Humans Of Nutrition – Détails, épisodes et analyse

Welcome to the Humans of Nutrition Podcast brought to you by Registered Nutritionists Anna Wheeler and Prof Danielle McCarthy.

In this podcast Anna and Danielle are delighted to introduce Maria Traka, Head of Food and Nutrition National Bioscience Research Infrastructure (NBRI) at Quadram Institute.

Danielle attended the Food & Nutrition NBRI Stakeholder Engagement Event earlier this year.  A key part of this stakeholder meeting was to generate discussion on how the McCance and Widdowson’s series of Composition of Foods Integrated Dataset (CoFID) is currently being used.  Thanks to those who shared how this database informs their work - you can access our blog on the meeting here.

But we needed to hear more about the important work being conducted!  As background, the Food & Nutrition NBRI was set up in 2023 and is a national coordinating ‘hub’ in nutrition and health and the leading national provider of new and continuously updated data tools and services vital for UK public health research and innovation.

Of course the Food and Nutrition NBRI did not start from scratch – it is part of the evolution that traces back to pioneers of nutrition research, namely Robert McCance and Elsie Widdowson.  Tune in to find out:

What has changed over the years? 

Who uses food composition databases? For what?

How often are nutritional databases updated?

What needs to be considered to future proof nutritional databases to stay relevant?

How do consumers influence what information may need to be captured on a nutritional database? (Inside scoop - Maria shares plans to include plant-based products in the dataset, a perfect example of consumer influence and future-proofing)

As nutrition professionals, we know how challenging it is to make the complex simple.  Maria faces this challenge daily.  For example:

How do we represent the range of different types of fibres that have different physiological impacts?

How do we keep pace with food reformulations?

We discuss nutrient profiling – an easy, accessible, at-a-glance way of categorising food.  But what is getting lost in translation? Where do bio-actives sit?  Additives? Processing techniques? UPF’s?  What about environmental scores? 

The complexity of the work of NBRI is obvious and real – how does Maria deal with these professional challenges?  It’s a combination of values, vision, teamwork and being a realist.

Maria ends with a plea to make data FAIR – Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable.  If you have influence in the food data space, and are invested in public health benefit, let’s make it FAIR!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

As nutrition professionals working in multiple contexts, we want to use our diverse experience to help organisations achieve their nutrition and health goals by providing them with the expertise they need, when they need it.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Is there a nutrition topic you’d like to hear discussed? Or a ‘Human of Nutrition’ you think would make a great guest? Email us at info@nutritiontalent.com.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Help spread the word! Please share this episode with 1 person who you think might enjoy it.

 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Get in touch to find out more about our company, Nutrition Talent and how we could work together.

Web: www.nutritiontalent.com

Email: info@nutritiontalent.com

LinkedIn: @NutritionTalent

Instagram: @Nutrition_talent

Twitter: @NutritionTalent

Follow Anna

LinkedIn: @Anna Wheeler

Follow Danielle

LinkedIn: @DrDanielleMcCarthy

Welcome to the Humans of Nutrition Podcast brought to you by Registered Nutritionists Anna Wheeler and Prof Danielle McCarthy.

In this podcast Anna and Danielle chat to their team member Kate McCulla, Registered Dietitian and Nutrition Development Manager for Nutrition Talent.

Kate passionately believes that health professionals need to invest in developing their communication and behaviour change skills.

Think about how you would like to be talked to if you were discussing a behaviour change with someone – especially on a topic where you are experiencing the (completely normal!) human experience of ambivalence (being uncertain about how you feel about change). 

Would you respond better to:

1.      Being told what to do, or

2.     Being supported in a 2-way conversation that explores what is important to you and what your abilities and strengths are to help overcome barriers to change?

It is widely accepted that imparting knowledge, giving information alone, or telling people what to do does not support behaviour change.  We need to couple our knowledge with communication skills in a way that enables action.

With a focus on practical and learnable skills, Kate gives an outline of communication skills borrowed from the world of motivational interviewing.

During Dietitian’s Week 2024, Kate also takes the opportunity to highlight one of the daily themes “Celebrating Us”, specifically suggesting that Registered Dietitians and Registered Nutritionists have more in common than there are differences. Nutrition Talent embodies this in supporting both professions in our mission of inspiring and connecting expertise!

