Nutrition at the Dell Medical School and College of Natural Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin. He is also Professor Emeritus of Human Nutrition, of Food Science, and of Chemistry after 28 years as an active faculty member at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. His group’s basic research into the chemical, biochemical, metabolic, genetic, and ecological aspects of fatty acids has had a decisive influence on modern knowledge of these key nutrients. His research has transformed our understanding of endogenous synthesis of long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPUFA) and their role in human evolutionary adaptation, including the discovery of LCPUFA biochemical synthetic pathways. In the 1990s, his studies on omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids contributed to the US FDA’s approval of DHA and arachidonic acid in US infant formulas. He has contributed to numerous policy efforts, including serving as a member of the US Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee and the FAO/WHO Expert Panel on Fats and Fatty Acids. Brenna has been honored with the ASN’s Osborne and Mendel Award for outstanding contributions to basic research in nutrition in 2017 and the ASN’s Robert Herman Award for advancement of clinical nutrition in 2013.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Food science
• Internal medicine
• Environmental health
• Chemistry
• Biochemistry

Selected publications

• Polyunsaturated fatty acids and fatty acid-derived lipid mediators: Recent advances in the understanding of their biosynthesis, structures, and functions

  Progress in Lipid Research · 2022 · 585 citations

  Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) are structural components of membrane phospholipids, and influence cellular function via effects on membrane properties, and also by acting as a precursor pool for lipid mediators. These lipid mediators are formed via activation of pathways involving at least one step of dioxygen-dependent oxidation, and are consequently called oxylipins. Their biosynthesis can be either enzymatically-dependent, utilising the promiscuous cyclooxygenase, lipoxygenase, or cytoch…

  DOI

• Saturated Fats and Health: A Reassessment and Proposal for Food-Based Recommendations

  Journal of the American College of Cardiology · 2020 · 513 citations

  The recommendation to limit dietary saturated fatty acid (SFA) intake has persisted despite mounting evidence to the contrary. Most recent meta-analyses of randomized trials and observational studies found no beneficial effects of reducing SFA intake on cardiovascular disease (CVD) and total mortality, and instead found protective effects against stroke. Although SFAs increase low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, in most individuals, this is not due to increasing levels of small, dense LDL…

  DOI

• Fish consumption advice is depriving children of neurolipids and other nutrients essential to brain and eye development

  NeuroToxicology · 2025-05-20 · 6 citations

  reviewOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Climate-Driven Deoxygenation of Lakes Alters the Nutrient-Toxin Profile of a Food Fish

  Environmental Science & Technology · 2025-05-07 · 4 citations

  article

  Climate change is rapidly altering fisheries supporting aquatic ecosystems. The implications for food security depend not only on harvest biomass but also concentrations of nutrients and toxins in fish. Using brook trout from Adirondack lakes (New York, USA), we tested whether ongoing lake deoxygenation trends will affect fish muscle omega-3 fatty acids, selenium, and mercury concentrations. Across space (16 lakes: 1 year) and time (6 years: 1 lake), anoxia decreased selenium and was associated…

  PublisherDOI

• Antioxidative Action of Alpha-Linolenic Acid during Its Gastroprotective Effect in an Indomethacin-Induced Gastric Injury Model

  Preventive Nutrition and Food Science · 2025-04-29 · 3 citations

  articleOpen access

  , and increased glutathione following indomethacin administration. These results suggest that the gastroprotective effects of ALA are likely attributed to its role in the antioxidant pathway in indomethacin-induced gastric injury.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant R01AT007003

  NIH · $1.9M · 2018

• NIH Grant R01GM049209

  NIH · $2.6M · 2006

• NIH Grant R01GM103437

  NIH · $913k · 2016

Frequent coauthors

• Kumar S.D. Kothapalli

  143 shared

• Peter Lawrence

  Cornell University

  97 shared

• Hui Gyu Park

  The University of Texas at Austin

  88 shared

• Dong Hao Wang

  Sun Yat-sen University

  53 shared

• Zhen Wang

  Dalian Minzu University

  49 shared

• Herbert J. Tobias

  48 shared

• Peter W. Nathanielsz

  Texas Biomedical Research Institute

  43 shared

• Anthony Michaud

  Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Poitiers

  26 shared

Education

• PhD, Chemistry

  Cornell University

  1985

• BS, Nutritional Sciences

  University of Connecticut

  1980

Awards & honors

• ASN’s Osborne and Mendel Award for outstanding contributions…
• ASN’s Robert Herman Award for advancement of clinical nutrit…

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• Eman Alasadih-2