Nutrition, Lifestyle and Metabolism
Lead: Prof Keith Godfrey
Co-lead: Prof Jonathan Swann
You can find out more about our team here.
A healthy diet, lifestyle and metabolism give people greater resilience to illness and injury, meaning they are less likely to get diseases related to an unhealthy lifestyle and tend to recover faster when injured.
We are looking at how intervening at key stages in people’s life – such as when they are considering becoming parents, pregnancy and early childhood, and adulthood – could help them change their habits so they and their children can live a healthier life.


Applications welcome
We welcome applications for doctoral studentships. Please get in touch. Visit our for researchers section for more opportunities to engage with NIHR Southampton BRC.
What we are tackling – research questions
Saving lives: Resuscitation & acute care
Led by
Prof Sandy Jack
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Improving nutrition, lifestyle and metabolism in pregnancy and childhood
Led by Professors
Janis Baird &
Mark Johnson
How can we promote healthy development by improving nutrition, lifestyle and metabolism before and after birth, and during childhood?
Our impact
We have transformed understanding of early life influences on non-transmissible diseases like diabetes and targeted them to improve health in later life. Our research has driven better care, new guidelines, training and advocacy for Metabolic (dysfunction) Associated Fatty Liver Disease (MAFLD). We have also led new approaches to preventing weakening of bones (osteoporosis) and muscles (sarcopenia), changing UK and global health policy.
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Our online learning tools are used by healthcare professionals in over 17 countries to drive healthier early life nutrition.
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We are equipping the next generation of parents to understand the health impacts of their choices for them and their future children. Our LifeLab teaching laboratory and online resources have engaged over 11,500 students from 66 schools.
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Our research directly informed the 2017 World Health Organisation Commission on Ending Childhood Obesity and 2018 Nurturing Care Framework.
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We have developed new breath-test diagnostics of liver function that measure a type of carbon (13C). Studies detected reduced handling of nutrients in MAFLD with results providing the basis for developing rapid, non-invasive diagnostics, published in 2021.
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We supported the development of a second-generation global standard for fracture risk assessment (FRAX). We have also championed the clinical- and cost-effectiveness of Fracture Liaison Services (FLS). This global standard of care has led to over 400 registered FLS across 46 countries.
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We were first to show a link between pregnant mothers’ vitamin D status and their babies’ bone mass. Our results informed recommendations that are now reflected in Public Health England maternal vitamin D guidance. Read more

Lifelong prevention of fractures and loss of muscle strength in later life
We have led new approaches to preventing weakening of bones (osteoporosis) and muscles (sarcopenia), changing UK and global health policy. Read more
Our people
Meet key individuals leading and enabling Nutrition, lifestyle and metabolism research in Southampton.

Prof Keith Godfrey
Professor of Epidemiology and Human Development

Prof Nicholas Harvey
Professor of Rheumatology and Clinical Epidemiology

Prof Philip Calder
Professor of Nutritional Immuniology

Prof Janis Baird
Professor of Public Health and Epidemiology

Prof Ying Cheong
Professor of Reproductive Medicine

Prof Julia Sinclair
Professor of Addiction Psychiatry

Prof Jonathan Swann
Professor of Metabolism

Prof Jon Dorling
Professor of Paediatrics

Dr Kathryn Woods- Townsend
LifeLab Programme Manager

Prof Christopher Byrne
Professor of Endocrinology and Metabolism

Dr Sunhea Choi
Associate Professor in eLearning

Prof Cyrus Cooper
Professor of Rheumatology

Prof Michael Boniface
Professor of Information Systems

Prof Elaine Dennison
Professor of Musculoskeletal Epidemiology

Prof Kate Ward
Professor of Global Musculoskeletal Health

Prof Nick Curzen
Consultant Cardiologist

Prof Helen Roberts
Professor of Medicine for Older People

Prof Peter Smith
Professor of Life Sciences

Prof Richard Holt
Professor in Diabetes and Endocrinology

Prof Paul Skipp
Professor of Proteomics

Prof Rohan Lewis
Professor of placental and integrative physiology

Prof Mark Hanson
Professor of Cardiovascular Science

Prof Shane Norris
Professor in Global Health

Dr Nisreen Alwan
Associate Professor in Public Health

Dr Mark Beattie
Consultant paediatric gastroenterologist

Prof Richard Oreffo
Professor of Musculoskeletal Science

Dr Mark Johnson
Consultant Neonatologist

Prof Karen Lillycrop
Professor of Epigenetics

Dr Harnish Patel
Consultant Physician, Medicine for Older People

Professor Graham C Burdge
Professor of Nutritional Biochemistry

Prof Jacek Brodzki
Professor of Pure Mathematics