Mindy S. Kurzer, PhD

Dr. Mindy S. Kurzer is a nutritional scientist and Professor in the Department of Food Science and Nutrition and holds a joint appointment in the Division of Hematology, Oncology and Transplantation in the Department of Medicine.  She is Director of Graduate Studies for the inter-college nutrition graduate program and Director of the University of Minnesota Healthy Foods, Healthy Lives Institute.

Dr. Kurzer received her B.A. in History from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1973, and her M.S. and Ph.D. in Nutrition from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1979 and 1984, respectively.  She was a NATO Postdoctoral Fellow at the National Nutrition Institute in Rome and Odense University in Denmark from 1985-86, and a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Reproductive Endocrinology Center at the University of California, San Francisco, from 1986-1989.  She has been on the faculty of the University of Minnesota since 1989.

Dr. Kurzer studies dietary effects on endogenous hormones and hormone actions as a mechanism by which substances in food may prevent cancer.  She performs clinical studies in healthy subjects and cancer survivors, focusing primarily on breast and prostate cancer prevention.  She has conducted many studies in healthy premenopausal and postmenopausal women, healthy young men, men at high risk of prostate cancer, and breast cancer survivors.  The diet and lifestyle interventions that Dr. Kurzer has studied include soy phytoestrogens (isoflavones), soy protein, flaxseed, omega-3 fatty acids, and exercise.  Her laboratory is one of very few worldwide that has the capability to measure the full spectrum of estrogen metabolites in human urine, using sophisticated triple quadrupole tandem liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS).  Other biomarkers of interest include markers of oxidative stress and inflammation, circulating hormones and IGF-axis proteins.

Dr. Kurzer received the International Life Sciences Institute Future Leader Award in 1992 and was a Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC) Academic Leadership Fellow from 2006-07. She currently serves on the NCCAM Clinical Sciences study section and regularly reviews for both the Department of Defense Breast and Prostate Cancer grant programs.

Selected Recent Publications:
Nettleton, JA, Greany KA, Thomas W, Wangen KE and Kurzer MS. (2005) Soy and probiotic supplements do not affect concentrations of reproductive hormones in postmenopausal women with and without breast cancer. J Altern Complement Med, 11(6):1067-1074.

Nettleton JA, Greany KA, Thomas W, Wangen KE and Kurzer MS. (2005) Effect of soy consumption on the 2:16-hydroxyestrone ratio in postmenopausal women depends on equol production status but is not influenced by probiotic consumption. J Nutr 135: 603-608.

McMullen MH, Hamilton-Reeves JM, Bonorden MJL, Wangen KE, Phipps WR, Feirtag JM and Kurzer MS. (2006) Consumption of Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacterium longum does not alter phytoestrogen metabolism and plasma hormones in men: a pilot study.  J Altern Complement Med 12(9): 887-94.

Duncan AM, Phipps WR and Kurzer MS. (2006) Phyto-oestrogens. In:  Osteoporosis: Best Practice and Research Compendium (C Cooper and AD Woolf, editors) Elsevier Limited: New York, pp139-150.

Hamilton-Reeves JM, Rebello SA, Thomas W, Slaton JW, and Kurzer MS. (2007) Soy protein isolate increases urinary estrogens and the ratio of 2:16a-hydroxyestrone in men at high risk of prostate cancer J Nutr  137:2258-2263.

Hamilton-Reeves JM, Rebello SA, Thomas W, Slaton JW, and Kurzer MS. (2007) Soy protein isolate suppresses androgen receptor expression without altering estrogen receptor beta expression or serum hormonal profiles in men at high risk of prostate cancer. J Nutr 137: 1769-1775.

Greany KA, Nettleton JA, Wangen KE, Thomas W and Kurzer MS. (2007) Consumption of isoflavone-rich soy protein does not alter homocysteine or markers of inflammation in postmenopausal women. Eur J Clin Nutr Online publication September 5, 2007.

Teas J, Braverman LE, Kurzer MS, Pino S, Hurley TG and Hebert JR. (2007) Seaweed and soy: companion foods in Asian cuisine and their effects on thyroid function in American women. J Med Food 10(1): 90-100.

Schmitz KH, Warren M, Rundle AG, Williams NI, Gross MD and Kurzer MS.  (2008) Effects of Aerobic Exercise on Oxidative Stress, Estrogens, and Body Size Among Young Women. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers & Prev 17: 220-223.

Hamilton-Reeves JM, Rebello SA, Thomas W, Kurzer MS and Slaton JW.  (2008) Effects of soy protein isolate consumption on prostate cancer biomarkers in men at high risk of prostate cancer: results from the SoyCap trial. Nutr Cancer 60 (1): 7-13.

Greany KA, Bonorden MJL, Hamilton-Reeves JM, McMullen MH, Wangen KE, Phipps WR, Feirtag J, Thomas W and Kurzer MS. (2008) Probiotic Capsules Do Not Lower Plasma Lipids in Young Women and Men. Eur J Clin Nutr 62 (2): 232-237.

Tseng M, Olufade T, Kurzer MS, Fang CY, van der Schouw Y, Wähälä K and Daly MB.  (2008) Assessment of Soy Intake in a Sample of US Women.  Nutr Cancer, in press.

Sturgeon SR, Heersink JL, Volpe SL, Bertone-Johnson ER, Puleo E. Stanczyk FZ, Sabelawski S. Wähälä K, Kurzer MS and Bigelow C. (2008) Effect of Dietary Flaxseed on Serum Levels of Estrogens and Androgens in Postmenopausal Women. Nutr Cancer, in press.