Nita Forouhi | |
---|---|
Alma mater | Newcastle University London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Nutrition, Epidemiology |
Institutions | University of Cambridge |
Thesis | The relationship between body fat distribution, insulin sensitivity and postprandial lipids in Europeans and South Asians: a cross-sectional study (2000) |
Website | Research page |
Nita Gandhi Forouhi is a British physician and academic, specialising in nutrition and epidemiology. She is Professor of Population Health and Nutrition at the University of Cambridge, the programme leader of the nutritional epidemiology programme of its MRC Epidemiology Unit, and an honorary consultant public health physician with Public Health England. [1]
Forouhi studied medicine at Newcastle University: she also completed an intercalated Bachelor of Medical Science (BMedSci) degree in immunology. She then trained in general medicine, and diabetes and endocrinology in Edinburgh, and gained her Membership of the Royal Colleges of Physicians of the United Kingdom (MRCP). She studied for a master's degree and a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, having been awarded a Wellcome Training Fellowship. [1] She completed her doctorate in 2000 with a thesis titled "The relationship between body fat distribution, insulin sensitivity and postprandial lipids in Europeans and South Asians: a cross-sectional study". [2]
Her research focuses on the connections between diet, nutrition and the risk of diabetes, obesity and related disorders. [3] She appears often in British media discussing nutritional research and their relevance to health, and according to BMJ Confidential, "she is known for giving evidence based and balanced views" on such topics. [3]
Notable Cambridge scientists with whom she has shared paper authorship include Stephen O’Rahilly, Nigel Unwin, Antonio Vidal-Puig, and Nick Wareham.
As of 2019, she was a member of the International Diabetes Federation Diabetes Atlas Committee, a member of the UK Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition – NHS England – Diabetes UK working group to review the evidence on lower carbohydrate diets for adults with type 2 diabetes, and an expert for NICE guidelines, a member of the board of the directors of the Public Health Genomic Foundation at Cambridge, and a member of the Diabetes UK research committee. [4] [5]
In nutrition, biology, and chemistry, fat usually means any ester of fatty acids, or a mixture of such compounds, most commonly those that occur in living beings or in food.
Insulin resistance (IR) is a pathological condition in which cells in insulin-sensitive tissues in the body fail to respond normally to the hormone insulin or downregulate insulin receptors in response to hyperinsulinemia.
Type 2 diabetes (T2D), formerly known as adult-onset diabetes, is a form of diabetes mellitus that is characterized by high blood sugar, insulin resistance, and relative lack of insulin. Common symptoms include increased thirst, frequent urination, fatigue and unexplained weight loss. Other symptoms include increased hunger, having a sensation of pins and needles, and sores (wounds) that heal slowly. Symptoms often develop slowly. Long-term complications from high blood sugar include heart disease, stroke, diabetic retinopathy, which can result in blindness, kidney failure, and poor blood flow in the lower-limbs, which may lead to amputations. The sudden onset of hyperosmolar hyperglycemic state may occur; however, ketoacidosis is uncommon.
Low-carbohydrate diets restrict carbohydrate consumption relative to the average diet. Foods high in carbohydrates are limited, and replaced with foods containing a higher percentage of fat and protein, as well as low carbohydrate foods.
Gestational diabetes is a condition in which a woman without diabetes develops high blood sugar levels during pregnancy. Gestational diabetes generally results in few symptoms; however, it increases the risk of pre-eclampsia, depression, and of needing a Caesarean section. Babies born to individuals with poorly treated gestational diabetes are at increased risk of macrosomia, of having hypoglycemia after birth, and of jaundice. If untreated, diabetes can also result in stillbirth. Long term, children are at higher risk of being overweight and of developing type 2 diabetes.
Sir Harold Percival "Harry"Himsworth, KCB, FRS was a British scientist, best known for his medical research on diabetes mellitus.
Neal D. Barnard is an American animal rights activist, physician and founding president of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM). Barnard has authored books advocating a whole food plant-based dietary eating pattern.
In biochemistry and nutrition, a monounsaturated fat is a fat that contains a monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA), a subclass of fatty acid characterized by having a double bond in the fatty acid chain with all of the remaining carbon atoms being single-bonded. By contrast, polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) have more than one double bond.
