The greatest tool in a woman’s toolbox isn’t a cosmetic or a brush. It’s self-determination—the daily commitment you make to yourself and your future, and the hard work and rituals that create the foundation for that journey. Make Your Self is a series that spotlights the stories of women who fiercely embody this relentless pursuit.

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We’ve talked at length about the potential impact of starting small. Of remembering to floss; moving your body; taking your vitamins. That’s all great, of course. But when it comes to investing in our long-term wellbeing—the idea of viewing aging as a constantly evolving mechanism, rather than an eventual outcome—Dr. Marie Caudill would like to invite you to think even smaller. Tiny. Microscopic. This is, after all, her area of expertise: Caudill has spent her career researching the relationship between certain micronutrients (choline and folate, to be very specific) and prenatal development, and the potential tie to our DNA. Her work is so significant, that the National Institute of Health has shaped some of its prenatal choline recommendations around Caudill’s research. (1)

But while Caudill has made a name for herself researching nutrition at this very micro level, in truth, her first foray into this world came from a much more generalized—not to mention relatable—place: As a competitive tennis player in college, she was curious how her diet could help fuel her overall athletic performance. One nutrition class gave way to a Master’s in Nutritional Science, which led to a registered dietitian certification, which ultimately brought her to her PhD. It was around this time that she realized she had an interest in prenatal nutrition; fast-forward a couple of decades, and Caudill is now an internationally-recognized expert, speaker, and professor based out of Cornell University.

So, sure—on paper, Caudill’s area of expertise is quite specific. (Scientific specialties tend to be, after all.) But as our conversation unfolds, the universal parallels of her work are undeniable. Take nutrigenomics, for example—a buzzy area of research that draws the link between nutrition and our genetic material. By its very definition, the ramifications of our diets have more of a lasting impact than we might bargain for, and pregnancy is a particularly fitting case study. (As our resident dietitian and Senior Director of Scientific Affairs, Dr. Mastaneh Sharafi, puts it: “Pregnancy is the only time in your life that three generations are exposed to the same environment—you, your fetus, and your fetus’ reproductive cells.” No pressure, right?)

The point though, says Caudill, is that this confluence of nutrition and its role in genetics isn’t just a pregnancy-specific thing—it can also play a major role in our health for the long haul, and not just on our offspring. Scientists have known, after all, for some time that nutrition plays a key role in helping to support healthy aging. But Caudill predicts that as research continues to zero in on the specifics around the relationship between micronutrients and our DNA, we’ll be all the more precise in the way we tailor our nutritional needs—and the impact could be pretty astounding. “The long-term goal is to be able to look at people's genetic makeup and make nutrient-intake recommendations based upon their genetic profile,” she says. “We're not there yet, though we've made a lot of gains.” (2)

In other words, as impactful as Caudill’s work around choline and folate is—we use choline alongside methylated folate in our Essential Prenatal, after all—it only scratches the surface of the possibilities to come. With all these forward-thinking details in mind, it might be surprising to know that Caudill’s own approach to a healthy, longevity-focused lifestyle is refreshingly attainable—with a scientific twist, of course. Below, she dives deeper into the connection between her work and her daily routine—and her three-step approach to aging well.*

References:

1. Harvard Health Publishing. (n.d.). A possible brain food that you've probably never heard of. Retrieved from Harvard Health
2. Buettner, D. (2012, October 24). The Island Where People… Retrieved from New York Times
3. Has employment of women and minorities in S&E jobs increased? (n.d.). Retrieved from National Science Foundation
4. Oppezzo, M., & Schwartz, D. L. (2014). Give your ideas some legs: The positive effect of walking on creative thinking. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 40(4), 1142–1152. doi: 10.1037/a0036577
5. Harvard Health Publishing. (n.d.). Exercising to relax. Retrieved from Harvard Health
6. Bratman, G. N., Hamilton, J. P., Hahn, K. S., Daily, G. C., & Gross, J. J. (2015). Nature experience… Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 112(28), 8567–8572. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1510459112