Date:  Tuesday, 12th January, 2016

Time:  15.00 - 16.00

Venue:  Seminar Room, OS6, Second Floor, Oakfield House, Oakfield Grove, Bristol, BS8 2BN

Title:  Nutrition and Musculoskeletal Health: Insights from Rural Gambia

Abstract

Over recent years the importance of a life course approach to understanding the aetiology of fragility fractures and osteoporosis has become clear.  An integrated approach to the study of bone and muscle can be applied to increase understanding of bone health through the life course.  It is also important to consider non-mechanical factors that may influence bone, either directly or indirectly through effects on muscle.  Populations with low and moderate/ high daily Calcium intakes and/or vitamin D status illustrate the importance of nutrition in determining musculoskeletal phenotype.

This talk will discuss how we define a healthy bone phenotype, mechanical and non-mechanical factors that may alter/ drive phenotype, and how data from different stages of life and different populations increase our understanding of the field. The focus will primarily be on recent results from studies in Sub-Saharan Africa, focusing on results from studies in populations with differing calcium intakes.

Biography

Kate is a Senior Investigator Scientist in the Nutrition and Bone Health group leading the ‘Bone Health through the Life course’ theme. She has been a researcher in bone physiology for over 18 years and gained a PhD in Anatomy from The University of Leeds in 1999. She was a post-doctoral scientist and senior research fellow in Imaging Sciences, The University of Manchester until 2008. 

Kate’s main research interests are musculoskeletal interactions in different populations and the use of imaging as a biomarker to study skeletal phenotype through the life course.  Her current work aims to understand the definition, development and maintenance of, a healthy musculoskeletal phenotype and the impact of nutrition and lifestyle on skeletal health.

Kate is a member of the Bone Research Society committee, the National Osteoporosis Society Research Grants Committee, Conference Program Committee and Nutrition and Lifestyle Forum, National Survey for Health and Development 1946 Birth Cohort bone and muscle project management group and the International Society of Clinical Densitometry Paediatric Task Force.

 

ALL WELCOME