Marina Mastrostefano

What Course(s) did you graduate from at CNELM and when did you graduate?

I studied the BSc in Nutritional Therapy (2012) and the MSc in Personalised Nutrition (2013).

What did you do before doing this course?

I've been a senior researcher and professor in Italian universities for over 13 years, lecturing and writing extensively in the field of agriculture and food economics.  In 1991 I was invited as visiting scholar to the University of California (Davis) to work on a research project about the food industry, so I took a sabbatical year and moved to the US.  When I went back to my academic position in Italy the supranational dimension of research projects was expanding and I got involved in a number of research projects at the European level.  This brought me more and more often to Brussels and at the end I resigned from University and I started to work for the European Union Institutions on food health related issues, from GMO to organic food.

What are your views on GMO and organic foods – would you always avoid GMO or buy organic?

There is a lot of confusion about these topics which are often discussed by the media without an appropriate scientific basis. Indeed, to take a sensible position is not easy as real evidence is scarce and often conflicting. Personally, I tend to avoid GMO, but this is not so much a choice based on their physical characteristics as on my own ethical concerns about the big chemical industries which surround them. These giants seem to attach relatively poor importance to biodiversity and more generally do not seem to care so much for environment and social issues.  Well… that's really far from my philosophy of life!

As for organic, yes, I try to privilege those products when shopping but without making a religion of my preference. Allow me to add that the position currently taken by the EU on these matters seems very well balanced. Today in the Union it is possible to cultivate GMO, but only after obtaining an ad-hoc authorisation which takes into account social, health protection and environmental aspects. As for organic food this is subject to strict controls to guarantee that organic products respect the required  standards.

What made you decide to embark on this course of study and what attracted you to doing the BSc/MSc?

This is quite a difficult question… I was born in 1958, so you can easily calculate that I started my BSc/MSc at the beginning of my 50s. I was at the top of my career, but more and more my interest was shifting from controlling and changing the world around me, to understanding and balancing my inner self.  I've always been interested in food beside its economic and political aspects; I like to cultivate the culinary arts and I am really fascinated by the often controversial relationship we establish with nutrition. So I decided to complement my knowledge of food economics and food policy with an understanding of the physical and psychological aspects of personal nutrition. I guess the 50s are a pivotal moment for many of us and I'm not an exception….

Were you working whilst studying?

Yes, full time. However, I was driven by a great passion and facilitated by the fact that my most demanding family commitments were behind me at that stage.

What work did you do after graduating from CNELM?

Currently I still work part time for the European Union and I team up with CNELM as Research Supervisor and Advisor on Student Project Publications. In 2018 I will probably conclude my collaboration with the EU and dedicate more time to study and research in Nutritional Therapy.

You say "more time" ... Does this mean that you are already active in this field?

Fortunately, I could always keep some space in my life to continue reading and studying. In the last years my research in the field of nutrition has been presented at the European Association on Obesity congress - EASO (Liverpool 2013 - Sofia 2014 - Prague 2015) and I have been invited at the 2nd annual GOSS Congress (Dubai 2015). Some of my work has also been published in peer reviewed international journals.  

What or who has most inspired you in your study and work?

I would say the most powerful inspiration has been my personal experience of the astonishing power of nutrition.  My physical wellbeing, my mood, my resilience to stress… all could be modified by the way I would eat and drink… I felt the need to give a scientific basis to these perceptions and explore the mechanisms behind them in an evidence based and systematic manner. The people and the knowledge I found at CNELM have offered me this possibility.

Do you have any tips, hints, things you’d have done differently...?

I would suggest to everyone who gets a BSc and/or an MSc to consider their degree a point of departure rather than a finish line. The knowledge we attain with these studies is what gives us the possibilities to understand complex literature and enter a lifelong learning process.  This is essential, especially now that scientific research progresses very fast and we can see encouraging signs of a paradigm shift towards a personalised approach both in medicine and nutrition.

On my side, I wish I would have continued my training in NLP, which has been useful to my personal and professional life in many instances. I am an NLP practitioner, but I still have to complete the Master Practitioner diploma…. who knows… Maybe I'll take up this new challenge in a near future!

Last modified: Monday, 26 June 2017, 11:59 AM