Biography
I am driven by medical and economic consequence of age-related weight gain. Age-related weight gain is a description of the epidemiological fact that as we grow older, we are growing fatter. And the fatter we grow, the serious medical consequences become causing increased suffering financial costs. We have been studying obesity for several hundreds of years and despite our knowledge of the consequence of obesity we cannot tell the public how to prevent from growing fatter. I believe that the fundamental premise underlying our understand ing of increasing body weight is wrong - that our eating behavior is not driven by physiological signals act to keep our body weight (fat) constant (set-point). I believe that we are driven more by ubiquitous environmental food stimuli that for us to consume slightly more calories than we expend. Most of my work has been dedicated to studies that (1) show the lack of precision of human eating to imposed energy imbalances, (2) the power of food stimuli (positive food primes) to cause us to eat, and (3) the effectiveness of frequent self-weighing (a negative food prime) to suppress age-related weight gain. I am particularly concerned about the black and latino population because they show the greatest increase in age-related weight gain as well as demonstrate the accompanying medical consequences. I believe that it is possible to use a combination of self-weighing and financial incentives to effectively reduce the weight of the overweight and obese people in our economically poor sector of our population as well as reduce the costs of medically insuring them.
My students and I are currently investigating (a) the efficacy of a weight monitoring program called Caloric Titration as a means of safely losing and maintaining weight loss (b) examining the effect of being weighed before eating on amount of food consumed at a meal in the laboratory, (b) examining the effect of being weighed before eating on amount and kind of foods purchased in the dining hall,(c) evaluate the effect of self-weighing on recalls of foods eaten (d) examine the priming effect of exercise and health on food consumption, (e) exam the effects of holidays on weight gain and the recover from the weight gain.
I believe our major function as teachers at Cornell University is to train our students how to think critically and, at the same time, teach them to create novel ways to look at long standing problems in nutrition and health. I teach the old fashion way, by telling a story, a story interesting enough to hold their attention through the 50 minutes of lectures. I want them to be so absorbed in what I'm saying that they forget about their most important issues such as who are they going to go out with or what's for dinner. I want to infect them with the same intoxicating thrill of understanding the the processes that underlie a phenomenon so that they will appreciate their parents/ advice to eat they vegetables. I want them to want to learn more.
I currently teach two very large courses. One is the introductory course in nutrition, Nutrition, Health, and Society (NS 1150). The other is a more advanced course on Obesity and the Control of Body Weight (NS/PSYCH 3150). Despite my love of the old-fashion way of lecturing, I have recorded a distance learning course version of NS 1150, that is offered during the mid-winter, during the summer and during the spring semester.
I have won many awards for my teaching such as the New York State Chancellors Award for Teaching, the Excellence in Nutrition Education Award by the American Society for Nutrition (ASN), Edgerton Career Teaching Award by the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. I have also been honored as a Stephen H Weiss Presidential Fellow, the highest teaching award bestowed by Cornell University.
NS 1150 : Nutrition, Society, and Health
NS 3150 : Obesity and the Control of Body Weight
Chapters in Books
Levitsky DA, Barnes RH. Malnutrition and the biology of experience. In: Nutrition, Chavez A, Bourges H, Basta S, Eds. Proc 9th Internat Congr Nutrition, Mexico, 1972. S Karger: Basel, 1975;2:330-34.
Levitsky DA. Lipid interactions with brain, body and behavior. In: Dietary Lipids and Postnatal Development. Raven Press: New York, 1973.
Levitsky DA, Barnes RH. Malnutrition and animal behavior. In: Kallen DJ, Ed. Nutrition, Development and Social Behavior. DHEW Publ No (NIH) 73-242, 1973.
Levitsky DA. Malnutrition and animal models of cognitive development. In: Nutrition and Mental Functions. Plenum Press: New York, 1975;75-89.
Levitsky DA. Malnutrition and the hunger to learn. In: Levitsky DA, Ed. Malnutrition, Environment, and Behavior: New Perspectives. Cornell University Press: Ithaca, NY, 1979.
Levitsky DA, Goldberger L, Massaro TF. Malnutrition, learning and animal models of cognition. In: Winick M, Ed. Nutrition: A Comprehensive Treatise. Vol. 1, Nutrition and Development: Pre- and Postnatal. Plenum Press: New York, 1979.
