William G Helferich
Professor
Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition
University of Illinois at urbana champaign
United States of America
Biography
Dr. Helferich obtained a B.S. in Nutrition at Ohio State University, where he obtained a B.S. in Nutrition. From there, he attended the University of Maryland and obtained his M.S. in Dairy Science/Nutritional Science. Next, he attended the University of California at Davis and received his Ph.D. in Nutrition. Dr. Helferich continued his training as a NIEHS post-doctoral fellow in Environmental Toxicology, also at UC-Davis. He started his career as an Assistant Professor of Food Science and Human Nutrition at Michigan State University in 1988, and was promoted to Associate Professor in 1994. In 1997, he came to the University of Illinois and was promoted to Professor in 2002. This year, Dr. Helferich is teaching Principles of Nutrition and is the director of the NIH funded Botanical Research Center at UIUC entitled "Botanical Estrogens: Mechanisms, Dose and Target Tissues".
Research Interest
Food safety and toxicology; effect of natural chemicals present in foods on chronic diseases such as breast cancerDr. Helferich has research interests in the effect of phytochemicals on chronic diseases, and his focus is on the isoflavone genistein from soy, which acts as an estrogen. It is important for the general public to understand the importance of a healthy diet and not rely on chemicals to eliminate their bad eating habits.
Publications
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Iwaniec, U.T., Dube, M.G., Boghossian, S., Song, H., Helferich, W.G., Turner, R.T., and Kalra, S.P., (2009). Body mass influences cortical bone mass independent of leptin signaling. Bone. 44(3): p. 404-12. PMID: 19095090 NIHMSID: NIHMSID98145
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Helferich, W.G., Andrade, J.E., and Hoagland, M.S., (2008). Phytoestrogens and breast cancer: A complex story. Inflammopharmacology. 16(5): p. 219-26. PMID: 18815740
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Wang, V.C., Sable, H.J., Ju, Y.H., Allred, C.D., Helferich, W.G., Korol, D.L., and Schantz, S.L., (2008). Effects of chronic estradiol treatment on delayed spatial alternation and differential reinforcement of low rates of responding. Behav Neurosci. 122(4): p. 794-804. PMID: 18729633 NIHMSID: NIHMSID116107
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Jiang, X., Patterson, N.M., Ling, Y., Xie, J., Helferich, W.G., and Shapiro, D.J., (2008). Low concentrations of the soy phytoestrogen genistein induce proteinase inhibitor 9 and block killing of breast cancer cells by immune cells. Endocrinology. 149(11): p. 5366-73. PMID: 18669594 PMCID: PMC2584580
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Ju, Y.H., Doerge, D.R., Woodling, K.A., Hartman, J.A., Kwak, J., and Helferich, W.G., (2008). Dietary genistein negates the inhibitory effect of letrozole on the growth of aromatase-expressing estrogen-dependent human breast cancer cells (mcf-7ca) in vivo. Carcinogenesis. 29(11): p. 2162-8. PMID: 18632754 PMCID: PMC2722859
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Chang, E.C., Charn, T.H., Park, S.H., Helferich, W.G., Komm, B., Katzenellenbogen, J.A., and Katzenellenbogen, B.S., (2008). Estrogen receptors alpha and beta as determinants of gene expression: Influence of ligand, dose, and chromatin binding. Mol Endocrinol. 22(5): p. 1032-43. PMID: 18258689 PMCID: PMC2366177
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Ju, Y.H., Doerge, D.R., and Helferich, W.G., (2008). A dietary supplement for female sexual dysfunction, avlimil, stimulates the growth of estrogen-dependent breast tumors (mcf-7) implanted in ovariectomized athymic nude mice. Food Chem Toxicol. 46(1): p. 310-20. PMID: 17919800
