Tom Brenna

James Thomas Brenna (born October 15, 1959) is an American scientist specializing in analytical chemistry, and in human nutrition and foods, specifically fats. He is a professor of Paediatrics at Dell Medical School, having previously been a professor of human nutrition, chemistry, chemical biology and food science at Cornell University.

Floyd Landis trials
Brenna was the key expert witness in the action of the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) against 2006 Tour de France first place finisher Floyd Landis, adjudicated in a hearing of the Tribunal Arbitral du Sport/Court for Arbitration in Sport held in Malibu, California. He testified to the accuracy of Carbon Isotope Ratio (CIR) tests conducted by the French Antidoping laboratory at Châtenay-Malabry. Landis conducted a high profile, multimillion dollar defense but lost the 2007 original hearing with the decision relying for technical opinion on Brenna’s testimony. Landis later lost a 2008 de novo case before the American Arbitration Association also relying on Brenna’s testimony and was stripped of his title. Years later Landis revealed he was doping and filed a whistle-blower lawsuit under the federal False Claims Act against Lance Armstrong that was settled with multimillion dollar payments by Armstrong.

DHA in Infant Formula
Brenna visited the FDA infant formula team in late 2001 to encourage omega-3 DHA to be included in infant formula. A few weeks later the FDA issued its “no questions” letter accepting this suggestion and citing his work.

Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee
Brenna was a member of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee advising on the 2015 U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans. He was one of four members of the Food Sustainability and Safety subcommittee whose work on sustainability was excluded from consideration by an act of Congress.

Coconut oil
Comments in the New York Times about the healthfulness of coconut oil in late 2015 were covered in 200+ newspapers globally. Brenna opined that 21st-century virgin coconut oil does not cause heart disease but that earlier coconut oils may cause heart disease due to process contaminants.

Vegetarian gene
In 2016 he was co-lead of a team that discovered an insertion-deletion polymorphism, rs66698963, is under positive selective pressure depending on whether ancestral diets were primarily animal/seafood-based or plant-based. Global news widely reported that it would lead to potentially greater risk of disease, though this was corrected later.