Levitsky DA, Strupp BJ. Malnutrition and tests of brain function. In: Miller SA, Ed. Nutrition in Health and Disease. Franklin Institute Press, 1981.
Levitsky DA, Strupp BJ. Behavior control of energy expenditure. In: Cioffi LA, James WPT, Van Itallie TB, Eds. The Body Weight Regulatory System: Normal and Disturbed Mechanisms. Raven Press, 1982.
Levitsky DA, Strupp BJ. Recent developments in the concept of functional isolation. In: Brozek J, Schurch B, Eds. Critical Assessment of Key Issues in Research on Malnutrition and Behavior. Nestlé Foundation: Lausanne, Switzerland, 1984.
Levitsky DA, Strupp BJ. Functional isolation in rats. In: Brozek J, Schurch B, Eds. Malnutrition and Behavior: Critical Assessment of Key Issues. Nestlé Foundation: Lausanne, Switzerland, 1984;411-20.
Levitsky DA. Drugs, appetite, and body weight. In: Roe DA, Campbell TC, Eds. Effects of Drugs and Nutrients. Marcel Dekker: New York, 1984.
Levitsky DA, Strupp BJ. Nutrition and the behavior of children. In: Walker WA, Watkins J, Eds. Nutrition in Pediatrics: Basic Science and Clinical Application. Little, Brown & Co: Boston, 1985.
Levitsky D, Strupp BJ. Direct and indirect thermogenic effects of anoretic drugs. In: Advances in Nutrition Research. 1985;7:187-201.
Levitsky DA, Strupp BJ. Nutritional deficiencies and cognition. In: Cognitive Testing Methodology, National Academy Press, 1986;81-100.
Strupp BJ, Korahais J, Levitsky DA, Ginsberg S. Attentional impairment in rats exposed to alcohol prenatally: Lack of hypothesized masking by food deprivation. Ann. New York Acad Sci 1989;562:380-82.
Strupp BJ, Levitsky DA. An animal model of retarded cognitive development. In: Rovee Collier C, Lipsett L, Eds. Advances in Infancy Research, 1990;6:149-86.
Levitsky DA, Strupp BJ. Imprecise control of food intake on low-fat diets. In: Fernstrom JD, Miller GD, Eds. Appetite and Body Weight Regulation: Sugar, Fat, and Macronutrient substitutes. CRC Press: Boca Raton, FL, 1993;179-190.
Levitsky DA, Strupp BJ. Nutrition and the behavior of children. In: Suskind RM, Ed. Textbook of Pediatric Nutrition, 2nd ed. Raven Press: New York, 1994; 107-114.
Levitsky DA. Imprecise Control of Food Intake on Low-Fat Diets. In: Kotsonis, FN & Mackey, MA, Ed. Nutrition in the '90s: Current Controversies and Analysis, Vol 2. Mercel Dekker, Inc.: New York, 1994; 45-59.
Pollitt E, Haas J, Levitsky D. (Eds) International Conference on Iron Deficiency and Behavioral Development: Proceedings of a conference held in Geneva. Am J Clin Nutr 1989, 565-705.
Levitsky, DA. Energetic and Behavioral Adaptations to Low-Fat Foods. In Proceedings of 1995 Cornell Nutrition Conference, A Report of the Cornell University Agricultural Experimental Station, Department of Animal Sciences and Division of Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University.
Levitsky, D. Diet drugs gain popularity: Risks and benefits of fenfluramine. Healthy Weight Journal 11:1:8-12, 1997.
Levitsky, D. A. Macronutrients and the Control of Body Weight. In: Coulston AM, Rock CL, Monsen ER. Nutrition in the Prevention and Treatment of Disease. Academic Press: San Diego, 2001
Levitsky, D. A. Macronutrients and the Control of Body Weight. In: Coulston AM, Rock CL, Monsen ER. Nutrition in the Prevention and Treatment of Disease. Academic Press: San Diego, 2008 (second edition)
Levitsky, D. A. The Control of Food Intake and the Regulation of Body Weight in Humans. In: Harris, RBS, Mattes, R. Appetite and Food Intake: Behavioral and Physiological Considerations. CRC Press: Boca Raton, 2008
Speakman, J. and Levitsky, D. A. The Aetiology of Obesity: genetics or environment, intake or expenditure. Williams, G, Fruhbeck, G. Obesity: science to practice. Willey-Blackwell, 2009.