Timothy David Noakes is a South African scientist, and an emeritus professor in the Division of Exercise Science and Sports Medicine at the University of Cape Town.
A diabetic diet is a diet that is used by people with diabetes mellitus or high blood sugar to minimize symptoms and dangerous complications of long-term elevations in blood sugar.
Sheila Rodwell OBE, known professionally by her first married name Sheila Bingham, was a British nutritional epidemiologist known for conducting detailed studies into clarify the biological mechanisms underlying the effects of different diets on health and disease, especially cancer.
MRC Human Nutrition Research was the largest research institute in the UK for human nutrition, and was based in Cambridge.
Sir Stephen Patrick O'Rahilly is an Irish-British physician and scientist known for his research into the molecular pathogenesis of human obesity, insulin resistance and related metabolic and endocrine disorders.
Ailsa A. Welch is a British medical researcher who is professor of nutritional epidemiology at Norwich Medical School in the UK. Her research focuses on the impact of human nutrition on health, disease and aging. She is listed as a notable scientist in Thomson Reuters' Highly Cited Researchers 2014, ranking her among the top 1% most cited scientists.
Dariush Mozaffarian is a cardiologist, Jean Mayer Professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, Professor of Medicine at Tufts School of Medicine, and an attending physician at Tufts Medical Center. His work aims to create the science and translation for a food system that is nutritious, equitable, and sustainable. Dr. Mozaffarian has authored more than 500 scientific publications on dietary priorities for obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases, and on evidence-based policy approaches and innovations to reduce diet-related diseases and improve health equity in the US and globally. Some of his areas of interest include healthy diet patterns, nutritional biomarkers, Food is Medicine interventions in healthcare, nutrition innovation and entrepreneurship, and food policy. He is one of the top cited researchers in medicine globally, he has served in numerous advisory roles, and his work has been featured in an array of media outlets.
Pure, White and Deadly is a 1972 book by John Yudkin, a British nutritionist and former Chair of Nutrition at Queen Elizabeth College, London. Published in New York, it was the first publication by a scientist to anticipate the adverse health effects, especially in relation to obesity and heart disease, of the public's increased sugar consumption. At the time of publication, Yudkin sat on the advisory panel of the British Department of Health's Committee on the Medical Aspects of Food and Nutrition Policy (COMA). He stated his intention in writing the book in the last paragraph of the first chapter: "I hope that when you have read this book I shall have convinced you that sugar is really dangerous."
Deborah A. Lawlor is a British epidemiologist and professor at the University of Bristol, where she is the deputy director of the Medical Research Council Integrative Epidemiology Unit. She is also a fellow of the Faculty of Public Health and of the Academy of Medical Sciences. Her main areas of research are perinatal, reproductive and cardio-metabolic health. Lawlor was awarded a CBE in the 2017 Queen's Birthday Honours for her services to social and community medicine research.
Tolullah "Tolu" Oni is a Nigerian urban epidemiologist at the Medical Research Council Epidemiology Unit at the University of Cambridge. She is a NextEinstein Forum Fellow and World Economic Forum Young Global Leader.
Antonio Vidal-Puig is a Spanish medical doctor and scientist who works as a Professor of Molecular Nutrition and Metabolism at the University of Cambridge (UK), best known for advancing the concept that pharmacological targeting of brown fat may serve to treat overweight and obesity in affected individuals, as well as for introducing the concept of adipose tissue "expandability" as an important factor in the pathogenesis of insulin resistance in the context of positive energy balance. His published work focuses on areas such as adipose tissue metabolism and lipotoxicity, regulation of insulin secretion, and the pathophysiology of metabolic syndrome, obesity, and type 2 diabetes. In April 2024, he was granted the rank of doctor honoris causa from the King Juan Carlos University, Madrid.
Joyce Baird was a Scottish diabetes clinical and academic researcher, internationally cited for her work in both laboratory and clinical settings. Baird created the Metabolic Unit at the Western General Hospital, Edinburgh and established a model of patient care that allowed those with endocrine disorders to monitor and treat themselves without supervision, and was organised in 'family friendly' hours. Baird was Vice President of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes. A new 'Baird Family Hospital' is opening in Aberdeen, Scotland in 2021, named for Joyce Baird, her parents and her brother's contribution to UK medicine.