Nutrition theme for public lectures

Nutrition theme for public lectures

The Liggins Institute has announced the line-up for their 2010 Seasons of Life lecture series. Nutrition – more than a good square meal has five leading New Zealand scientists and communicators examining aspects of the foods and nutrients that we consume and commenting on how they affect our development, health and well-being.

Nutrition is a recurring theme that runs through much of the Institute’s research, with scientists having shown that early life nutrition has a profound effect on health throughout life. The lecture series explores broader aspects of ‘nutrition’ including the ways in which people might personalise foods and their diets to optimise health and performance, lessons we can learn from animals in the wild and the effects of industrial contaminants.

The lectures will be held at The University of Auckland over five consecutive Wednesdays (13, 20 and 27 October, 03 and 10 November) in Lecture Theatre 1401 Faculty of Engineering (ground floor), 20 Symonds St, Auckland City. Each lecture begins at 6pm. The lectures are designed for non-scientific audiences and questions are welcomed. They are free and open to the public, however places are limited and bookings are essential.

In the first lecture, Matching our diet to our genes: a new way to optimise our health, Professor Lynn Ferguson, Head of the Discipline of Nutrition at The University of Auckland explains how understanding the way our genes interact with our environment and the food we eat will help to reduce our risk of developing particular diseases.

On 20 October in You are what your mother eats: the impact of maternal nutrition on children’s reproductive development, Liggins Institute scientist Dr Deborah Sloboda explores the ways in which a mother’s diet during pregnancy and lactation affects her children's reproductive health and development.

In the third lecture, A delicate balance: foraging, food and fat, biologist and adventurer, Professor David Raubenheimer, Institute of Natural Sciences, Massey University, visits jungles and mountain tops to explain how observing animals in the wild can help us to understand why humans over-eat energy rich foods and become obese.

Co-Director of the Centre of Research Excellence the Riddet Institute, Professor Paul Moughan introduces Super foods in the fourth lecture, discussing some of the new foods that are being developed to increase the value of what we eat.

In the final lecture Ian Shaw, Professor of Toxicology at University of Canterbury and Professor of Food Safety at Lincoln University, asks Is it safe to eat? Industrialisation, he says, has resulted in tens of thousands of new chemical contaminants – some of these get into our food and are having biological effects that will change our futures.

The lectures are previewed on the Liggins Institute website:

Seasons of Life series: Nutrition – more than a good square meal

Matching our diet to our genes: a new way to optimise our health

You are what your mother eats: the impact of maternal nutrition on children’s reproductive development

A delicate balance: foraging, food and fat

For further information email Liggins communications ligginscommunications@auckland.ac.nz

Seasons of Life lecture series 2010
Nutrition – more than a good square meal

Date Time

Venue

all lectures Lecture Speaker
13 October 6-7pm Room 1401 (ground floor)

Faculty of Engineering

The University of Auckland

20 Symonds St

Auckland City

Public parking

Owen G Glenn Building

12 Grafton Rd Matching our diet to our genes:
a new way to optimise our health
Professor Lynn Ferguson,

Head of the Discipline of Nutrition
The University of Auckland

20 October 6-7pm You are what your mother eats: the impact of maternal nutrition on children’s reproductive development
Dr Deborah Sloboda

Liggins Institute
The University of Auckland
27 October 6-7pm A delicate balance:
foraging, food and fat
Professor David Raubenheimer

Institute of Natural Sciences
Massey University

03 November 6-7pm Super foods:
optimising the value of what we eat Professor Paul Moughan

Co-director, Riddet Institute
Massey University

10 November 6-7pm Is it safe to eat? Professor Ian Shaw,

Professor of Toxicology, University of Canterbury and Professor of Food Safety, Lincoln University

ENDS

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