Levitsky, D.A. The control of eating: is there any function for satiation and satiety? In: Satiation, satiety and the control of food intake: theory and practice. Blundell, J.E. and Bellise, F. (ed) 2013, Woodhead Publishing, Ltd.
Scientific Publications
Collier G, Levitsky D. Defense of water balance in rats: Behavioral and physiological responses to depletion. J Comp Physiol 1967;64:59-67.
Collier G, Levitsky DA, Squibb RL. Instrumental performance as a function of the energy content of the diet. J Comp Physiol Psychol 1967;64:68-72.
Levitsky DA, Collier G. Effects of diet and deprivation on meal eating behavior in rats. Physiol Behav 1968;3:137-40.
Collier G, Levitsky DA. Operant running as a function of deprivation and effort. J Comp Physiol Psychol 1968;66:522-23.
Levitsky D, Collier G. Schedule-induced wheel running. Physiol Behav 1968;3:571-73.
Collier G, Levitsky D, Weinberg C. Body weight loss as a measure of motivation in thirsty guinea pigs. Psychon Sci 1968;10:27-8.
Levitsky DA. Feeding patterns of rats in response to fasts and changes in environmental conditions. Physiol Behav 1970;5:291-300.
Levitsky DA, Barnes RH. Effect of early malnutrition on the reaction of adult rats to aversive stimuli. Nature 1970;225:468-69.
Im HS, Barnes RH, Levitsky DA. Postnatal malnutrition and brain cholinesterase in rats. Nature 1971;233:269-70.
Levitsky DA, Barnes RH. Nutritional and environmental interactions in the behavioral development of the rat: long-term effects. Science 1972;176:68-71.
Barnes RH, Kwong E, Morrissey L, Vilhjalmsdottr L, Levitsky DA. Maternal protein deprivation during pregnancy or lactation in rats and the efficiency of food and nitrogen utilization of the progeny. J Nutr 1973;103:273-84.
Im HS, Barnes RH, Levitsky DA, Pond WG. Postnatal malnutrition and regional cholinesterase activities in brain of pigs. Brain Res 1973;63:461-65.
Massaro TF, Levitsky DA, Barnes RH. Protein malnutrition in the rat: its effects on maternal behavior and pup development. Develop Psychobiol 1974;7: 551-61.
Wang SW, Levitsky DA, Kwong E, Barnes RH. Postnatal malnutrition in the rat and brain mitochondria oxygen consumption. Brain Res 1974;65:534-36.
Levitsky DA. Feeding conditions and intermeal relationships. Physiol Behav 1974;12:779-87.
Collier G, Hirsch E, Levitsky DA, Leshner AI. Effort as a dimension of spontaneous activity in rats. J Comp Physiol Psychol 1975;88:89-96.
Levitsky DA, Massaro TF, Barnes RH. Maternal malnutrition and the neonatal environment. Fed Proc 1975;34:1583-86.
Eckhert CD, Levitsky DA, Barnes RH. Postnatal stimulation: the effects on cholinergic enzyme activity in undernourished rats. Proc Soc Exp Biol Med 1975;149:860-63.
Eckhert CD, Barnes RH, Levitsky DA. Nutritional effects on heart acetylcholinesterase and butyrocholinesterase activity. Am J Physiol 1975; 229:1532-35.
Barnes RH, Levitsky DA, Pond WG, Moore U. Effect of postnatal dietary protein and energy restriction on exploratory behavior in young pigs. Develop Psychobiol 1976;9:425-35.
Im HS, Barnes RH, Levitsky DA. Effect of early protein-energy malnutrition and environmental changes on cholinesterase activity of brain and adrenal glands of rats. J Nutr 1976;106:342-49.
Eckhert CD, Barnes RH, Levitsky DA. The effect of protein energy undernutrition induced during the period of suckling on cholinergic enzyme activity in the rat brainstem. Brain Res 1976;101:372-77.
Eckhert CD, Barnes RH, Levitsky DA. Regional changes in rat brain choline acetyltransferase and acetylcholinesterase activity resulting from undernutrition imposed during different periods of development. J Neurochem 1976;127:277-83.
Levitsky DA, Faust I, Glassman M. The ingestion of food and the recovery of body weight following fasting in the naive rat. Physiol Behav 1976;17:575-80.
