HNR operates as an integrated whole and the work of the all the groups and teams contribute to HNR’s overall misson and goals.
The focus of the research and activities of their groups and teams are briefly described below. For more information please go to their relevant webpage by clicking on their name. To read about our research facilities and their teams please click here or to read about our dietary survey work please click here.
Our Research Groups
Nutrition and Bone Health
Led by Dr Ann Prentice, the aim is to identify nutrition and lifestyle strategies for the optimisation of bone health and the reduction of osteoporosis and rickets risk within the wider context of nutrition policy for calcium and vitamin D in developed and developing countries. The focus is on calcium and vitamin D, but with consideration of other dietary and lifestyle factors, including body size and composition, sunshine exposure and physical activity.
BioMineral Research
The BioMineral Research Group, headed by Dr. Jonathan Powell, investigates the functional role of minerals in 5 major areas of research: (1) the risk:benefit balance of dietary and supplemental iron intake in differing populations; (2) the role of endogenously formed gut luminal nanoparticles in intestinal health and function; (3) the mechanism(s) of action of dietary silicon on connective tissue; (4) synthesis and application of novel therapeutic nanominerals; (5) cutting edge methodology in mineral and trace element analysis for in house and external projects.
Lipid Profiling and Signalling
The interaction between being overweight and type 2 diabetes arises because fats become inappropriately stored in organs such as the liver, pancreas and skeletal muscle, reducing the body’s capacity to respond to the hormone insulin, an important signal which regulates the storage of nutrients. The lipid profiling and signalling (LPS) Group are using novel mass spectrometry and multivariate statistics to understand these processes. We have a range of studies that investigate the effects of over-nutrition, and in particular the role that high fat intake plays in inducing disease.
Interventions to Treat and Prevent Obesity
This Group focus on the role of dietary factors in the prevention and treatment of obesity, with particular emphasis on dietary intervention studies and the translation into policy and practice.
Dietary intake and health outcomes
This Group specialise in methods to capture detailed information on dietary intake and food composition and conduct research to examine changes in dietary habits over the lifecourse and the relationship to health outcomes.
Physiological Modelling of Metabolic Risk
The PMMR Group, led by Dr Les Bluck, investigates how the fate of dietary macronutrients, particularly carbohydrates and fats, in the post-absorptive state is altered in the progression to metabolic disease. This is achieved by the use and development of novel stable isotope methodologies to measure the post-prandial irregularities underlying diabetes and cardiovascular disease, and the use of these technologies to study dietary interventions to prevent, slow or reverse the progression of these diseases.