Maria O'Sullivan
Associate Professor in Nutrition & Principal Investigator at Trinity College Dublin. Interested in diet, lifestyle & inflammation in healthy ageing. Diet facts v fiction.
http://people.tcd.ie/mosulli5
Location Dublin, Ireland
Activity
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Great to see comments ... and with references added - both hot and challenging topics. . The second topic highlighted here, taken more generally on ‘bugs and the gut’ is a massively growing area of research – where the technology and knowledge is rapidly expanding and changing; There is emerging evidence that our gut flora or ‘microbiome’ may have an effect...
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That is a really good comment about the Mediterranean diet, which fits well with Southern European culture and climate, but less easy to translate perhaps in others. We actually had a small study to try and ask people about what a Mediterranean diet means, for example to people in Ireland, and what local foods could be involved to translate it. Essentially,...
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Maria O'Sullivan made a comment
Hi Everyone,
Welcome to this section - it is great to see so many participants and people getting involved. We have really enjoyed putting this section together. But as always, in a few minutes video and some short texts it is only a snapshot of diet and nutrition main messages. Moderation messages still pretty much hold - and fads diets will come and go.... -
Maria O'Sullivan made a comment
Thank you all for your interest and enthusiasm around nutrition and your comments and questions. In the space of a 4 minute video and short article, we could only touch on the basics, and many of the issues and topics are clearly more complex. There are individual cases and then more generic population guidance. As an aside, with my team, we are doing a ...
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2) Vitamin D has become a hot and highly debated scientific topic (and one I research in), so that is more complex; And, if you live for example above 400N, say Rome or Chicago, then vitamin D-making from sun in winter (approx. Nov- April) is practically non-existent. Even in sunny climates people may be D deficient (depending on sun habits, clothing and sun...
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Thank you for your comment and your interest. It is, as you say, hard to get across comments in a few lines of written text, especially when the real answer is always far more complex;
1) Overall, the first answer could have clarified that it was more to do with .. ‘multivitamin and mineral supplements’ and the varied array of super-supplements is a huge... -
Good point. I do a lot of nutrition research especially around vitamin D, and we have to set up very strict study designs to get robust data that either proves (or indeed disproves) our questions. There is also a big drive now to publically publish all findings, either positive or negative so we can better judge the evidence.
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Great comment and well spotted! Actual the video was taking an example using actual intake (what we tend to eat), which is around 80g/day protein in a western population (e.g. Ireland, where on average we eat more protein, often meat, than recommended) – the focus was to highlight that the evidence now suggests that it is good to spread out protein intake...
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Thanks for highlighting – while we need to be science/evidence driven, the social and engagement aspect of food is sometimes lost in the midst of the fads, fashions and other arguments around nutrition, and important we maintain that aspect through out life, and even more so as we age.
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Great comment, thanks. It is hard to get much across in a short video really, but, that whole social and cultural aspect of food is important for all of us; in Ireland it is very much the cup of tea and a chat / conversation .. or in my case coffee..
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Thanks for your comment! The 'moderation message' often seems like a ‘common sense’ or a less exciting message. And not going to make the headlines like ‘super foods’. If anything the science still highlights that moderation along with Mediterranean and plant-rich type diets seem to have multiple benefits including positive effects on gut flora (microbiome)...
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Maria O'Sullivan made a comment
Hello everyone! I'm Maria and delighted to be part of this and I hope you are enjoying the course. I look forward to meeting/ interacting with some of you in week 3 when we discuss diet and nutrition for health as we age.