Massaro TF, Levitsky DA, Barnes RH. Early protein malnutrition in the rat: Behavioral changes during rehabilitation. Develop Psychobiol 1977;10:105-11.
Massaro TF, Levitsky DA, Barnes RH. Protein malnutrition induced during gestation: Its effect on pup development and maternal behavior. Develop Psychobiol 1977;10:339-45.
Kratz CM, Levitsky DA. Differential effects of quinine and sucrose octa acetate on food intake in the rat. Physiol Behav 1978;20:665-67.
Kratz CM, Levitsky DA. Post-ingestion effects of quinine on intake of nutrition and non-nutritive substances. Physiol Behav 1978;21:851-54.
Kratz CM, Levitsky DA, Lustick SL. Long term effects of quinine on food intake and body weight in the rat. Physiol Behav 1978;21:321-24.
Kratz CM, Levitsky DA. Food selection during recovery from protein restriction in lactation. Physiol Behav 1979;22:479-82.
Oliveira L, Levitsky DA. Efeitos dos Choques a intervalos variaveis score o compartamento alimentar de ratos subnutridos. Cadernos de Pesquisa 1979;29: 111-24.
Kratz CM, Levitsky DA. Responses to protein dilution in the rat. Physiol Behav 1979;23:709-15.
Kratz CM, Levitsky DA. Dietary obesity. Differential effects with self-selection and composite diet feeding techniques. Physiol Behav 1979;22: 245-49.
Kratz CM, Levitsky DA. The role of noxious taste in determining food intake in the rat. Physiol Behav 1980;24:1027-30.
Levitsky DA, Strupp B, and Lupoli, J. Tolerance to anorectic drugs: Pharmacological or artifactual. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 1981;14:661-67.
Schuster JA, Levitsky DA. Insensible weight loss as an indicator of metabolic rate. Physiol Behav 1982;28:382-84.
Tagliaferro AR, Levitsky DA. Spillage behavior and thiamin deficiency in the rat. Physiol Behav 1982;28:933-37.
Kurz EM, Levitsky DA. Novelty of contextual cues in taste aversion learning. Anim Learn Behav 1982;10:229-32.
Levitsky DA, Strupp BJ. Reinforcing health care. Contemp Psychol 1982;27: 149-50.
Kurz EM, Levitsky DA. Lithium chloride and avoidance of novel places. Behav Neurosci 1983;97:445-51.
Tagliaferro A, Levitsky DA. Overcompensation of food intake following brief periods of food restriction. Physiol Behav 1983;29:747-50.
Strupp BJ, Levitsky DA. Early brain insult and cognition: A comparison of malnutrition and hypothyroidism. Develop Psychobiol 1983;16:535-49.
Strupp BJ, Levitsky DA. PKU, learning, and models of mental retardation. Develop Psychobiol 1984;17:109-20.
Strupp BJ, Levitsky DA. Social transmission of food selection in adult hooded rats (rattus Norvegicus). J Comp Psychol 1984;98:257-66.
Strupp BJ, Levitsky DA. A mnemonic role for vasopressin: The evidence for and against. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 1985;9:399-411.
Levitsky DA, Strupp BJ. Direct and indirect thermogenic effects of anorectic drugs. Adv Nutr Res 1985;7:187-201.
Obarzanek E, Levitsky DA. Eating in the laboratory: Is it representative? Am J Clin Nutr 1985;42:323-28.
Levitsky DA, Schuster J, Stallone D, Strupp BJ. Modulation of the thermogenic effect of nutrients by fenfluramine. Internat J Obesity 1986;10:169-74.
Lissner L, Levitsky DA, Strupp BJ, Kalkwarf HJ, Roe DA. Dietary fat and the regulation of energy intake in human subjects. Am J Clin Nutr 1987;46:886-92.
Levitsky DA, Obarzanek E, Stallone D, Strupp BJ. Unusual mechanism of expending energy. Internat J Obesity 1987;11:48.
Stevens J, Levitsky DA, Van Soest PJ, Robertson JB, Kalkwarf HJ, Roe DA. Effect of psyllium gum and wheat bran on spontaneous energy intake. Am J Clin Nutr 1987;16:812-17.
