Susan L. Meacham, Ph.D., R.D.

Associate Professor

Ph.D. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Integrative Physiology Section

susan.meacham@unlv.edu

I teach biology and nutrition courses in the School of Life Sciences at UNLV. Since completing degrees at Virginia Tech (B.S. and Ph.D.) and the University of Georgia (M.S.) I have also worked at Ferrum College in Ferrum, VA and Winthrop University in Rock Hill, SC. As a Registered Dietitian I have been active in numerous local, state and national associations promoting nutrition. Most recently I have worked with community groups, health promotion agencies and school districts providing support for legislation to promote children’s health in Nevada.

My basic science activities have involved boron, an ultratrace element under consideration as an essential nutrient in human nutrition and with possibilties as a therapeutic agent for cancer. Nutritionally, boron is consumed in appreciable quantities in the human diet and meets most criteria to be considered an essential nutrient in human nutrition. I’m a collaborator on two preliminary patents based on research that shows boron, as boric acid and phenyl boric acid, to be effective in decreasing cancer cell growth in selected breast and prostate cancer cell lines.

Patents

• 777.011USP Carper, SW and SL Meacham, Effects of phenyl boric acid on the growth of various cancer cell lines. 2006
• 777.004USP Carper, SW and SL Meacham, The provision of solutions of boric acid to at least some breast cancer cell lines can inhibit the growth of those breast cancer cell lines. 2005

Books

• De Leon, S, SL Meacham and VS Claudio. Global Handbook on Food and Water Safety; With Guidelines for Food Handlers and Consumers. C. C. Thomas, Publisher, Ltd., Springfield, IL. 2003

Selected Publications

• Meacham, SL, C Hall, S Thaker, KE Elwell and SW Carper. Boric acid induces apoptosis in prostate and breast cancer cell lines (submitted)
• Meacham, SL, M Ditmyer, CJ Bergman, and CM Mobley. Dietary related behaviours in university athletic teams in the desert (submitted)
• Bergman, CJ, D Gray-Scott, and SL Meacham. Dietary reference intakes for bone metabolism related nutrients beyond calcium: phosphorus, magnesium, vitamin D and fluoride (submitted)
• Meacham, SL, C Hall, S Thaker, KE Elwell and SW Carper. Boric acid induces apoptosis in prostate and breast cancer cell lines (submitted) Ditmyer, M, C Mobley, D Cameron, ES Smith, C Demopoulos, CJ Bergman, SL Meacham. Validation of visual BMI risk used in Crackdown on Cancer Oral Health Screening Program (submitted)
• Meacham, SL, CJ Bergman, and D Grayscott. Dietary reference intakes for bone metabolism related nutrients: calcium (in press)
• Meacham, SL, KE Elwell, S Ziegler and SW Carper. Boric acid inhibits cell growth in breast and prostate cancer cell lines. Advances in Plant and Animal Boron Nutrition, Ed. F. Xu, Springer Publishing Company, New York, NY, pp 299-306. 2007
• Hunt, CD and SL Meacham. Aluminum, boron, calcium, copper, iron, manganese, magnesium, molybdenum, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, and zinc: concentrations in common Western foods and estimated dietary intakes by infants, toddlers, and male and female adolescents, adults, and seniors in the US. Pg 1-78. Journal of the American Dietetic Association. 101(9), 1158-1159; online tables 1-20. 2001
• Meacham, SL, LJ Johnson and LJ Kruskall. Databases available to health professionals for boron intake determinations, in Boron in Plant and Animal Nutrition, Eds. HE Goldbach, B Rerkasem, MA Wimmer, PH Brown, M Thellier and RW Bell. Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, New York. pp 52-57. 2001
• Meacham, SL and CD Hunt. Dietary boron intakes of selected populations in the United States. Biological Trace Element Research. 66:65-78. 1998
• Meacham, SL, LJ Taper and SL Volpe. The effect of boron supplementation on blood and urinary calcium, magnesium, phosphorus and urinary boron in female athletes. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 61:341-345. 1995
• Meacham, SL, LJ Taper and SL Volpe. The effects of boron supplementation on bone mineral density, dietary, blood, and urinary calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, and boron in female athletes. Environmental Health Perspectives. 102 (supp 7):79-82. 1994
• Volpe, SL, LJ Taper and SL Meacham. The effects of boron on bone mineral density and hormonal status in college female athletes. Medicine, Exercise, Nutrition and Health. 2:323-330. 1993
• Volpe, SL, LJ Taper and SL Meacham. The relationship between boron and magnesium status, and bone mineral density in humans: A review. Magnesium Research. 6(3):291-296. 1993
• Darnton, SM*, DR Campion, GJ Hausman, RJ Martin and FI Meredith. Effect of selection for backfat thickness in swine on fetal skeletal muscle metabolism. Journal Animal Science. 56(4):838-845. 1983
• McConnell, S, M Katada and SM Darnton*. Occult equine infectious anemia in an immuno-suppressed serologically negative mare. Equine Practice. 5(7):32-39. 1983
(* before 1993 published as SM Darnton)