Professor Alison M. Lennox


Professor of Public Health Nutrition

About

Biography

Alison M Lennox is Professor of Public Health Nutrition in the Department of Nutritional Sciences. Professor Lennox current research focusses on national nutrition surveys, their methods and findings on food consumption and nutrient intakes in the UK and around the world and trends in intake over time. She continues to have interests in her earlier research area of gastrointestinal function, particularly the roles of dietary fibre and starch. She has considerable experience in issues relating nutrition to food policy, dietary surveys and methodologies, and regulatory affairs.

Professor Lennox's first degree was in Physiology from the University of Edinburgh, which was followed by a Diploma in Nutrition and PhD from the University of Cambridge. Her PhD research was conducted on dietary fibre and human colonic function at the Dunn Clinical Nutrition Centre in Cambridge with Dr John Cummings. She carried out post-doctoral training at the Mayo Clinic, with Dr Sidney Philips, and at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio with Dr John Banwell. Alison returned to the UK and worked with Professor Nicholas Wald at St Bartholomew's Medical College in London, before returning to Canada in 1987, where she took up a faculty appointment at the University of Saskatchewan.

After 12 years at the University of Saskatchewan, where she moved from Assistant to Associate and then Full Professor and for some time the Head of the Division of Nutrition and Dietetics, College of Pharmacy and Nutrition, Alison spent two years at CANTOX Health Sciences International in Mississauga, Ontario, where she was the Director of Nutritional Sciences, followed two years as Director of Research at the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada.

In 2004 Alison returned again to the UK, taking up the post of Head of Population Nutrition Research at MRC Human Nutrition Research in Cambridge. In this role she led HNR's responsibility for the National Diet and Nutrition Survey and the Diet and Nutrition Survey of Infants and Young Children. In 2013 Alison joined the University of Surrey.

Professor Lennox continues to publish under the name Alison M Stephen.

Research interests

- national nutrition surveys, their methods and results on food consumption and nutrient intakes- trends in intake over time- time of day, dietary intake and health- the eating context (socio-ecological eating environment), dietary intake and health- gastrointestinal function, particularly the roles of dietary fibre and starch.

Research collaborations

MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and AgeingMRC Human Nutrition ResearchDr Gerda Pot - Kings College, LondonProf Ashley Adamson, Dr Suzana Almoosawi - Newcastle UniversityProf Peter Whincup Dr Angela Donin - St Georges, London,Dr Kirsten Corder - MRC Epidemiology Unit

Publications

Pot GK, Richards M, Prynne CJ, Stephen AM. Development of the Eating Choices Index (ECI): a four item index to measure healthiness of diet. Public Health Nutr ( in press). Corder K, van Sluijs EMF, Ridgway CL, Steele RM, Prynne CJ, Stephen AM, Bamber DJ, Dunn VJ, Goodyer IM, Ekelund U. 2013. Breakfast Consumption and Physical Activity in Adolescents: Daily Associations and Hourly Patterns. AJCN (in press).

Donin AS, Nightingale CM, Owen CG, Rudnicka AR, Jebb SA, Ambrosini GL, Stephen AM, Cook DG, Whincup PH. 2013. Dietary Energy Intake Is Associated With Type 2 Diabetes Risk Markers In Children. Diabetes Care. 2013 Aug 12. [Epub ahead of print]

Almoosawi S, Cole D, Nicholson S, Bayes I, Teucher B, Bates B, Mindell J, Tipping S, Deverill C, Stephen AM. 2013. Biomarkers of diabetes risk in the National Diet and Nutrition Survey rolling programme (2008-2011). J Comm Health and Epidem ( in press)

Mak TN, Prynne CJ, Cole D, Fitt E, Roberts C, Bates B, Stephen AM. 2013. Patterns of sociodemographic and food practice characteristics in relation to fruit and vegetable consumption in children: results from the UK National Diet and Nutrition Survey rolling programme (2008-2010). Public Health Nutr Aug 7:1-12. [Epub ahead of print]

