Masako Fujita

masakof@msu.edu

Professor

Anthropology

Biography

Dr. Masako Fujita is a professor of anthropology and the director of the Biomarker Lab for Anthropological Research. She is a biological anthropologist with expertise in maternal nutrition and health, breastfeeding, and the contents and effects of mothers’ milk. She studies how disastrous contexts affect these, including droughts and food insecurity, which are unfortunately common among Ariaal and Rendille pastoralists in Kenya with whom she has worked for many years. Her recent research incorporates an in vitro technique to characterize milk immune activity and examine how various types of maternal stress — psychosocial, nutritional, socioeconomic, and environmental — affect the milk immune response to bacterial stimulation. She is passionate about insights that inform health. She is active in professional societies, including the Human Biology Association, the International Society for Evolution, Medicine, and the International Society for Research in Human Milk and Lactation.

Works

Recent publications:

Fujita M, Wander K, Sharma A, Harkenrider A, Mourou N, Downes C, Anderson A, Marx A, Brazelton E, Kuiper W, Willian K, Yan T. 2026. Poverty, stress, and milk immune competence in Michigan mothers (Abstract). American Journal of Human Biology. 2026;38(S1 e70213):51.
Kumbayoni I, Jue H, Anderson A, Marx J, Fujita M. Head versus length growth: The role of infection and nutrition among breastfed infants in Michigan (Abstract). American Journal of Human Biology. 2026;38(S1 e70213):61-62.
Miller E, Fujita M, Hinde K, Martin MA, Wander K, Quinn EA. 2025. Celebrating over 10 years of human milk research in the Human Biology Association. Invited commentary. American Journal of Human Biology. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.70111
Fujita M, Wander K, Straight B, Wamwere-Njoroge G. 2025. Dual behavioral-physiological buffering of mothers’ milk facilitates drought adaptability of pastoralists and agropastoralists in northern Kenya. (Invited paper in the American Journal of Human Biology. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.70057
Fujita M, Wander K. 2025. Lactose in mothers’ milk protects infants against infection among dyads under drought stress. (Invited paper in the 50th anniversary article collection.) Annal of Human Biology. https://doi.org/10.1080/03014460.2025.2455703
Harkenrider A, Mourou N, Wander K, Fujita M. The connection between postpartum depression and milk immune specificity (Abstract). American Journal of Human Biology. 2025;37(S1).
Sharma A, Wander K, Asthana A, Harkenrider A, Mourou N, Fujita M. The relationship between maternal stress and the immune specificity of milk (Abstract). American Journal of Human Biology. 2024;36(S1).
Wander K, Ogunleye OO, Nwagu EN, Unigwe US, Odo AN, Chinedu CM, Omilabu SA, Salu OB, Owolabi BS, Osikomaiya BI, Ebede SO, Bowale A, Olaitan AO, Chukwu CU, Ndiokwelu CO, Chioma E-A, Azubuike C, Odubiyi OA, Hassan YA, Oloniniyi N, Kelvin AM, Abiola RR, Fadipe OO, Anyanwu RA, Orenolu MR, Abdullah MA, Ishaya OD, Agulefo CJ, Akase IE, Huang Z, Chen M-S, Gauck M, Okoror TA, Fujita M. 2024. Iron nutrition and COVID-19 among Nigerian healthcare workers. Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health, 12(1): 287–297. https://doi.org/10.1093/emph/eoae034
Fujita M, Asthana A, Wamwere-Njoroge G. 2024. Protective effects of diversified diets for dietary folate adequacy and serum homocysteine in breastfeeding mothers amid historic drought. American Journal of Human Biology. DOI: 10.1002/ajhb.24122
Wander K, Fujita M, Mattison S, Gauck M, Duris M, Kiwelu I, Mmbaga BT. 2024. Maternal and infant predictors of milk immune activity in Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. American Journal of Human Biology. DOI: 10.1002/ajhb.24061
Vankayalapati A, Wamwere-Njoroge G, Fujita M. 2023. Effects of household composition on infant feeding and mother-infant health in northern Kenya. American Journal of Human Biology, e23993. DOI: 10.1002/ajhb.23993
Wander K, Fujita M, Mattison S, Gauck M, Duris M, Kiwelu I, Mmbaga BT. 2023. Does the immune system of milk increase activity for infants experiencing infectious disease episodes in Kilimanjaro, Tanzania? American Journal of Human Biology. DOI: 10.1002/ajhb.23897

Recent projects:

Exploring human milk immune specificity.
Exploring the associations between maternal stress, iron nutrition, and milk immune specificity.
Exploring human milk immune specificity in Michigan mothers.
Evolutionary Nutritional Adaptations and COVID-19 Risk among Healthcare Workers.