skip to contentNational Cancer Institute
National Cancer Institute U.S. National Institutes of Health www.cancer.gov
About DCEG

Rashmi Sinha, Ph.D.

Deputy Chief, Nutritional Epidemiology Branch

Location: Executive Plaza South, Room 3046
Phone: 301-496-6426
Fax: 301-496-6829
E-mail: sinhar@mail.nih.gov

 Rashmi Sinha, Ph.D.

Biography

Dr. Sinha received a B.S. with honors and M.SC. in biochemistry from the University of Stirling in Scotland, and a Ph.D. in nutritional sciences from the University of Maryland. She began work at the NCI in the Laboratory of Cellular Carcinogenesis and Tumor Promotion in 1987, was selected as a Cancer Prevention Research Fellow in 1990, and later joined the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics in 1992. Dr. Sinha was promoted to tenure in 2001, and is the Deputy Branch Chief of the Nutritional Epidemiology Branch and the Co-Principal Investigator of the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study.

Dr. Sinha was awarded a fellowship from the Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research in 2001 and 1997, Sigma Xi Distinguished Lectureship 2005; and in 2007 was invited to present at the prestigious 38th International Princess Takamatsu Symposium, Tokyo, Japan. She has received the NIH Award of Merit, Technology Transfer Award, DCEG Special Appreciation Award, and several performance awards. Dr. Sinha was one of the founding members of the steering committee of the Molecular Epidemiology Group of the American Association for Cancer Research from 1997-1998, and of the Nutritional Epidemiology Research Group of the American Society of Nutritional Sciences from 1998-2000. She was a member of the working group for the IARC Monograph on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Humans, (Vol. 92), and was a reviewer for the American Institute for Cancer Research/World Cancer Research Fund report Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Prevention of Cancer (2007 and 1997 editions). As an expert in the field of nutritional epidemiology, Dr. Sinha regularly chairs international committees and sessions at national meetings, as well as organizes meetings, symposia, and workshops. She was the president of the 8th International Conference on Carcinogens and Mutagenic–substituted Aryl Compounds and edited a special issue of Mutation Research – Fundamental and Molecular Mechanisms in 2002. She serves on the Editorial Board of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, and the journal of the Japanese Cancer Association, Cancer Science.

Research Interests

Diet and Cancer

Only a small number of dietary components are convincingly linked causally to cancer, even though diet is thought to be important in the etiology of human cancers. The goal of our research is to explain the complex role of diet in cancer etiology, using an interdisciplinary approach that integrates biological mechanisms with epidemiologic studies. An aim of the Nutritional Epidemiology Branch is to improve dietary exposure assessment using questionnaires and novel biochemical measures to elucidate dietary exposures and biological mechanisms associated with cancer risk, including the role of genetic susceptibility. Dr. Sinha is particularly interested in examining the role of meat, poultry, and fish in relation to cancer risk. She also studies non-nutritive constituents of diet, e.g., carcinogens formed during the cooking process and chemopreventive properties of coffee.

Dietary Cohort in Asian Populations

Asia is undergoing marked changes in diet, lifestyle, and chronic disease patterns. Dietary characteristics unique to Asia may be of particular interest. In high-income societies, over one-third of cancers are believed to be attributable to potentially modifiable, lifestyle-related exposures, such as diet, physical activity, and obesity. However, the relationship between diet and cancer risk within Asians and particularly South Asians are largely unexplored, despite the startling prevalence of diet-related conditions that may affect cancer and chronic disease risk, such as insulin resistance and hyperlipidemia. Dr. Sinha has actively pursued two such initiatives: the creation of the Asian Cohort Consortium and the development of dietary studies in South Asian populations.