Stevens J, Van Soest PJ, Robertson JD, Levitsky DA. Mean transit time measurement by analysis of a single stool after ingestion of multicolored plastic pellets. Am J Clin Nutr 1987;16:1018-51.
Stevens J, Van Soest PJ, Robertson JB, Levitsky DA. Comparison of the effects of psyllium and wheat bran on gastrointestinal transit time and stool characteristics. J Am Diet Assoc 1988;88:323-26.
Lissner L, Stevens J, Levitsky DA, Rasmussen KM, Strupp BJ. Variations in energy intake during the menstrual cycle: implications for food-intake research. Am J Clin Nutr 1988;48:956-62.
Levitsky DA, Stallone D. Enhancement of the thermic effect of food by d-fenfluramine. Clin-Neuropharmacol 1988;(11 Suppl)1:S90-92.
Lissner L, Habicht J-P, Strupp BJ, Levitsky DA, Haas J, Roe DA. Body composition and energy intake: Do overweight women overeat and underreport? Am J Clin Nutr 1989;49:320-25.
Strupp BJ, Korahais J, Levitsky DA, Ginsberg S. Attentional impairment in rats exposed to alcohol prenatally: Lack of hypothesized masking by food deprivation. Ann New York Acad Sci. 1989;562:380-82.
Strupp BJ, Bunsey M, Bertsche B, Levitsky DA, Kesler M. Enhancement and impairment of memory retrieval by a vasopressin metabolite: An interaction with the accessibility of the memory. Behav Neurosci 1990;104:268-76.
Strupp BJ, Himmelstein S, Bunsey M, Levitsky DA, Kesler M. Cognitive profile of rats exposed to lactational hyperphenylalaninemia: Correspondence with human mental retardation. Develop Psychobiol 1990;23:195-214.
Troiano RP, Levitsky DA, Kalkwarf HJ. Effect of dl-fenfluramine on thermic effect of food in humans. Internat J Obesity 1990;14:647-55.
Kendall A, Levitsky DA, Strupp BJ, Lissner L. Weight loss on a low fat diet: Consequence of the imprecision of the control of food intake in humans. Am J Clin Nutr 1991;53:1124-29.
Strupp BJ, Bunsey M, Levitsky DA, Kesler M. Time-dependent effects of post-trial amphetamine treatment in rats: Evidence for enhanced storage of representational memory. Behav Neural Biol 1991;56:62-76.
Levitsky DA, Troiano R. Metabolic consequences of fenfluramine for the control of body weight. Am J Clin Nutr 1992;55:167S-72S.
Bell RC, Levitsky DA, Campbell TC. The effects of D-fenfluramine on the development of aflatoxin-B1 induced GGT+. Internat J Obesity Relat Metab Disord 1993;17:215-21.
Bell RC, Lanou AJ, Frongillo EA Jr. Levitsky DA, Campbell TC. Accuracy and reliability of total body electrical conductivity (TOBEC) for determining body composition of rats in experimental studies. Physiol & Beh. 1994; 56: 767-773.
Stallone, D. D. & Levitsky, D. A. Chronic fenfluramine treatment: effects on body weight, food intake and energy expenditure. Int.J.Obes.Relat.Metab.Disord. 1994,18: 679-685.
Strupp BJ; Bunsey M; Levitsky DA; Hamberger K. Deficient cumulative learning: an animal model of retarded cognitive development. Neurotoxicol Teratol. 1994;16:71-9.
Levitsky DA, Strupp BJ. Malnutrition and the brain: Changing concepts, changing concerns. J. Nut. 1995; 125: 2212S-2220S.
Strupp BJ, Levitsky DA. Enduring cognitive effects of early malnutrition: A theoretical re-appraisal. J. Nut. 1995; 125: 2221S-2232S.
Troiano R P, Frongillo EA Jr, Sobal J, Levitsky D A. The relationship between body weight and mortality: A quantitative analysis of combined information from existing studies. Intern. J. Obesity, 1996; 20: 63-75.
Almeida, N.G., Levitsky, DA, Strupp, BJ. Enhanced thermogenesis during recovery from diet-induced weight gain in the rat. Amer. J. Physiol., 1996, 271:R1380-R1387.
Pollitt E, Gorman K, Grantham-McGregor S, Levitsky, D, Schurch B, Strupp B, Wachs T. A Reconceptualization of the effects of undernutrition on children’s biological, psychosocial and behavioral development. Social Policy Report, 1996, X(5): 1-21.
