From human health to planetary health – a career in nutrition science

Professor Andrew Salter

I am a Professor of Nutritional Biochemistry, at the University of Nottingham, and Director of the University’s Future Food Beacon. I have worked extensively on the molecular mechanisms whereby diet impacts on lipid metabolism and metabolic disease, particularly cardiovascular disease. More recently, my research interests have focused on the sustainability of our food systems, and how we are going to provide nutritious diets to a growing, and ageing, global population. I have always seen myself primarily as a laboratory–based scientist. 

One of my frustrations about nutrition research is an over-reliance on epidemiological studies, with insufficient consideration of plausible biological explanations that should underpin the relationship between diet, health and disease. 

It is essential that nutrition policy draws upon the totality of evidence, including molecular and cell biology,  animal and human intervention studies, together with population-based epidemiological associations between dietary intakes and measures of health and disease. 

A passion for evidence-based nutrition is what drew me into my role as a Trustee of the Academy of Nutrition Sciences.

My research career began in 1978 when, after completing a BSc in Biological Sciences at the University of Leicester, I got a job as a Medical Laboratory Scientific Officer in the Unit of Metabolic Medicine at Guy’s Hospital Medical School, University of London.  I discovered my passion for laboratory work, and will always be immensely grateful that the Head of the Unit, Professor Harry Keen, agreed that I could register for a PhD.   My work focused on the relationship between lipoprotein metabolism, cardiovascular disease and diabetes. I then spent two years as a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Toronto, looking at lipoprotein metabolism in patients with obesity.   On returning to the UK in 1984, I was awarded a Fellowship by the British Heart Foundation, looking at hormonal regulation of hepatic lipoprotein metabolism.  Much of this work involved working with cultured primary hepatocytes, isolated from animals.  In 1989, I applied for a lectureship in Nutritional Biochemistry in the Faculty of Agricultural & Food Sciences in Nottingham and have been here ever since.  With little formal training in nutrition, I quickly had to prepare myself for teaching students with interests in both animal and human nutrition.  My research interests also shifted to focus on the impact of dietary fatty acids on lipoprotein metabolism (again largely using animal and cell models). I firmly believe we at Nottingham, and many others,  have made some important contributions to our understanding of the molecular mechanisms whereby dietary fatty acids regulate lipoprotein metabolism but, rather frustratingly, this is rarely mentioned in the never-ending debate over the relationship between dietary fat and cardiovascular disease.

 For three decades, my research focused on the impact of diet on chronic disease but,

working alongside agricultural, food and environmental scientists it was increasingly hard to ignore the growing realisation that our global food systems are not resilient enough to meet global demands, particularly in the face of uncertainties associated with climate change.  

It became increasingly difficult to dismiss calls for us to reduce intake of animal products, now not only for health reasons, but also because of the impact of livestock farming on the environment.  The formation of the Future Food Beacon allowed us to address these problems in a multi-disciplinary setting.   With Beacon funding, we set up a Future Protein Platform, exploring novel and more sustainable protein sources for both human consumption and animal feed.  As I come towards the end of my research career, I have suddenly found myself working on the production of insect larvae, and even bacteria, as food and feed ingredients. While totally unexpected, this has refuelled by passion for research.

I believe the Academy provides a vital voice for evidence–based nutrition.  It has been an immense privilege to work alongside my fellow trustees in establishing the Academy and, I believe, we have already produced some very important insights into the nature of evidence and how it should be used in developing public policy. 

However, society is facing a major crisis in our ability to sustainably produce nutritious and affordable food.  It is vital we in nutrition science work with colleagues across disciplines to try to find solutions for these problems and avoid devastating consequences for our most vulnerable populations. 

This includes development of agricultural systems which have less impact on global resources and the climate, but are also more resilient to what appears inevitable increases in temperature.  Alongside this we must continue to explore biotechnological innovations, such as cultured meat and precision fermentation, to produce healthy, resource-efficient foods of the future.