Almoosawi S, Prynne C, Hardy R, Stephen A. 2013. Time-of-day of energy intake: association with hypertension and blood pressure 10 years later in the 1946 British birth cohort. J Hypertens 31:882-92

Almoosawi S, Prynne CJ, Hardy R, Stephen AM. 2013. Diurnal eating rhythms: Association with long-term development of diabetes in the 1946 British birth cohort. Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases (in press)

Mishra G, Richards M, Mirshi S, Stephen AM. 2013. Chapter 16: Lifetime lifestyles I: diet, the life course and ageing. In: Kuh D, Ben-Shlomo, Hardy R, Richards M, Cooper R, Ferrucci L. eds. A life course approach to healthy ageing. Oxford University Press ( in press)

Lennox AM, Buttriss J, Gibson-Moore H. 2013. Chap 3. Maternal nutrition and infant feeding: current practice and recommendations. In: British Nutrition Foundation (2013) Nutrition and Development: Short- and long-term consequences for health. The report of a British Nutrition Foundation Task Force. pp 28-73. West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.

Stephen AM, Mak TN, Fitt E, Nicholson S, Roberts C, Sommerville J. 2013. Innovations in national nutrition surveys. Proc Nutr Soc. 72:77-88.

Mak TN, Prynne CJ, Cole D, Fitt E, Roberts C, Bates B, Stephen A. 2012. Assessing eating context and fruit and vegetable consumption in children: new methods using food diaries in the UK national diet and nutrition survey rolling programme. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. Highly Accessed. 18:126 -.

Pierce MB, Silverwood RJ, Nitsch D, Adams JE, Stephen AM, Nip W, Macfarlane P, Wong A, Richards M, Hardy R, Kuh D; on behalf of the NSHD Scientific and Data Collection Teams. 2012. Clinical Disorders in a Post War British Cohort Reaching Retirement: Evidence from the First National Birth Cohort Study. PLoS One. Epub 2012 Sep 19.

Cadar D, Pikhart H, Mishra G, Stephen A, Kuh D, Richards M. 2012. The role of lifestyle behaviors on 20-year cognitive decline. J Aging Res. 2012:304014. doi: 10.1155/2012/304014. Epub 2012 Sep 4.

Mensink GBM, Fletcher R, Gurinovic M, Huybrechts I, Lafay L, Serra-Majem L, Szponar L, Tetens I, Verkaik-Kloosterman J, Baka A, Stephen AM. 2012. Mapping low intake of micronutrients across Europe. Br J Nutr 2013 Jan 14:1-19. [Epub ahead of print]

Almoosawi S, Prynne CJ, Hardy R, Stephen AM. 2012. Time-of-day and nutrient composition of eating occasions: prospective association with the metabolic syndrome in the 1946 British birth cohort. Int J Obes (Lond). 37:725-31

Mulla UZ, Cooper R, Mishra GD, Kuh D, Stephen AM. 2013. Adult macronutrient intake and physical capability in the MRC National Survey of Health and Development. Age Ageing. 42, 81-7.

Simon A, O'Connell R, Stephen AM. 2012. Designing a nutritional scoring system for assessing diet quality for children aged 10 years and under in the UK. Methodological Innovations Online. 7:27-40.

Keogh RH, Park JY, White IR, Lentjes MA, McTaggart A, Bhaniani A, Cairns BJ, Key TJ, Greenwood DC, Burley VJ, Cade JE, Dahm CC, Pot GK, Stephen AM, Masset G, Brunner EJ, Khaw KT. 2012. Estimating the alcohol-breast cancer association: a comparison of diet diaries, FFQs and combined measurements. Eur J Epidemiol. 27:547-59.