Role of Gut Microflora in Nutrition

There are many important developments that are ongoing in the basic sciences that can provide a window into studying possible mechanisms related to diet in cancer etiology. An area that is crucial to the study of diet and cancer is the involvement of the microbiome in the gastrointestinal system, e.g., production of acetaldehyde in the mouth, Helicobacter Pylori in the stomach, and N-nitroso compound production in the gastrointestinal tract. Even though the role of gut bacteria has been implicated in various cancers for decades, recent advances in measuring different species of bacteria is opening door for more informative dietary studies. However, there are many methodological questions that need to be addressed before studies of the microbiome can be incorporated into epidemiological studies. In conjunction with evaluating the microbiome, there is a need to develop functions assays and/or measure mRNA signals of relevant dietary factors.

Keywords

Cooking method, DiMeIQx, genetic susceptibility, heterocyclic amines, MeIQx, PhIP, meat, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), Asia, South Asian, diet, coffee, microflora

Selected Publications

  • Cross AJ, Leitzmann MF, Gail MH, Hollenbeck AR, Schatzkin A, Sinha R. A prospective study of red and processed meat intake in relation to cancer risk. PLoS Med 2007 Dec;4(12):e325.
  • Sinha R, Cross AJ, Graubard BI, Leitzmann MF, Schatzkin A. Meat intake and mortality: a prospective study of over half a million people. Arch Int Med 2009 Mar 23;169(6):562-71.
  • Freedman ND, Everhart JE, Lindsay KL, Ghany MG, Curto TM, Shiffman ML, Abnet CC, Sinha R, for the HALT-C Trial Group. Coffee intake is associated with lower rates of liver disease progression in chronic hepatitis C. Hepatology 2009 Nov; 50(5):1360-9.
  • Sinha R, Park Y, Graubard BI, Leitzmann MF, Hollenbeck A, Schatzkin A, Cross AJ. Meat and meat-related compounds and risk of prostate cancer in a large prospective cohort study in the United States. Am J Epidemiol 2009 Nov 1;170(9):1165-77.
  • Freedman ND, Cross AJ, McGlynn KA, Abnet CC, Park Y, Hollenbeck AR, Schatzkin A, Everhart JE, Sinha R. Association of meat and fat intake with liver disease and hepatocellular carcinoma in the NIH-AARP cohort. J Natl Cancer Inst 2010 Sep 8;102(17):1354-65.
  • Major JM, Doubeni CA, Freedman ND, Park Y, Lian M, Hollenbeck AR, Schatzkin A, Graubard BI, Sinha R. Neighborhood socioeconomic deprivation and mortality: NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study. PLoS One 2010 Nov 23;5(11):e15538.
  • Sinha R, Daniel CR, Devasenapathy N, Shetty H, Yurgalevitch S, Ferrucci LM, George PS, Morrissey KG, Ramakrishnan L, Graubard BI, Kapur K, Reddy KS, McAdams MJ, Rastogi T, Chatterjee N, Gupta PC, Wacholder S, Prabhakaran D, Mathew AA. Multi-center feasibility study evaluating recruitment, variability in risk factors and biomarkers for a diet and cancer cohort in India. BMC Public Health 2011 May 27;11:405-20.
  • Moore SC, Gunter MJ, Daniel CR, Reddy KS, George PS, Yurgalevitch S, Devasenapathy N, Ramakrishnan L, Chatterjee N, Chanock SJ, Berndt SI, Mathew A, Prabhakaran D, Sinha R. Common genetic variants and central adiposity among Asian-Indians. Obesity 2011 Jul 28. [Epub ahead of print]

    • Collaborators

    DCEG Collaborators

    • Christian C. Abnet, Ph.D., M.P.H.; Michael Alavanja, Ph.D.; Demetrius Albanes, M.D.; Neil Caporaso, M.D.; Sonja Berndt, Pharm. D., Ph.D.; Stephen Chanock, M.D.; Nilanjan Chatterjee, Ph.D.; Wong-Ho Chow, Ph.D.; Amanda J. Cross, Ph.D.; Neal Freedman, Ph.D., M.P.H., Mitchell Gail, M.D., Ph.D.; James J. Goedert, M.D.; Barry Graubard, Ph.D.; Jacqueline M. Major, Ph.D.; Katherine McGlynn, Ph.D., M.P.H.; Steve C. Moore, Ph.D.; Yikyung Park, Sc.D.; Nathaniel Rothman, M.D., M.P.H., M.H.S.; Arthur Schatzkin, M.D., Dr.P.H.; Debra Silverman, Sc.D., Sc.M.; Rachael Stolzenberg-Solomon, Ph.D., M.P.H., R.D.; Sholom Wacholder, Ph.D.; Mary Ward, Ph.D.; Stephanie J. Weinstein, Ph.D.; Meredith Yeager, Ph.D.