Resources referenced:

https://www.bctonline.co.uk/

https://motivationalinterviewing.org/books

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Would training to develop your communication skills be useful? Let us know what areas you would find supportive of your professional development.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

As nutrition professionals working in multiple contexts, we want to use our diverse experience to help organisations achieve their nutrition and health goals by providing them with the expertise they need, when they need it.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Is there a nutrition topic you’d like to hear discussed? Or a ‘Human of Nutrition’ you think would make a great guest? Email us at info@nutritiontalent.com.

 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Help spread the word! Please share this episode with 1 person who you think might enjoy it.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Get in touch to find out more about our company, Nutrition Talent and how we could work together.

Web: www.nutritiontalent.com

Email: info@nutritiontalent.com

LinkedIn: @NutritionTalent

Instagram: @Nutrition_talent

Twitter: @NutritionTalent

Follow Anna

LinkedIn: @Anna Wheeler

Follow Danielle

LinkedIn: @DrDanielleMcCarthy

Welcome to the Humans of Nutrition Podcast brought to you by Registered Nutritionists Anna Wheeler and Prof Danielle McCarthy.

In this podcast Anna and Danielle chat to Alyson Greenhalgh-Ball, founder of Conscious Impact and an executive with over twenty-five years’ experience in the public health sector and across food systems - spanning healthcare, academic, commercial and non-executive director roles; and as a global nutrition lead within the food industry at the Kellogg Company.

Alyson is a board member for numerous private and public sector organisations, Vice-Chair of the British Nutrition Foundation and an active member of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 2 Advocacy Hub.

Alyson has certainly packed a lot into her professional life to date, and she’s keeping up the pace now. Following years of career pivots, she modestly asserts that she has always done the same thing regardless of the role – that is “talking about health and food and nutrition”.

Starting from studying dietetics, Alyson has made an art out of spotting good opportunities, which has led her from epidemiology, through health technology, health communications and a global lead role within the food industry.  She has now distilled her immense professional experiences, carefully considered where she could add value and impact, and created her own business Conscious Impact.

Along the way, Alyson has harnessed the power of “No” during her career, flipping the question “Why not?” to “Why?” to help guide her professional decisions.  Despite her significant professional success, she’s not immune to imposter syndrome.  Listen in to hear Alyson's tips on how to tackle this!

One of Alyson’s current passion projects is “Beans is How” - a campaign by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 2 (SDG2) Advocacy Hub to double global bean consumption by 2028. An ambitious target, but with Alyson’s track record and position on the Advisory Council, she’s the perfect partner for the project.  Find out more about the campaign here and access the newly published report: A Roadmap to Double Global Bean Consumption.

From trusting your instincts in determining good opportunities, playing to your strengths while not being afraid to ask for help, to applying your skills and experience to a worthy campaign with a global reach…you’ll want to listen to this podcast!

 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

As nutrition professionals working in multiple contexts, we want to use our diverse experience to help organisations achieve their nutrition and health goals by providing them with the expertise they need, when they need it.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Get in touch to find out more about our company, Nutrition Talent and how we could work together.

Web: ⁠www.nutritiontalent.com⁠

Email: ⁠info@nutritiontalent.com⁠

LinkedIn: ⁠@NutritionTalent⁠

Instagram: ⁠@Nutrition_talent⁠

Twitter: ⁠@NutritionTalent⁠

Follow Anna

LinkedIn: ⁠@Anna Wheeler⁠

Follow Danielle

LinkedIn: ⁠@DrDanielleMcCarthy

Welcome to the Humans of Nutrition Podcast brought to you by Registered Nutritionists Anna Wheeler and Prof Danielle McCarthy.

Look at Matt Lawson’s CV and you’ll probably see under ‘Work History’ PFA Dietitian, The Football Association; Development Football Head, University of Nottingham; Team GB Dietitian, British Olympic Association. Under ‘Skills & Experience’, you’ll find UEFA Licenced Coach. Get a chance to look in his little black book, and you may see names like Sven Goran Eriksson, Ellen White and Carly Telford, Sophie Bradley and Alex Greenwood (major shout out to England’s women’s football team, past and present!). Talking of which during this episode, Nutrition Talent’s Anna reveals a secret football ambition from her 10-year-old self, and how she was an inadvertent women’s rights campaigner at this tender age – go Anna!