Stephen A, Alles M, de Graaf C, Fleith M, Hadjilucas E, Isaacs E, Maffeis C, Zeinstra G, Matthys C, Gil A. 2012. The role and requirements of digestible dietary carbohydrates in infants and toddlers. Eur J Clin Nutr. 66:765-79

Almoosawi S, Winter J, Prynne CJ, Hardy R, Stephen AM. 2012. Daily profiles of energy and nutrient intakes: are eating profiles changing over time? Eur J Clin Nutr.66:678-86

Pot GK, Prynne CJ, Roberts C, Olson A, Nicholson SK, Whitton C, Teucher B, Bates B, Henderson H, Pigott S, Swan G, Stephen AM. 2012. National Diet and Nutrition Survey: fat and fatty acid intake from the first year of the rolling programme and comparison with previous surveys. Br J Nutr. 107:405-15.

Key TJ, Appleby PN, Masset G, Brunner EJ, Cade JE, Greenwood DC, Stephen AM, Kuh D, Bhaniani A, Powell N, Khaw KT. 2012. Vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids and colorectal cancer risk in the United Kingdom Dietary Cohort Consortium. Int J Cancer. 131:E320-5

Hutchinson J, Lentjes MAH, Greenwood DC, Burley VJ, Cade JE, Cleghorn CL, Threapleton DE, Key TJ, Cairns BJ, Keogh RH, Dahm CC, Brunner EJ, Shipley MJ, Kuh D, Mishra G, Stephen AM, Bhaniani A, Borgulya G, Khaw KT. 2012. Vitamin C intake from diary recordings and risk of breast cancer in the UK Dietary Cohort Consortium. Eur J Clin Nutr. 66:561-8.

Prynne CJ, Handford C, Dunn V, Bamber D, Goodyer IM, Stephen AM. 2011. The quality of midday meals eaten at school by adolescents; school lunches compared to packed lunches and their contribution to total energy and nutrient intake. Public Health Nutrition Sept 7: 1-8

Key TJ, Appleby PN, Cairns BJ, Luben R, Dahm CC, Akbaraly T, Brunner EJ, Burley V, Cade JE, Greenwood DC, Stephen AM, Mishra G, Kuh D, Keogh RH, White IR, Bhaniani A, Borgulya G, Mulligan AA, Khaw KT. 2011. Dietary fat and breast cancer: comparison of results from food diaries and food frequency questionnaires in the UK Dietary Cohort Consortium. Amer J Clin Nutr 94:1043-52.

Spencer EA, Key TJ, Appleby PN, Dahm CC, Keogh RH, Fentiman IS, Akbaraly T, Brunner EJ, Burley V, Cade JE, Greenwood DC, Stephen AM, Mishra G, Kuh D, Luben R, Mulligan AA, Khaw KT, Rodwell SA. Erratum to: Meat, poultry and fish and risk of colorectal cancer: pooled analysis of data from the UK dietary cohort consortium. Cancer Causes Control. 2011 22:1351.

Whitton C, Nicholson SK, Roberts C, Prynne CJ, Olsen A, Fitt E, Cole D, Teucher B, Bates B, Henderson H, Pigott S, Deverill C, Swan G, Stephen AM. 2011. National Diet and Nutrition Survey: UK food consumption and nutrient intakes from the first year of the rolling programme and comparisons with previous surveys. Br J Nutr 106:1899-914.

Kuh D, Pierce M, Adams J, Deanfield J, Ekelund U, Friberg P, Ghosh AK, Harwood N, Hughes A, Macfarlane PW, Mishra G, Pellerin D, Wong A, Stephen AM, Richards M, Hardy R; NSHD scientific and data collection team. Cohort profile: updating the cohort profile for the MRC National Survey of Health and Development: a new clinic-based data collection for ageing research. Int J Epidemiol. 2011 40:e1-9.

Mishra GD, dos Santos Silva I, McNaughton SA, Stephen AM, Kuh D. 2011. Energy intakes and dietary patterns in childhood and throughout adulthood and mammographic density: results from a British prospective cohort. Cancer Causes Control. 22:227-35.