    Other NCI Collaborators

    • Amy Subar, Ph.D., M.P.H., R.D., Applied Research Program, Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences

    Other NIH Collaborators

    • James Everhart, M.D., DDPB, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases; Tamara B. Harris, M.D., M.S., National Institute on Aging

    Other Scientific Collaborators

    • Jiyoung Ahn, Ph.D., New York University, New York, NY
    • Habibul Ahsan, M.D., M.Med.Sc., University of Chicago, IL
    • Kristin Anderson, Ph.D., University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
    • Manimozhiyan Arumugam, EMBL, Heidelberg, Germany
    • Paolo Bofetta, M.D., M.P.H., Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, NY
    • Yu Chen, Ph.D., M.P.H., New York University, New York, NY
    • Eunyoung Cho, Sc.D., Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
    • Robert Dubrow, M.D., Ph.D., Yale School of Public Health, CT
    • Chyke Doubeni, M.D., M.P.H., University of Massachusetts, Worcester, MA
    • Paul Eliott, MBBS, Ph.D., FmedSci, Imperial College, London, UK
    • Leah M. Ferrucci, Ph.D., Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, CT
    • Edward Giovannucci, M.D., Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
    • Marc Gunter, Ph.D., Imperial College, London, UK
    • Prakash C. Gupta, M.D., Healis Sekhsaria Institute of Public Health, Bombay, India
    • Terry Hartman, Ph.D., Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA
    • Richard B. Hayes, D.D.S., Ph.D., M.P.H., New York University, New York, NY
    • Albert Hollenbeck, Ph.D., American Association for Retired Persons, Washington, DC
    • Michelle Holmes, M.D., Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
    • Geoffrey Kabat, Ph.D., M.S., Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, NY
    • Daehee Kang, M.D., Ph.D., Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea
    • Kavita Kapur, Novo Nordisk Pharma India Ltd., Banglore, India
    • Hector Keun, M.D., Imperial College, London, UK
    • Jung Eun Lee, Sc.D., Sookmyung Women's University, Seoul, Korea
    • Volker Mai, Ph.D., M.P.H., University of Florida, Gainesville, FL
    • Aleyamma Mathew, Ph.D., Regional Cancer Centre, Trivandrum, India
    • Susan T. Mayne, Ph.D., Yale School of Public Health, CT
    • John R. McLaughlin, Ph.D., University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
    • Alpa V. Patel, Ph.D., American Cancer Society, Atlanta, GA
    • Gloria Peterson, Ph.D., Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, MN
    • Elizabeth A. Platz, Sc.D., M.P.H., Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD
    • John Potter, Ph.D., Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle WA
    • Dorairaj Prabhakaran, M.D., All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India
    • K. Srinath Reddy, M.D., Public Health Foundation of India, New Delhi, India
    • Elio Riboli, M.D., Sc.M., M.P.H., Imperial College, London, UK
    • Thomas Rohan M.D., Ph.D., Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, NY
    • Kee Seng Chai, M.D., M.Sc., MBBS, NUS, FFOM, National University of Singapore, Singapore
    • Stephanie Smith-Warner, Ph.D., Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA
    • Paolo Vineas, M.D., Ph.D., Imperial College, London, UK
    • Walter Willet, M.D., Dr.P.H., M.P.H., Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA
    • Kana Wu, Ph.D., Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA
    • Wei Zheng, M.D., Ph.D, M.P.H., Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN