I am a registered nutritionist with The UK Voluntary Register of Nutritionists (UKVRN) governed by the Association for Nutrition (AfN). My interests include nutrition in the menopausal transition, sustainable nutrition, nutrition communications, metabolic phenotypes of obesity, and the impact of diet on cardiometabolic risk factors. I am a member of the Nutrition Society, the British Menopause Society, the International Menopause Society and the Institute of Food Science and Technology.
Teaching
I am the programme leader for the MSc/PGDip/PGCert Obesity and weight management.
- XN4120 Foods, nutrients and the consumers (UG, module lead)
- XN6129 Advances in Food and Nutrition Science (UG, module lead)
- XN7055 Key concepts of nutrition (PG, module lead)
- XN7201 The obesity epidemic – weight management as a public health issue (PG, module lead)
- XN7202 Causes and assessment of obesity (PG, module lead)
- XN7203 Dietary approaches to weight management (PG, module lead)
I contribute to the teaching, learning and assessment to a range of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in the department.
Research
My research career started when I contributed to projects on functional foods for an elderly population and on sustainable protein sources at Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU). I then embarked on my MPhil/PhD research at LJMU.
My research was a collaboration between the School of Sports Sciences, Leisure and Nutrition and the School of Sports and Exercise Sciences. My first study (MPhil/PhD) investigated cardiometabolic risk in phenotypes of obesity related to diet, nutritional status, lifestyle and physical activity. For this I undertook an extensive analysis of the National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS) Rolling Programme 2008 – 2014 to determine prevalence of the normal-weight obesity phenotype (TOFI – thin outside, fat inside) in the UK and links to dietary intake, nutritional status, physical activity and lifestyle.
I then went on to investigate the impact of dietary carbohydrates and fats on cardiometabolic risk markers and odds of presenting with metabolic syndrome in the overall UK population using the NDNS dataset. My final study was a randomised pilot feasibility study consisting of two arms, one following the UK dietary guidelines, the other following a low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet. At several time points participants were assessed for markers of cardiometabolic risk. These included biomarkers (lipid profile, glucose, inflammatory markers, adiponectin, leptin, FGF21), physical activity, body composition, and food cravings.
At the University of Chester I have undertaken research on the links between diet and menopause symptoms and cardiometabolic risk factors; the impact of a portion size aid on weight loss, and undertaken the evaluation of a two-year local weight management programme.
Published Work
McCullough, D., Harrison, T., Enright, K. J., Amirabdollahian, F., Mazidi, M., Lane, K. E., Stewart, C. E., & Davies, I. G. (2023). The Effect of Carbohydrate Restriction on Lipids, Lipoproteins, and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance-Based Metabolites: CALIBER, a Randomised Parallel Trial. Nutrients, 15(13), 3002.
McCullough, D., Harrison, T., Boddy, L. M., Enright, K. J., Amirabdollahian, F., Schmidt, M. A., Doenges, K., Quinn, K., Reisdorph, N., Mazidi, M., Lane, K. E., Stewart, C. E., & Davies, I. G. (2022). The Effect of Dietary Carbohydrate and Fat Manipulation on the Metabolome and Markers of Glucose and Insulin Metabolism: A Randomised Parallel Trial. Nutrients, 14(18), 3691.
McCullough, D., Harrison, T., Lane, K., Boddy, L., Amirabdollahian, F., Schmidt, M., Enright, K., Stewart, C., & Davies, I. (2020). The effect of a low carbohydrate high fat diet on apolipoproteins and cardiovascular risk. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, 79(OCE2).
McCullough, D., Harrison, T., Lane, K., Boddy, L., Amirabdollahian, F., Schmidt, M., Enright, K., Stewart, C., & Davies, I. (2020). The effect of a low carbohydrate high fat diet on emerging biochemical markers of cardiometabolic risk. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, 79(OCE2).
McCullough, D., Harrison, T., Lane, K., Boddy, L., Stewart, C., Enright, K., Amirabdollahian, F. Schmidt, M. and Davies, I. (2018) The effect of dietary carbohydrate manipulation on low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol and its associated cardiometabolic risk. Nutrition Society Winter Meeting, 2018 – Optimal diet and lifestyle strategies for the management of cardio-metabolic risk, London, 4 Dec 2018 – 5 Dec 2018. . Proceedings of the Nutrition Society (2019). Cambridge University Press.78 (Conference publication (journal proceedings).
Harrison, T., McCullough, D., Lane, K., Boddy, L., Stewart, C., Enright, K., Amirabdollahian, F. Schmidt, M. and Davies, I. (2018) Dietary carbohydrate intake, visceral adipose tissue and associated markers of cardiometabolic risk. Nutrition Society Summer Meeting, 2018 – Getting the energy balance right, Leeds, 10 Jul 2018 - 12 Jul 2018. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society (2018). Cambridge University Press. 77 (Conference publication (journal proceedings).
Harrison, T., McCullough, D., Lane, K., Boddy, L., Stewart, C., Enright, K., Amirabdollahian, F., Schmidt, M. and Davies, I. (2018) The association between dietary macronutrient intake and fibroblast growth factor 21 in a sample of White UK adults with elevated cardiometabolic risk markers. Nutrition Society Summer Meeting, 2018 – Getting the energy balance right, Leeds, 10 Jul 2018 - 12 Jul 2018. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society (2018). Cambridge University Press. 77 (Conference publication (journal proceedings).
Harrison, T., Lane, K., Boddy, L., Amirabdollahian, F., Davies, I. (2017) Macronutrient intake and prevalence of markers of metabolic syndrome in white UK adult males in the National Diet and Nutrition Survey Rolling Programme 2008 – 2014. Nutrition Society Summer Meeting, 2017 – Nutrition in metropolitan areas, London, 10 Jul 2017 - 12 Jul 2017. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society (2017). Cambridge University Press. 76 (Conference publication (journal proceedings).
Harrison T, Amirabdollahian F, Davies I. (2016) Nutritional status, dietary intake and adiposity of normal-weight individuals with clustered metabolic risk factors in the UK population. Summer Meeting, 11–14 July 2016, New technology in nutrition research and practice, Dublin, 11 Jul 2016 - 14 Jul 2016. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society (2016). Cambridge University Press. 75 (Conference publication (journal proceedings).
Amirabdollahian F, Macdonald-Clarke CJ, Lees EK, Harrison T, Davies IG. (2016) Traditional and novel correlates of adiposity and cardiometabolic risk among young healthy adults in the North West of England. Nutrition Society Summer Meeting 2016 - New technology in nutrition research and practice, Dublin, 11 Jul 2016 - 14 Jul 2016. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society. Cambridge University Press. 75 (Conference publication (journal proceedings).
Qualifications
- RNutr, FHEA .
- MPhil/PhD Nutrition – Liverpool John Moores University
- BSc (Hons) Community Nutrition – Liverpool John Moores University
- PG Cert Learning and Teaching in HE - Liverpool John Moores University