Amanda Thompson

•  (In press) Thompson, AL, LS Adair, and ME Bentley ‘Whatever average is:’ understanding African-American mothers’ perceptions of infant weight, growth and health. Current Anthropology.

• 2014 Thompson, AL, KM Houck, LS Adair, P Gordon-Larsen, S Du, B Zhang, and BM Popkin. Associations between Pathogenic and Obesogenic Factors and Inflammation in Chinese children, adolescents, and adults. American Journal of Human Biology.  26:18-28.
• 2013 Thompson, AL and ME Bentley, The critical period of infant feeding for the development of early disparities in obesity. Social Science and Medicine. 97: 288-296.
• 2013 Thompson, AL Intergenerational impact of maternal obesity and postnatal feeding practices on pediatric obesity. Nutrition Reviews. 71: S55-S61.
• 2013 Thompson, AL and M Lampl Prenatal and postnatal energetic conditions and sex steroids levels across the first year of life. American Journal of Human Biology. 25:643–654.
• 2013 Turner, BL and AL Thompson Beyond the Paleolithic Prescription: Incorporating diversity and flexibility in the study of human diet evolution. Nutrition Reviews. 7: 501-510. (lead article)
• 2013 Thompson, AL, LS Adair and ME Bentley. Pressuring and restrictive feeding styles influence infant feeding and size among a low-income African-American sample. Obesity. 21(3): 532-571.
• 2013   Thompson, AL, LS Adair, and ME Bentley Maternal characteristics and perception of infant temperament associated with television exposure in African-American infants. Pediatrics 131(2): e390-e397.
• 2012  Thompson, AL. Developmental origins of obesity: early feeding environments, infant growth and the intestinal microbiome. American Journal of Human Biology. 24(3): 350-360.

Biography

Dr. Amanda Thompson is a biological anthropologist studying the effect of the environmental, cultural, and biological influences on infant and childhood development.  Dr. Thompson’s Anthropological Ph.D. studies at Emory University culminated in their dissertation of “More than just birth weight: A longitudinal study of the reproductive ecology of infant growth and development” in 2007. In this study, infant fecal matters were analyzed for sex steroid levels and involved discussion between growth, energy levels, and endocrine development for later health determination. Dr. Thompson’s research focus is on how establishing the gut microbiome through diet affects childhood obesity via laboratory, epidemiological, and anthropological methods. Currently, Dr. Thompson is a Professor and Associate Chair at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.