Austic RE; Su CL; Strupp BJ; Levitsky DA Effects of dietary mixtures of amino acids on fetal growth and maternal and fetal amino acid pools in experimental maternal phenylketonuria. Am J Clin Nutr 1999;69(4):687-96
Lin X, Levitsky DA, King JM, Campbell TC. The promotion effect of anorectic drugs on aflatoxin B(1)-induced hepatic preneoplastic foci. Carcinogenesis. 1999; 20(9):1793-9.
Garavan H, Morgan RE, Levitsky DA, Hermer-Vazquez L, Strupp BJ. Enduring effects of early lead exposure: evidence for a specific deficit in associative ability. Neurotoxicol Teratol. 2000; 22(2):151-64.
Morgan RE, Levitsky DA, Strupp BJ. Effects of chronic lead exposure on learning and reaction time in a visual discrimination task. Neurotoxicol Teratol. 2000; 22(3):337-45.
Garavan H, Morgan RE, Mactutus CF, Levitsky DA, Booze RM, Strupp BJ. Prenatal cocaine exposure impairs selective attention: evidence from serial reversal and extra-dimensional shift tasks. Behav Neurosci. 2000; 114(4):725-38.
Levitsky, D. Putting Behavior back into Feeding Behavior: A Tribute to George Collier. Appetite 2001; 38, 1-6.
Morgan RE, Garavan H, Smith EG, Driscoll LL, Levitsky DA, Strupp BJ. Early lead exposure produces lasting changes in sustained attention, response initiation, and reactivity to errors. Neurotoxicol Teratol 2001;23:519-31.
Higley MJ, Hermer-Vazquez L, Levitsky DA, Strupp BJ. Recovery of associative function following early amygdala lesions in rats. Behav Neurosci. 2001 Feb;115(1):154-64.
Olabi AA, Lawless HT, Hunter JB, Levitsky DA and Halpern BP, The effect of microgravity and space flight on the chemical senses, J Food Sci, 2002: 67:468-78.
Mrdjenovic, G. & Levitsky, D. A. (2003) Nutritional and energetic consequences of sweetened drink consumption in 6- to 13-year-old children. J Pediatr 2003; 142: 604-610.
Gendle MH, White TL, Strawderman M, et al. Enduring effects of prenatal cocaine exposure on selective attention and reactivity to errors: evidence from an animal model. Behav Neurosci 2004;118:290-7.
Gendle MH, Strawderman MS, Mactutus CF, Booze RM, Levitsky DA, Strupp BJ. Prenatal cocaine exposure does not alter working memory in adult rats. Neurotoxicol Teratol 2004;26:319-29.
Gendle MH, Strawderman MS, Mactutus CF, Booze RM, Levitsky DA, Strupp BJ. Impaired sustained attention and altered reactivity to errors in an animal model of prenatal cocaine exposure. Brain Res Dev Brain Res 2003;147:85-96.
Levitsky DA., Commentary on the paper of Damon et al. J Nutr. 2003 Mar; 133(3): 661-2.
Levitsky, D. A., Halbmaier, C. A. & Mrdjenovic, G. The freshman weight gain: a model for the study of the epidemic of obesity. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 2004, 28: 1435-1442.
Levitsky, D. A. & Youn, T. The more food young adults are served, the more they overeat. J Nutr 2004, 134: 2546-2549.
Gendle MH, White TL, Strawderman M, Mactutus CF, Booze RM, Levitsky DA, and Strupp BJ. Enduring Effects of Prenatal Cocaine Exposure on Selective Attention and Reactivity to Errors: Evidence from an Animal Model. Behavioral Neuroscience, 118(2): 290-297, 2004.
Gendle MH, Strawderman M, Mactutus CF, Levitsky DA, Booze RM, and Strupp BJ. Prenatal cocaine exposure does not alter spatial working memory in adult rats. Neurotoxicology and Teratology, 26(2): 319-329, 2004.
Driscoll LL; Carroll JC; Moon J-S; Crnic LS, Levitsky DA; Strupp BJ. Impaired Sustained attention and error-induced stereotypy in the aged Ts65Dn mouse, a mouse model of Down syndrome and Alzheimer disease. Behavioral Neuroscience, 2004, 118 (6): 1196-1205.
