Nutrition & Tuberculosis

The Global Nutrition Lab is collaborating with researchers at Boston University, Boston Medical Center and globally on research on the relationship between malnutrition and tuberculosis (TB). Current studies include the Warren Alpert Foundation-funded ‘Tuberculosis: Learning the Impact of Nutrition: (TB-LION)’ study (https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT03598842) with Dr. Pranay Sinha (Boston Medical Center & BU School of Medicine) and the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education & Research (JIPMER) in India, as well as the Providence/Boston Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) study ‘Pediatric Evaluation of the Dynamics of HIV, Anemia, and Tuberculosis Treatment (PED-HATT)’ in South Africa with Dr. Meredith Brooks (BUSPH) and Aquity Innovations NPC in South Africa.

Nutrition & Tuberculosis Publications:

  • Sinha, P., Bhargava, M., Carwile, M.E., Dauphinais, M.R., Tisile, P., Cintron, C., Lenart, A., Hauser, J., Oliver, M., Mehta, S., Finkelstein, J., Koura, K.G., Cegielski, J.P., Houben, R., Locks, LM., McQuaid, F., Bhargava, A. A Roadmap for Integrating Nutrition into Tuberculosis Therapy. Lancet Global Health, accepted for publication, 2025.
  • Locks, L.M., Parakh, A*…. The ABCDs of nutritional assessment in infectious diseases research. Accepted for publication in Journal of Infectious Diseases,
  • Buonomo, G.*, Acuña-Villaorduna, C., Poongothai, V., Dharmalingam, M., Cintron, C., Dauphinais, M., Babu, S. P., Locks, L. M., Sarkar, S., Salgame, P., Hochberg, N. S., Lakshminaryanan, S., Narasimhan, P. B., & Sinha, P. (2023). A micro-costing analysis of nutritional support for persons with TB and their families in India. Public Health Action,
  • Carwile, M., Cintron, C., Jain, K., Buonomo, G.*, Oliver, M., Dauphinais, M., Narasimhan, P. B., Prakash Babu, S., Sarkar, S., Locks, L., Kulatilaka, N., Hochberg, N., Lakshminarayanan, S., & Sinha, P. (2023). Not business as usual: Engaging the corporate sector in India’s TB elimination efforts. In Global Public Health (Vol. 18, Issue 1).
  • Sinha, P., Lakshminarayanan, S. L., Cintron, C., Narasimhan, P. B., Locks, M., Kulatilaka, N., Maloomian, K., Prakash Babu, S., Carwile, M. E., Liu, A. F., Horsburgh, C. R., Acuna-Villaorduna, C., Linas, B. P., & Hochberg, N. S. (2022). Nutritional Supplementation Would Be Cost-Effective for Reducing Tuberculosis Incidence and Mortality in India: The Ration Optimization to Impede Tuberculosis (ROTI-TB) Model. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 75(4).
  • Cintron, C., Narasimhan, P. B., Locks, L., Babu, S., Sinha, P., Rajkumari, N., Kaipilyawar, V., Bhargava, A., Maloomian, K., Chandrasekaran, P., Verma, S., Joseph, N., Johnson, W. E., Wanke, C., Horsburgh, C. R., Ellner, J. J., Sarkar, S., Salgame, P., Lakshminarayanan, S., & Hochberg, N. S. (2021). Tuberculosis—Learning the Impact of Nutrition (TB LION): protocol for an interventional study to decrease TB risk in household contacts. BMC Infectious Diseases, 21(1).