Advisory Board

Professor John C. Mathers

Professor of Human Nutrition, Newcastle University, UK

John Mathers is Professor of Human Nutrition in Newcastle University. He was an undergraduate in Newcastle University, then undertook postgraduate training in the University of Cambridge where he completed the Diploma in Nutrition and PhD and undertook post-doctoral research. After a short time in University of Edinburgh as a Research Fellow, he returned to Newcastle University. There he set up the B.Sc. in Food and Human Nutrition degree programme and the Human Nutrition Research Centre which he directed from 1994 until 2022.

His major research interests are in understanding how eating patterns influence risks of age-related diseases including heart disease, diabetes, dementia, bowel cancer and musculoskeletal diseases. This includes studies of the underlying mechanisms. He has had a long-term interest in the effects of dietary fibre on function and health. John has a sustained interest in novel lifestyle-based interventions to reduce disease risk and to enhance healthy ageing. For example, he led the EU FP7-funded Food4Me intervention study which is the largest randomised controlled study to date that has tested the utility of the personalised nutrition concept.

Among his external roles, John was President of the Nutrition Society (2001 – 2004) and serves/ served on grants panels and/or research strategy boards for the MRC, BBSRC, ESRC, World Cancer Research Fund International, Cancer Research UK and others. He is Chair of the Board of Trustees of the British Nutrition Foundation and a Trustee of the Rank Prize Funds. In addition, John chairs the Scientific Advisory Board of the Joint Programming Initiative, a Healthy Diet for a Healthy Life. Since 2019, John has been Editor-in-Chief of the British Journal of Nutrition.