biomedical sciences research institute - Research - University of Ulster

Professor Barbara LivingstoneProfessor of NutritionContact Details:T: +44 (0)28 70324471mbe.livingstone@ulster.ac.ukProfessor Livingstone’s main research areas/interests are:• Dietary and lifestyle risk factors for obesity, particularly in children and adolescents• Mechanisms of control of appetite, satiety and food intake.• Development of intervention strategies for the prevention of obesity in children and adolescents.• Development of evidence based dietary guidelines for healthy eating• Validity of dietary survey methodologiesExcess body weight is one of the most serious threats to future health. Overweight already affects up to 80% of adultsand 20% of children and adolescents in the EU, with 150 million adults and 15 million children expected to be obeseby 2010. The burgeoning rates of obesity in genetically stable populations suggest that an increasingly obesogenicenvironment is the major driving force behind this epidemic. In the past few decades several key environmental,cultural and economic factors have converged to increase the probability of overeating in the face of reduced energyneeds.In the past five years the group has carried out a number of observational and intervention studies to betterunderstand the impact of energy density, portion size and snacking in inciting overeating. The findings of this work haveshown that portion sizes of many popular snack foods consumed by adolescents (particularly high energy carbonatedand soft drinks) have increased over time. Under fully residential conditions we have convincingly demonstratedthat increased portion size leads to a sustained increase in energy intake. The findings of these studies, which werecommissioned by the Food Standards Agency, have been used to inform FSA strategies aimed at reducing the energyintakes of the UK population.Other associated work being conducted by the group include collaboration with University College Cork on thedevelopment of food consumption databases for development of nutrition and food safety policy, including dietarystrategies for the reduction of obesity. We have collaborated with the University of Nottingham on a Unilever fundedproject to investigate the effect of catechin enriched green tea on visceral fat in adults and analysis of the results iscurrently underway.Professor Livingstone has recently been appointed as Chair of the Data and Research Advisory Group: ObesityPrevention (Fit Futures) by the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety (N Ireland). In addition shehas been invited to be an expert member of the International Life Sciences Institute (European Branch)- AppetiteRegulation Task Force.Indicators of Esteem:Invited speaker:• University of North Carolina at Greensboro USA, “Energy density, snacking and portion size: associations withobesity”, February 2008• Food Standards Agency, Belfast, “Nutrient profiling”, June 200881