Nutrition & Tuberculosis

The Global Nutrition Lab collaborates with researchers at Boston University, Boston Medical Center, and partner institutions worldwide 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 (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03598842), led with Dr. Pranay Sinha (Boston Medical Center and BU School of Medicine) and the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education & Research (JIPMER) in India, and 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 (BU School of Public Health) and Aquity Innovations NPC.

Building on this work, the lab is extending nutrition–TB integration to West Africa. In Ghana, we are developing approaches to integrate nutritional support into pediatric TB prevention and treatment, in partnership with Ghana’s National Tuberculosis Programme, the Ghana Health Service, UNICEF Ghana, the University of Ghana, and the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research. Read more about our work in Ghana.

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, L.M., McQuaid, F., Bhargava, A. A roadmap for integrating nutritional assessment, counselling, and support into the care of people with tuberculosis. Lancet Global Health, 2025;13(5):e967–e973.
Locks, L.M., Parekh, A., Newell, K., Dauphinais, M.R., Cintron, C., Maloomian, K., Yu, E.A., Finkelstein, J.L., Mehta, S., Sinha, P. The ABCDs of Nutritional Assessment in Infectious Diseases Research. Journal of Infectious Diseases, 2025;231(3):562–572.
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. A micro-costing analysis of nutritional support for persons with TB and their families in India. Public Health Action, 2023;13(2).
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. Not business as usual: Engaging the corporate sector in India’s TB elimination efforts. Global Public Health, 2023.
Sinha, P., Lakshminarayanan, S.L., Cintron, C., Narasimhan, P.B., Locks, L.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. 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, 2022;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. Tuberculosis—Learning the Impact of Nutrition (TB LION): protocol for an interventional study to decrease TB risk in household contacts. BMC Infectious Diseases, 2021;21(1).