Matt still considers himself a dietitian, first and foremost. Just how did Matt become a top sports dietitian? He jokes that it was primarily because he “failed in (his) bid to be a footballer”! But this early love of sport triggered an interest in how the body works, how what you eat and drink impacts performance, leading him to the world of dietetics.

Matt talks about the common one-way system from dietetics towards clinical work, but he never let go of his true interest in sports and nutrition, choosing to go on to complete an MSc Nutrition with a dissertation in sports, then going on to study at Loughborough University to attain Sports accreditation.

We hear about his early days, the challenges of improving the diet (and by extension performance) of his first football club – faced with a team eating burgers and chips when he first met them, he certainly had his work cut out!

We are reminded that athletes are as human as we are – advice needs to be evidence based and individualised (seems so obvious now, but who considered that the dietary and performance needs of the striker would be different than the defence?!!). And some of these athletes live with diabetes, coeliac disease, IBS, disordered eating behaviours etc. – “they're just normal people at the end of the day”.

There’s a multitude of other topics covered – supplements (banned or otherwise), recreational players and the opportunities to have a positive impact on nutrition and exercise at a grassroots level. Matt welcomes the evolution and developments in sports science, which of course informs his practice, and ends with a wish – to see both England teams win the championships…to be continued!

Listen to the full episode here, or wherever you usually access your podcasts!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

As nutrition professionals working in multiple contexts, we want to use our diverse experience to help organisations achieve their nutrition and health goals by providing them with the expertise they need, when they need it.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Get in touch to find out more about our company, Nutrition Talent and how we could work together.

Web: www.nutritiontalent.com

Email: info@nutritiontalent.com

LinkedIn: @NutritionTalent

Instagram: @Nutrition_talent

Twitter: @NutritionTalent

Follow Anna

LinkedIn: @Anna Wheeler

Follow Danielle

LinkedIn: @DrDanielleMcCarthy

Welcome to the Humans of Nutrition Podcast brought to you by Registered Nutritionists Anna Wheeler and Prof Danielle McCarthy.

We are delighted to introduce Dr Gillian Purdon, RNutr (Public Health), Chief Nutritionist, Public Health Nutrition, Food Standards Scotland, who is charged with delivery of statutory objectives to improve and protect public health, improve diet at population level via the collection and interpretation of population level dietary intake data (“if we don’t have the data, we have nothing to say”), then the roll out of public health messaging that is both independent and evidence-based, with a focus on prevention.

Of course, Gillian doesn’t do all this alone. Her team of nine Registered Nutritionists could be the largest team of nutrition professionals in any organisation in Scotland. Gillian and her team’s remit is broad, and the scale of the task is not lost on her – she says “When you look at people's diet, we're quite far away from where we need to be”. While campaigns can influence knowledge and opinion, they don’t always influence behaviour.

There are of course many reasons for this, and Gillian discusses the food environment and cost as being factors, putting an interesting spin on the often versed ‘healthy diets are more expensive’ by using a cost per calorie comparison – insightful!

On the hot topic of diets and sustainability, Gillian references the Climate Change Committee’s recommendations to reduce meat and dairy and reflects on how this might be implemented, while also being sensitive to health inequalities, how different population groups might be differentially affected by changes in a negative way.

We get introduced to Good Food Nation - an opportunity for the public sector to showcase what can be done at a whole food system level. https://www.nourishscotland.org/campaigns/good-food-nation-bill/

Gillian tells us about the importance of collaboration - with industry, academia, environmental science, legislators – stressing that no single body has all the levers to activate change, and understanding the unique perspectives of all stakeholders is key. We have an interesting discussion about the importance of choosing language carefully and Gillian provides a great example in her choice of words regarding supermarket promotions - “rebalance rather than restrict”.

We wrap up with words of wisdom for the nutrition professional who may be interested in a career in public health, and end with Nutrition Talent’s magic wand. What does Gillian’s preferred future look like for the health landscape of Scotland? – we’ll let you listen to find out!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

As nutrition professionals working in multiple contexts, we want to use our diverse experience to help organisations achieve their nutrition and health goals by providing them with the expertise they need, when they need it.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Get in touch to find out more about our company, Nutrition Talent and how we could work together.

Web: www.nutritiontalent.com

Email: info@nutritiontalent.com

LinkedIn: @NutritionTalent

Instagram: @Nutrition_talent

Twitter: @NutritionTalent

Follow Anna

LinkedIn: @Anna Wheeler

Follow Danielle

LinkedIn: @DrDanielleMcCarthy

Welcome to the Humans of Nutrition Podcast brought to you by Registered Nutritionists Anna Wheeler and Prof Danielle McCarthy.

