Helping Others Live Healthier Lives

Participant Sheryn Stover is happiest when she’s helping others. Now, at age 78, she is helping All of Us.

Stover has had a long career in public service in Massachusetts where she has lived for the past 35 years. As a state government employee, she helped students in the federal Job Corps program complete job applications and secure employment. She also provided job training skills to people living on public assistance. Another priority has been helping single moms like herself access support services.

A few years ago while at her local library, Stover saw a flyer for the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) All of Us Research Program. It piqued her interest. She took it home and did her own research. When she learned about the mission of All of Us, she had to join.

“I’m always willing to put myself out there if it will help others,” Stover said. “To be part of something that can improve the health of lots of people is so rewarding.”

Through All of Us, Stover had the chance to enroll in Nutrition for Precision Health, (NPH) powered by the All of Us Research Program. The nutrition study aims to better understand how and why people respond differently to foods. At least 8,000 participants from diverse backgrounds can join the study. Scientists will combine the information shared by participants with the broader All of Us data. Then they’ll analyze how people process and metabolize foods differently, and the various effects on their overall health.

Stover has type 2 diabetes and hoped the study would give her some information to manage her diet more effectively.

“Obesity is such a huge problem in the United States,” Stover said, sharing her own challenges with weight loss and diets. “This is helping me look at food in a different way.”

As Seen on TV

If Stover looks familiar, it may be because you’ve seen her before. On November 24, she was on national TV. CBS Sunday Morning featured the nutrition study at Tufts University in Boston, one of six NPH clinical sites across the country. The segment, by veteran reporter Lee Cowan, followed Stover’s daily routine and diet while she lived at Tufts. Stover was one of 60 participants who stayed at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging.

“Participants like Sheryn contribute to the goals of the NPH study,” said Sai Krupa Das, Ph.D., senior scientist and principal investigator of the study at Tufts. Those goals “aim to include — and learn from — a diverse group of individuals and their response to diets.” She says the knowledge gained from their participation “will be useful in developing dietary recommendations that are more suited to individual needs than a “one-size-fits-all” approach.”

Each participant is monitored meticulously and methodically throughout their stay with novel technologies. Study staff track exactly how much they eat, logging the intake of calories. Bone mineral content is recorded. There is even a “smart toilet paper” device checking how gut microbes process certain fibers and foods.

Eat Your Veggies

Stover started the study in early September. She finished it in December. Each two-week period included a different diet. That meant different amounts of carbohydrates, fat, protein, vegetables, and whole grains.

A key takeaway for Stover was to look at her meal proportions. She hadn’t thought much about the quantities before the study. But she had suspected that her overall diet wasn’t super healthy. She ate a lot of “comfort food,” steak and cheese subs, and not a lot of vegetables. 

“A lot of people don’t realize how much our diet contributes to our well-being,” Stover said.

The biggest challenge in the study was finishing all the meals, she said. Especially the generous portions of vegetables, some of which were new to her.

“They weigh the tray before they give it to you and after, so they know how much you ate,” Stover said. “I was really surprised to like sweet yellow peppers,” Stover said. “I thought I didn’t like them, but I don’t think I’ve had them before.”

She learned a lot about her diet and overall health. She is grateful for the opportunity to participate and for the kindness and patience of the staff.

“The staff were wonderful,” she said. “I felt like it was family.”

The food she missed the most while participating in the study was hot dogs.

“If Betty White lived to be almost 100 and loved hot dogs, I think I can still enjoy them now and then,” Stover said with a laugh.

Determined Advocate

Throughout her life, Stover has had to look out for herself and her children, determined to find safety and a better life after fleeing an abusive marriage. In 1970, six years after graduating high school in Lancaster, PA, she got married. Within a few years, she had two children, Michael and Laura. She worked as a bookkeeper at the historic Posey Iron Works.

In 1978, she moved to Florida to be closer to her retired parents. When her children were ages 7 and 10, she got divorced and moved with them to Massachusetts for a job opportunity.

Stover resolved to complete higher education and enrolled at Cape Cod Community College. She graduated in 1992, at age 45 – the same year her daughter graduated from high school. To help cover education expenses, Stover worked at the college’s Women’s Resource Center. She became active in the Clothesline Project, a community organization raising awareness about domestic violence and supporting families recovering from it.

Stover takes comfort in helping others, growing from the trauma she and her children have faced. Her enthusiasm about participating in the nutrition study allowed her to focus on the positive – improving her health and wellbeing.

After a lifetime of giving back, she was honored to focus on her own health and nutrition by participating in the study.

Never Give Up

Sheryn Stover has a message for others: Keep your dreams alive.

As she continues to volunteer in her community near Boston, she asks herself questions. One of them is: “What things am I passionate about that I never got to do? Let’s make a bucket list and look at the barriers. Are those barriers perceived or real?”

Stover has her eyes on one wild dream: “I have always wanted to zipline.”

There is no doubt, she will make it happen.

Learn more about research studies partnering with All of Us.