Steven Abrams

About

Steven A. Abrams, MD, is a professor and the Director of the Dell Pediatric Research Institute at the University of Texas. His research focuses on cell and tissue engineering, specifically on mineral requirements for children, growth of pre-term infants, and neonatal care. Abrams has developed and championed the use of stable isotopes to determine mineral requirements and physiological turnover rates in infants and children. He developed the mass spectrometric methods and analytical approaches that enable populations worldwide to obtain critical data for effective food fortification strategies. His work has furthered understanding of the physiological basis for hormonal changes during growth, affecting bone formation and turnover, through mathematical modeling techniques adapted by his team for infants and small children. Abrams has conducted research studies using mineral isotopes in more than 20 countries and operated the largest nutritional research lab in the world for 25 years, analyzing biological samples for mineral isotope enrichment. He has frequently consulted with governments and served as a trainer for the International Atomic Energy Agency, helping develop the skills of scientists in countries including Pakistan, Egypt, Indonesia, and South Africa on isotopic techniques related to human nutrition. Abrams has authored dozens of methodological papers and a textbook relating disease processes to nutrient metabolism. He continues to consult with companies on product…

Research topics

• Medicine
• Physiology
• Pediatrics
• Internal medicine
• Endocrinology
• Environmental health

Selected publications

• Calcium deficiency worldwide: prevalence of inadequate intakes and associated health outcomes

  Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · 2022 · 201 citations

  Dietary calcium deficiency is considered to be widespread globally, with published estimates suggesting that approximately half of the world's population has inadequate access to dietary calcium. Calcium is essential for bone health, but inadequate intakes have also been linked to other health outcomes, including pregnancy complications, cancers, and cardiovascular disease. Populations in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are at greatest risk of low calcium intakes, although many individu…

  DOI

• Vitamin D in Preterm and Full-Term Infants

  Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism · 2020 · 84 citations

  1st authorCorresponding

  Vitamin D is necessary for the active (transcellular) absorption of calcium and for skeletal health. Inadequate vitamin D in infants leads to increased risks of poor bone mineralization and ultimately rickets. Rickets is uncommon in full-term infants with a much higher risk in very premature infants. However, the primary cause of rickets in premature infants is a deficiency of calcium and phosphorus, not vitamin D. Available research, as well as most guidelines, recommend an intake of 400 IU dai…

  DOI

• Vitamin D supplementation for term breastfed infants to prevent vitamin D deficiency and improve bone health

  Cochrane library · 2020 · 78 citations

  BACKGROUND: Vitamin D deficiency is common worldwide, contributing to nutritional rickets and osteomalacia which have a major impact on health, growth, and development of infants, children and adolescents. Vitamin D levels are low in breast milk and exclusively breastfed infants are at risk of vitamin D insufficiency or deficiency. OBJECTIVES: To determine the effect of vitamin D supplementation given to infants, or lactating mothers, on vitamin D deficiency, bone density and growth in healthy t…

  DOI

• Use of Genetically Modified Organism (GMO)-Containing Food Products in Children

  PEDIATRICS · 2023-12-11 · 14 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Families increasingly raise questions about the use of genetically modified organism (GMO)-containing food products. These products are widely found in the US food supply but originate from a narrow list of crops. Although GMO technology could be used to increase the micronutrient content of foods, this does not occur in the United States; instead, GMO technology has been used to make crops resistant to chemical herbicides. As a result, herbicide use has increased exponentially. The World Health…

  PublisherDOI

• Older Infant-Young Child “Formulas”

  PEDIATRICS · 2023-10-20 · 11 citations

  article

  The category of "formulas" directed at older infants and toddlers 6 to 36 months of age has increased in prominence over the last years but is characterized by lack of standardization in nomenclature and composition as well as questionable marketing practices. There has been uncertainty and misperception regarding some of the roles of these beverages in ensuring adequate childhood nutrition. The aim of this clinical report is to review the context, evidence, and rationale for older infant-young…

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant M01RR000188

  NIH · $31.8M · 2011

• NIH Grant R01AR043740

  NIH · $2.9M · 2007

• NIH Grant R03TW006428

  NIH · $122k · 2008

Frequent coauthors

• John F. Aloia

  335 shared

• Glenville Jones

  Queen's University

  332 shared

• Clifford J. Rosen

  MaineHealth

  331 shared

• Steven K. Clinton

  The Ohio State University

  331 shared

• Christopher S. Kovacs

  Memorial University of Newfoundland

  331 shared

• Sue A. Shapses

  330 shared

• Patsy M. Brannon

  330 shared

• JoAnn E. Manson

  Brigham and Women's Hospital

  330 shared

Awards & honors

• Samuel J. Fomon Nutrition Award – American Academy of Pediat…

Similar researchers at University of Texas at Austin

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• Lief Fennoh-43
• Kenneth Dillerh-42