Agricultural and Life Sciences (IFAS)
Dahl Lab
Led by Wendy Dahl · Food Science and Human Nutrition
What we study
The Dahl Lab studies how diet, fiber, probiotics, and prebiotics affect gut health and disease. They focus on improving dietary strategies for wellness and managing chronic conditions through gut microbiome research.
What working here is like
- Wet lab
- Clinical
- Surveys & interviews
- Computational
- Human participants
- Coding helps
- Projects
- 3
- Papers
- 5
Current projects
Project The effect of yeast mannans on the fecal water content and microbiota composition
The lab gives 20 adults 15 g of yeast mannans for two weeks and measures stool water content, pH, and gut bacteria before and after. They found no change in water or pH but did see a change in the overall bacterial community.
From the Spring 2025 UF Undergraduate Research Symposium · abstract book, p. 592
The Relationships Between Oral Health, Dysphagia, and Nutritional Risk in Adults Experiencing Homelessness
A cross‑sectional study of 50 adults who are homeless will measure their oral health, swallowing problems, and risk of malnutrition. Researchers will use standard questionnaires to record missing teeth, pain, swallowing symptoms, and food texture avoidance. The goal is to see how poor oral health may lead to swallowing difficulties and nutritional problems.
From the Spring 2025 UF Undergraduate Research Symposium · abstract book, p. 270
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Exploring the Relationship between MIND Diet Adherence and Skin Carotenoid Levels
The lab measures skin carotenoid levels and asks participants about their MIND diet habits to see if better diet scores match higher antioxidant levels. The student helps recruit participants, run the Veggie Meter, and record data.
From the Spring 2025 UF Undergraduate Research Symposium · abstract book, p. 13
Summaries are written by AI in plain language from public symposium abstracts and may be imperfect.
Recent papers, explained
- Efficacy of yeast mannan supplementation on increasing stool frequency in adults: a randomized controlled trial
2026 · Trials
Checks if yeast mannans increase stool frequency in adults.
- Nutritional intervention trial of yeast mannans derived from baker's yeast enriches Bacteroides and Parabacteroides with concurrent reduction of Klebsiella pneumoniae
2026 · Frontiers in Microbiology
Tests how yeast mannans affect gut bacteria and metabolism in adults.
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- Older Adult Experiences with Food and Nutrition in the United States: A Qualitative Systematic Review
2026 · Ageing Research Reviews
- The Associative Relationships Between Oral Health, Dysphagia, and Malnutrition Risk in Adults Experiencing Homelessness
2026 · UF Journal of Undergraduate Research
Explores links between oral health, swallowing, and malnutrition in homeless adults.
- Moderate MIND diet adherence and positive correlation between weekly egg intake and skin carotenoid scores in college students
2026 · Nutrition Research
Plain-language summaries are AI-written and reviewed by us; check the paper for details.
How to reach out
Wendy Dahl hasn't set up this page yet. Their UF Scholars profile lists their publications.