Levitsky DA, Obarzanek O, Mrdjenovic G, Strupp BJ. Imprecise Control of Energy Intake: Absence of a Reduction in Food Intake following Overfeeding in Young Adults. Physiol Behav 2005; 84: 669-675.
Levitsky DA. The future of school feeding programs. Food and Nutrition Bulletin, 2005, 26(2), S286-S287.
Mrdjenovic G, Levitsky D. Children eat what they are served: the imprecise regulation of energy intake. Appetite, 2005, 273-282.
Levitsky, DA. The non-regulation of food intake in humans: hope for reversing the epidemic of obesity. Physiol Behav, 2006, 86(5): 623-32.
Levitsky DA, Garay J, Nausbaum M, Neighbors L, DellaValle DM. Monitoring weight daily blocks the freshman weight gain: A model for combating the epidemic of obesity. Int J Obes (Lond) 2006;30:1003-10.
Moon, J., Beaudin, A. E., Verosky, S., Driscoll, L. L., Weiskopf, M., Levitsky, D. A., et al. Attentional dysfunction, impulsivity, and resistance to change in a mouse model of fragile X syndrome. Behav Neurosci, 2006; 120(6), 1367-1379.
Beaudin, S. A., Stangle, D. E., Smith, D. R., Levitsky, D. A., & Strupp, B. J. Succimer chelation normalizes reactivity to reward omission and errors in lead-exposed rats. Neurotoxicol Teratol, 2007; 29(2), 188-202.
Stangle, D. E., Smith, D. R., Beaudin, S. A., Strawderman, M. S., Levitsky, D. A., & Strupp, B. J. Succimer chelation improves learning, attention, and arousal regulation in lead-exposed rats but produces lasting cognitive impairment in the absence of lead exposure. Environ Health Perspect, 2007; 115(2), 201-209.
Moon, J., K. T. Ota, et al. (2008). A mouse model of fragile X syndrome exhibits heightened arousal and/or emotion following errors or reversal of contingencies. Dev Psychobiol, 2008; 50(5): 473-85.
Levitsky, D.A., DeRosimo, L. One day of food restriction does not result in an increase in subsequent daily food intake in humans. Physiol Behav, 2010; 99 (4), 495-499.
Levitsky, D.A., Pacanowski, C.R. Losing weight without dieting: Use of commercial foods as meal replacements for lunch produces an extended energy deficit. Appetite, 2011, 57(2), 311-317.
Levitsky, D.A. Pacanowki, C.R. Free Will and the Obesity Epidemic. J. Public Health Nutr. , 2011; 15(1), 126-141.
Speakman, J.R., Levitsky, D.A., Allison, D.B., Bray, M.S., de Castro, J.M., Clegg, D.J., Clapham, J.C., Dullo, A.G., Gruer, L., Haw, S., Hebebrand, J., Hetherington, M.M., Higgs, S., Jebb, S.A., Loos, R.J., Luckman, S., Luke, A., Mohammed-Ali, V., O’Rahilly, S., Pereira, M., Perusse, L., Robinson, T.N., rolls, B., Symonds, M.E., Westerterp-Plantenga, M.S. Set points, settling points and some alternative models: theoretical options to understand how genes and environments combine to regulate body adiposity. Dis. Model. Mech., 2011, 4, 6, 733-745
Levitsky, D.A., Iyer, S., Pacanowski,C.R., Number of foods available at a meal determines the amount consumed. Eat. Behav., 2012, 13, 3, 183-187.
Levitsky, D.A., Pacanowski,C.R.., Effect of skipping breakfast on subsequent energy intake., Physiol. Behav., 2013, 119, 9-16.
Krista Casazza, Andrew Brown, Arne Astrup, et al. :Weighing the evidence of common beliefs in obesity research. Crit.Rev.Food Sci.Nutr.2014,00-00.
David A. Levitsky, Andrew W. Brown, Barbara C. Hansen, et al. :An Unjustified Conclusion from Self-report-based Estimates of Energy Intake. Am.J.Med.2014,127:e33.
D. A. Levitsky. Next will be apple pie. Am.J.Clin.Nutr.2014,100:503-504.
Carly R. Pacanowski, Fredrik Bertz and David A. Levitsky. Daily Self-Weighing to Control Body Weight in Adults A Critical Review of the Literature. SAGE Open 2014,4:2158244014556992.
