Bridging The Gap Between Research And Practice
The Nutrition Masterclass event held in Johannesburg on 13 June 2019 and featured highly scientific lectures with core messages on Macronutrients by Prof Atul Singhal and Dr. Etienne Nel. The lectures covered both the basic science and clinical indications of Macronutrients and HMOs.
Highlights of the day
- Latest in breastmilk science - Prof. Atul Singhal
- Protein in early life – latest scientific developments - Prof. Atul Singhal
- Carbohydrates and gut health in infancy - Dr. Etienne Nel
Prof Atul Singhal is currently the Head of the Childhood Nutrition Research Centre, at the UCL Institute of Child Health (ICH), London. He is also a Professor of Paediatric Nutrition at ICH and holds Honourary Consultant Paediatrician posts at the Whittington and Great-Ormond Street Hospitals. He graduated in Medicine from the Royal Free Hospital, London in 1986 and pursued a career in General and Neonatal Paediatrics, including five years at the Medical Research Council, Sickle Cell Unit at the University of the West Indies, Kingston, Jamaica. Here, he completed his MD thesis on the role of nutrition and metabolism in children with sickle cell disease. He has been a consultant in paediatrics since 1997. Previously (1998-2011), he was the Deputy Director and Head of the Clinical Trials and Cardiovascular Nutrition Group at the Medical Research Council (MRC) Childhood Nutrition Research Centre at ICH. He also lectures MRES and Masters in Nutrition courses at ICH, UCL and the London School of Tropical Medicine as well as speaks on paediatric nutrition at many international meetings. He is also the current chair and teaches on the GOSH gastro-academy lecture series. Additionally, he chairs the Infant and Toddler Forum, a charitably funded organisation, whose remit over the last 10 years has been to develop resources and teaching materials to help health care professionals, carers and parents provide optimal nutrition for preschool children.
His research covers broad aspects of paediatric nutrition; however, the main focus of the current programme is to develop nutritional interventions in infancy and childhood to reduce the long-term risk of obesity and cardiovascular disease. This work is a based on two main themes: 1) investigating the effects of nutrition in infancy on long-term health and the underlying mechanism involved; and 2) development and evaluation of nutritional interventions to prevent and treat childhood obesity.
