Nutrition in the Treatment, Management and Prevention of Disease

Professor Ailsa Welch, University of East Anglia

Dr

Oonagh Markey, Loughborough University

Recently I became the Theme Lead for Nutrition in the Treatment, Management and Prevention of Disease, following reorganisation of the scientific themes of the Society. I’d like to introduce the new Deputy Theme

Lead Dr Oonagh Markey. This newly established theme is disease-facing (both communicable and non-communicable) and considers foods and nutrients as risk factors for diseases, nutritional strategies for disease prevention, as well as nutrition in the management and treatment of clinical conditions.

We anticipate this Theme will align with health professions and disciplines that face nutrition-related issues, including dentistry. Our knowledge of nutrition and mental well-being in adults is growing, but less is known about the effects of nutrition on childhood mental wellbeing. The COVID-19 Pandemic has caused issues for everyone, particularly on mental well-being of both adults and children. Recent reports have found the number of young people referred to mental health services has doubled compared with pre-pandemic levels. Given that half of all mental health conditions start by age 14, and