Olabi, A., DA Levitsky, JB Hunter, R. Spies, AP Rovers and L. Abdouni. Food and mood: A nutritional and mood assessment of a 30-day vegan space diet. Food Quality and Preference 2015,40:110-115.
Cioffi C, Levitsky D, Pacanowski C, Bertz F. A nudge in a healthy direction. The effect of nutrition labels on food purchasing behaviors in university dining facilities. Appetite. 2015, 92:714.
Pacanowski C, Sobal J, Levitsky D, Sherwood N, Keeler C, Miller A, Acosta A, Hansen N, Wang P, Guilbert S, Paroly A, Commesso M, Vermeylen F. Does Measuring Body Weight Impact Subsequent Response to Eating Behavior Questions? Journal of the American College of Nutrition. 2015, 34(3):199–204.
Levitsky, D. A. Breaking the feast. AJCN, 2015, 102, 531–532 (2015).
Carly R. Pacanowski and David A. Levitsky, Frequent Self-Weighing and Visual Feedback for Weight Loss in Overweight Adults,” Journal of Obesity, vol. 2015, Article ID 763680, 9 pages, 2015. doi:10.1155/2015/763680
Bertz, Fredrik, Carly R. Pacanowski, and David A. Levitsky. Frequent Self?Weighing with Electronic Graphic Feedback to Prevent Age?Related Weight Gain in Young Adults." Obesity 23.10 (2015): 2009-2014.
Olabi, A., DA Levitsky, JB Hunter, R. Spies, AP Rovers and L. Abdouni. :Food and mood: A nutritional and mood assessment of a 30-day vegan space diet. Food Quality and Preference 2015,40:110-115.
Levitsky, David A. Spicing up Introductory Nutrition. The FASEB Journal, 2016, 30 (1), Suppl., 132.1.
Levitsky, D.A. Classic 15: Gordon C. Kennedy and Lipostatic Control of Eating, Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior, Ingestive Classics, http://www.ssib.org/web/classics.php
Levitsky, D. A., Raea Limb, J. E., Wilkinson, L., Sewall, A., Zhong, Y., Olabi, A. and Hunter, J. Lack of negative autocorrelations of daily food intake on successive days challenges the concept of the regulation of body weight in humans, Appetite, 2017, 116, pp. 277–283. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2017.04.038.
Wilkinson L, Pacanowski CR, Levitsky D. Three-Year Follow-Up of Participants from a Self-Weighing Randomized Controlled Trial. J Obes 2017;2017:1–7.
Levitsky D, Sewall A, Zhong Y, Barre L, Shoen S, Agaronnik N, LeClair J-L, Zhuo W, Pacanowski C. Quantifying the imprecision of energy intake of humans to compensate for imposed energetic errors: A challenge to the physiological control of human food intake. Appetite, 2019;133:337–43.
Pacanowski, C.R., Levitsky, D.A., 2019. Self-Weighing and Visual Feedback Facilitates Self-Directed Learning in Adults Who Are Overweight and Obese. J. Nutr. Educ. Behav. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneb.2019.08.010
Schell, R.C., Just D.R., Levitsky, DA. (2020). Predicted Lifetime Third-Party Costs of Obesity for Black and White Adolescents with Race-Specific Age Related Weight Gain. 28(2): 397-403.
I am currently teaching two courses, NS 1150 and NS/PSCH 315. I am also currently working on about five papers for publications and a NIH (R21) Proposal for a pilot study of the effectiveness of combining financial incentives with daily self weighing to produce sustained weight loss in an economically poor population. I currently am researching the mechanism through which daily self-weighing causes a loss in weight and prevents age-related weight gain. I currently review for British Journal of Nutrition, Appetite, Physiology and Behavior, Plos One, Journal of Nutrition, the American Journal of Nutrition, and Eating Behavior. I am a Deputy Editor for the British Journal of Nutrition. Finally, I serve as a consultant to the Federal Trade Commission for investigations of weight reduction products.
1964, B.A., (Major, Psychology), Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey
1966, M.S., Experimental Psychology (Comparative-Physiological), Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey
1968, M.Phil., Experimental Psychology (Comparative-Physiological), Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey
1968, Ph.D., Experimental Psychology (Comparative-Physiological) , Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey