The role of diet in the management of diabetes and obesity: opportunities and challenges
Since the discovery of insulin 1921, the management and treatment of diabetes has been successfully based on pharmacological therapies. In 1981, Jenkins and co-workers devised a system of comparing different carbohydrate foods on its influence on postprandial blood glucose - the concept of Glycaemic Index (GI). This concept revolutionised our understanding of carbohydrate nutrition. In the intervening 30 years, over 2500 foods have been tested worldwide for their GI values. The Functional Food Centre at Oxford Brookes University has the largest GI database in Europe. This database will enable the consumer to select low GI foods. Since the consumption of a low GI based diet appears to elicit similar health benefits as those pharmacological interventions, the challenge is to transform these studies into practice advice.
Jeya Henry
Professor Jeya Henry initially trained as a Food scientist and subsequently obtained his MSc and PhD in nutrition at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He is currently the Head of Food Sciences and Nutrition at Oxford Brookes University and founding Director of UK’s first Functional Food Centre in Oxford.
He was a board member of the UK Food Standards Agency between 2000-2003.He is currently a member of the General advisory committee on Science for the Food Standards agency. He was also an expert panel member of the recent Joint FAO/WHO consultation on fats and fatty acids in human nutrition. He acts as a consultant to the WHO, and UNICEF.
His major research interests are in energy regulation, Obesity, Glycaemic index, energy and protein metabolism and nutrition in the elderly. He is Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition. He has presented over 300 lectures around the world.
He has a passionate interest to meld the sciences of nutrition and food technology to enhance the nutritional quality of our diet .