In this episode we have a brilliant in-depth conversation with Nilani Sritharan, Group Head of Healthy and Sustainable Diets at Sainsbury’s. Nilani tells us about her hugely varied role, which includes working on over 10,000 own brand products!

Nilani explains the importance of data and how personalisation can lead to opportunities to help customers navigate towards healthier choices. She also tells us how applied research such as in-store food environment trials can help us to understand the reality of customer behaviours in store and how the data can be used to identify hotspots for action to drive impact at a total diet level.

We hear Nilani’s insights on how to keep health at the top of an organisation’s agenda, even when there are other key drivers such as the cost of living crisis. She explains the importance of working with the third sector and with investors, who are all part of the same system and who can help drive the momentum for change – something that has been an area of real change over recent years.

Nilani kindly points us toward some reading in this episode.  The links below will take you to more information from the organisations she mentions.

     Access to Nutrition Initiative

        Guy's and St Thomas's Charity and their impact for urban health

      ShareAction

Despite being in a very senior role, Nilani kindly shares her own feelings of imposter syndrome and some fascinating insights into difficult decisions she has made in her own career and how those have made her stronger and built her personal resilience. She explains the vital role networking, coaching and mentoring have played in her own career and the importance of these at all stages, even as we become more senior.

We offer Nilani the Nutrition Talent magic wand and ask her what change she would like to see in the future regarding healthy and sustainable diets and her answers are truly inspiring.

Listen in to hear the full conversation.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

As nutrition professionals working in multiple contexts, we want to use our diverse experience to help organisations achieve their nutrition and health goals by providing them with the expertise they need, when they need it.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Get in touch to find out more about our company, Nutrition Talent and how we could work together.

Web: www.nutritiontalent.com

Email: info@nutritiontalent.com

LinkedIn: @NutritionTalent

Instagram: @Nutrition_talent

Twitter: @NutritionTalent

Follow Anna

LinkedIn: @Anna Wheeler

Follow Danielle

LinkedIn: @DrDanielleMcCarthy

Welcome to the Humans of Nutrition Podcast brought to you by Registered Nutritionists Anna Wheeler and Prof Danielle McCarthy.

In this episode we hear from Markus Stripf, an insightful co-founder who built tech company, Spoon Guru, around nutrition expertise. “Our first hire was a nutritionist- there’s no point building something that’s technologically sophisticated but scientifically inaccurate”. He describes his team’s work as operating at the intersection between health and technology with a substantial part of the company made up of nutritionists. He talks us through what robust methodology looks like in the space of AI, food and nutrition- and how they deploy a ‘human in the loop’ approach- which refers to the inclusion of a qualified team of nutrition experts who constantly supervise the machines. Markus describes how they use this technology to work with some of the biggest retailers in the world. 

Anna hits hard with her some of her questions: Is this our time to battle the bots? Should we be worried as nutritionists we’re going to be replaced? The response from Markus was not only reassuring, but inspiring and has since been the subject of many conversations between Anna and Danielle.

As nutritionists we would encourage our listeners to step into this world of tech and build their understanding and perhaps even consider working with those in this fast-paced sector to make sure what gets created is safe, accurate and really does help deliver positive health outcomes. We must ensure credibility underpins technological innovations and hope this podcast episode helps tick off some of the key phases and terminologies used to help our listeners explore this new world. Markus eloquently discusses these key terms in the context of food and nutrition, whilst also sharing some of the challenges and issues he has faced in the field.

Terminology tick list covered in this episode:

-Artificial intelligence -Gen (generative) AI -Data processing engine -Meta data -Hallucinations -Personalisation -Discoverable

Danielle has also recently penned an article on AI and nutrition for The Conversation which you may like to read.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

As nutrition professionals working in multiple contexts, we want to use our diverse experience to help organisations achieve their nutrition and health goals by providing them with the expertise they need, when they need it.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Get in touch to find out more about our company, Nutrition Talent and how we could work together.

Web: www.nutritiontalent.com

Email: info@nutritiontalent.com

LinkedIn: @NutritionTalent

Instagram: @Nutrition_talent

Twitter: @NutritionTalent

Follow Anna

LinkedIn: @Anna Wheeler

Follow Danielle

LinkedIn: @DrDanielleMcCarthy

Welcome to the Humans of Nutrition Podcast brought to you by Registered Nutritionists Anna Wheeler and Prof Danielle McCarthy.

