Collage of the four images: top left two students observing another make a nutritional smoothie, top right a trainer observing a patient run on a treadmill, bottom left trainer stabilizing a patient's knee, bottom right trainer performing a neurological test on a patient

Department of Kinesiology and Nutrition Sciences News

The department of kinesiology and nutrition sciences within the School of Integrated Health Sciences provides a high-quality educational experience in the areas of kinesiology, nutrition sciences, and athletic training. Students receive rigorous classroom instruction aided by computer and multimedia instruction, practical laboratory immersion, and clinical experiences.

Current Kinesiology and Nutrition Sciences News

spring campus
Campus News |

Some of the most vibrant headlines featuring UNLV faculty and students.

Campus landscape
Campus News |

Some of the hottest headlines featuring UNLV faculty, staff, and students.

Some early studying during the opening week of the Spring 2026 semester (Josh Hawkins/UNLV).
Campus News |

A look at some of the most eye-grabbing headlines featuring UNLV faculty, staff, and students.

plate of food with grilled chicken, broccoli and mashed potatoes
Research |

UNLV nutrition professor Sara Rosenkranz on choosing your proteins and what to do about those new federal guidelines.

Fall 25 commencement2
Campus News |

A collection of the top news headlines featuring UNLV faculty and students.

Fall colors 2025
Campus News |

Some of the biggest news headlines featuring UNLV faculty and students.

Kinesiology and Nutrition Sciences In The News

Yahoo!

Social media is flooded with viral walking challenges: from the 'hot girl/guy walk' to all the number-based protocols that have you wondering if you're exercising or back in math class. There's also tai chi walking, backwards walking, Nordic walking, rucking — the list goes on. If you want to add some more focused activity to your fitness routine, how should you start?

Men's Health

Fitness experts share the 'green' and 'red flags' to consider when trying out a viral walking trend.

Real Simple

Food is one of the strongest predictors of how your body and brain will function over time. Some choices steady your energy, protect your neurons, or support long-term memory. Others do the opposite: There are several common foods that, when eaten in excess, can spike blood sugar, drive inflammation, and disrupt sleep.

Time

When a type of food or wellness trend becomes largely understood as  “healthy,” many of us assume that more of it is always beneficial, without limit. This “more is better” mentality spreads on social media, where the spectacle of “maxxing” out gets clicks, while the old-school approach of strategic moderation gets scrolled right by. It’s led to trends like proteinmaxxing, sleepmaxxing, and more recently, fibermaxxing, where people tout their super-high fiber intake in the name of disease prevention, digestion, and gut health.

Verywell Health

After a recent report found that even organic bread may contain some glyphosate—a widely used herbicide that may be harmful to human health—many people have been looking for ways to reduce glyphosate exposure. Online, some have suggested that melatonin supplements may be able to counter the effects, but the claim is based on limited research.

Health

You don't have to strength train until your muscles feel totally zapped to build muscle—just challenging them for an hour each week may do the trick, according to research published in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise.

Kinesiology and Nutrition Sciences Experts

A registered dietitian with expertise in nutrition, food and ethnic issues, and dietetics.
An expert in physical performance for police, military, fire, and rescue personnel.
A food nutritionist specializing in diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.
An expert in sports medicine.
An expert on the interactions between nutrition and physical activity.
An expert on the role of nutrition in preventing and managing chronic diseases, especially in older adults.

Recent Kinesiology and Nutrition Sciences Accomplishments

Neda Akhavan, Sara Rosenkranz, Lorena Dias, Amber Wood, and Cinthia Chavarria (all Kinesiology & Nutrition Sciences) recently published "Ultra-Processed Foods and the Cardiovascular-Kidney-Metabolic Continuum: Integrating Epidemiological, Multi-Omics, and Translational Evidence" in the journal Nutrients. 
Neda Akhavan (Kinesiology & Nutrition Sciences), along with colleagues, recently published "Associations of white potato intake and preparation methods with cardiometabolic health measures in US adults categorised by diabetes status" in the British Journal of Nutrition. 
Van “DocDoc” Whaley (Kinesiology & Nutrition Sciences), faculty-in-residence and A&P program coordinator, recently presented at ExplOER Nevada 2026, a statewide virtual symposium focused on open and affordable learning. His session, "Reimagining Learning Beyond the Textbook: Open Course Design for Equity, Rigor, and Enjoyment at Scale,"…
Individuals associated with the Department of Kinesiology and Nutrition Sciences recently published in PLOS One. Bryson Carrier (Interdisciplinary Health Sciences); James Navalta (Kinesiology and Nutrition Sciences); and co-authors Jennifer A. Bunn from Sam Houston State University; Chris Eschbach from 12th State Nutrition; Joel D. Reece from…
Arpita Basu (Kinesiology and Nutrition Sciences) along with a group of national and international experts in food polyphenol research published a review on wild blueberries and cardiometabolic health in the journal Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition (impact factor 8.8). This article extensively reviews the agricultural…
Van “DocDoc” Whaley (Kinesiology and Nutrition Sciences) presented a poster at the Nineteenth Annual Leadership Workshop of the American Kinesiology Association, held Jan. 29-31, 2026, in Atlanta, Georgia. Whaley’s poster, "Scaling Undergraduate Anatomy and Physiology: Exam Pools, Video Accessibility, and Master Schedules for 1,200 Students,"…