Dr. Michele Monroy-Valle holds a PhD in Epidemiology from the University of Saskatchewan, where she is currently a Postdoctoral Researcher, working on the role of milk and yogurt on bone health in young Canadians. A highly accomplished and award-winning researcher, Monroy-Valle has multiple degrees and years of academic experience in Guatemala and Latin America, where she is from.

“I’ve been doing quasi experimental studies before starting the PhD, but this is my first clinical trial,” explains Dr. Monroy-Valle. “That’s why I’m so excited to be in CANTRAIN, because it’s helping me to deal with all the nuances of doing a clinical trial, and to be very strict with the methodology: the CANTRAIN platform is teaching me a lot.”

Dr. Monroy-Valle’s project will help better understand how milk and yogurt can improve bone and gut health in young adults. “Dairy products are one of the primary sources of calcium for Canadians. However, the overall intake of dairy and other calcium-rich foods remains low, making it difficult to meet daily calcium requirements.” says Monroy-Valle. “So the idea is to see how we can achieve, with an adult intake of 500 milligrams per day, an extra benefit to adults in terms of osteoporosis prevention.” The study participants pick up milk and yogurt from the lab every two weeks for 2 years, and are mainly college students.

Her current work builds on research conducted with the Indigenous community in Chichicastenango, Guatemala. “It was a very remote community. I was working with children, two to five years old, and their mothers, but there’s no resources there, so we went with a bone scanner to have an idea of their bone health. It’s also a different setting, because these children are very malnourished.”

After being a professor in Guatemala for many years, Dr. Monroy-Valle is considering staying in clinical trials: “I’ve been teaching since 2006, so I’m ready to explore more digging into research. Probably I will move to another population: I’m very passionate about working with babies and moms and pregnant women.”

Dr. Michele Monroy-Valle is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Saskatchewan, on the study “How adding milk and yogurt to the diet can improve bone health in young Canadian adults: a study in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.”