In this episode Anna interviews co-host, Professor Danielle McCarthy, who Queen’s University Belfast recently conferred with an honorary title of Professor of Practice, in recognition of her expertise in applying nutrition science.

In true Humans of Nutrition style, we focus not only on what this accolade means and how it came about, but also how it felt. Danielle talks openly about what this latest landmark in her career journey means to her, and she hopes, the profession. An interesting listen for anyone who has transitioned or hopes to transition between academia and industry, or between sectors; including the challenges and reflections that can come up. This episode is we hope quite a motivational listen given this big career moment was one Danielle didn’t actually see coming, but is proof in the pudding that listening to your instincts, and having the courage to move toward what feels right to you can bring you to places you never would have thought possible.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

As nutrition professionals working in multiple contexts, we want to use our diverse experience to help organisations achieve their nutrition and health goals by providing them with the expertise they need, when they need it.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Get in touch to find out more about our company, Nutrition Talent and how we could work together.

Web: www.nutritiontalent.com

Email: info@nutritiontalent.com

LinkedIn: @NutritionTalent

Instagram: @Nutrition_talent

Twitter: @NutritionTalent

Follow Anna

LinkedIn: @Anna Wheeler

Follow Danielle

LinkedIn: @DrDanielleMcCarthy

Welcome to the Humans of Nutrition Podcast brought to you by Registered Nutritionists Anna Wheeler and Prof Danielle McCarthy.

As we kick off series 2, and as we celebrate the ‘Humans of Nutrition’ podcast being shortlisted for the 2023 CN Award* for Nutrition Resource of the Year; we feel we can call ourselves podcasters! We reflect back on series 1, the feedback we have received from around the globe, how much we have learned from our brilliant guests, and we look forward to series 2.

We set the podcast up in 2022 as a platform for our profession – to hear from the amazing nutritionists, dietitians and other professionals working with us across different health and wellness sectors. One thing we are very proud of is sharing the reality from our colleagues within the field – hearing about the human experience, including the challenges and not only the successes. We will share more stories in this way in series 2.

If you would like to vote for us for the 2023 CN Award for Nutrition Resource of the Year, you can do so here by 20th July (and we would be very grateful!): https://nutrition2me.com/cn-awards/voting/

*The annual CN Awards were launched in 2010 by Complete Media & Marketing Ltd. (CM2) – publishers of Complete Nutrition (CN) Magazine. CM2 do not endorse any particular individual’s, group’s, organisation’s or company’s products, services, resources, views or opinions. For further details on the CN Awards, visit: www.nutrition2me.com/cn-awards

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

As nutrition professionals working in multiple contexts, we want to use our diverse experience to help organisations achieve their nutrition and health goals by providing them with the expertise they need, when they need it.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Get in touch to find out more about our company, Nutrition Talent and how we could work together.

Web: www.nutritiontalent.com

Email: info@nutritiontalent.com

LinkedIn: @NutritionTalent

Instagram: @Nutrition_talent

Twitter: @NutritionTalent

Follow Anna

LinkedIn: @Anna Wheeler

Follow Danielle

LinkedIn: @DrDanielleMcCarthy

Covid has undoubtably brought dramatic changes to the workplace, with many more of us working remotely some or all of the time. There has also been a big shift as to where in the world we can work, including the increasing trend of being a ‘digital nomad’. Our Co-Founder Anna recently had a taste of the digital nomad lifestyle during a six-week working holiday in Madeira.

In this bonus episode of the Humans of Nutrition podcast, Danielle grills Anna about her experience – the pros, the cons and the tips for others considering a similar move, and of course what exactly is a digital nomad?

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

As nutrition professionals working in multiple contexts, we want to use our diverse experience to help organisations achieve their nutrition and health goals by providing them with the expertise they need, when they need it.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Get in touch to find out more about our business, Nutrition Talent and how we can help you.

Web: www.nutritiontalent.com

Email: info@nutritiontalent.com

LinkedIn: @NutritionTalent

Instagram: @Nutrition_talent

Twitter: @NutritionTalent

Follow Anna

LinkedIn: @Anna Wheeler

Follow Danielle

LinkedIn: @DrDanielleMcCarthy