Copy
Issue 1/19 January/February 19
View this email in your browser
 
Welcome to 2019! I trust you have all had a restful period over the past couple of weeks and managed to find some time to rest and recuperate, ready for another stimulating academic year. 

This edition, we also have an interesting addition to the previous student contribution on Hypothalamic Amenorrhea, as well as a graduate interview with Nicola Pearson, one of our research supervisors and course interviewers.

As always, send me your thoughts and contributions to coriander@cnelm.co.uk 

Enjoy! 
SSM Sessions

I would like to take the opportunity to introduce myself for those new students joining in January who may not be familiar with me and my role. As Student Support Manager (SSM), I offer both formal and ad hoc sessions to all students at various points throughout the year. 

Formal SSM sessions with me run twice yearly generally in June and December and offer you a formal opportunity to provide feedback on your experience of the course, which I then anonymously analyse and report back to CNELM to evaluate where it may be possible or appropriate to enhance services to students. The focus of the formal sessions is therefore mainly related to your academic progress and student experience. 

Aspects of your studies covered in formal sessions include:- 
-    Are you keeping up with your module and on track with your study plan
-    Is the level of assessment feedback helpful to you and helping you move forward
-    Are you able to access and gain support for teaching and admin staff
-    Are you accessing the learning resources and finding them helpful 

You will receive a Doodle Poll link to register a time to book a formal session in June nearer the time. Please ONLY use the Doodle poll for the formal sessions. 

Ad hoc sessions with me run monthly throughout the year and provide confidential pastoral support. The sessions aim to offer pastoral support for students experiencing external pressures in their lives that are impacting on their ability to enjoy and engage properly with their studies and would like guidance on how to best manage their studies. 

Both formal and ad hoc sessions provide an opportunity for students to seek guidance for known or self-suspected support needs for learning. 

The 2019 ad hoc opportunities will take place on the following dates:-
  • 23rd Jan
  • 27th Feb
  • 27th March
  • 8th May
  • 12th June
  • 17th July
  • 25th September
  • 30th October
  • 27th November
The 2019 Formal sessions will take place on the following dates:
  • 17th – 21st June
  • 9th – 13th December 
In order to book an ad hoc pastoral appointment with me on one of the above dates, please email me directly at coriander@cnelm.co.uk.  

You are of course welcome to email me directly with any queries, for example if you need to speak to me for a formal or ad hoc session on a different date to those published.   
Graduate News

CNELM graduate Ray Griffiths, whose interview with the Nutritional Supplement can be accessed here, recently gave an interview to Ben Brown ND on the role of the mitochondria in health and disease. The interview can be heard here
 
Case Discussions

I would welcome a selection of brief reflections on your studies, student experience, or clinic or coaching clients that you think would be helpful to other students. We would really like to develop this section of the Student Newsletter over the coming year. Please email me at coriander@cnelm.co.uk with your input. 

This edition’s case discussion comes from the Tap Integrative and discusses a 32 year old woman with Fibromyalgia.

Read the case discussion here and please do send me your thoughts on this case study for discussion in the next edition at coriander@cnelm.co.uk 
Sugar Awareness Week

Sugar awareness week took place on the 12th-16th November 2018 and there was an emphasis on how to avoid sugar when eating out.

You can see more on Action on Sugar’s campaign here and can also download their guide to eating out healthily, which you might find useful for clients. 
Your Contributions
Further to the previous editions discussion on Hypothalamic Amenorrhea (HA) which can be found here we present a slightly different angle, based on some facts presented to me by one of our students, Christa Maynard (NTPD). Any student who has further views to share on this topic or the practitioners among our students and staff with clinical or other experience of HA would be welcome. Below are some of the key points raised.

HA presents differently between individuals, so suitable interventions must also be personalised, compared to the classic triad of over-exercising, underweight, and over-stressed individuals.  Specifically, this case appears to be a case of stress coupled with high-impact exercise, but not exercise in general. The person presenting was also not underweight, so this particular case seems not to be linked with low body weight and caloric intake.

Running, specifically seemed to impact the HA most profoundly, but not swimming, cycling or yoga.  There also appeared to be a chronic HPA activation due to anxiety and emotional stressors, combined with a low-protein vegetarian or pescatarian diet (since aged 18) which may be other contributing factors. Caloric intake remained adequate and weight wasn’t an issue.  When the subject stopped running for a few months, menstruation returned. 

Menstruation cycle had always been ~6 weeks and the subject was always susceptible to amenorrhea with various stressors. She ran every day from age 13, as well as doing some other exercise.  She also had historically high stress levels and experienced anxiety and OCD.  

Daily exercise continued into adulthood – mostly running but also dancing and basketball, aerobics, and then swimming, gym and cycling on some days.  After sustaining a hip injury after running a marathon, the subject could not run for a good 3 months and instead switched from running to swimming, spinning and working out at the gym (7-8 sessions/w).  This led to a 28-day cycle for the first time, in spite of exercising daily.  It seems clear from this that it was the running that was causing that extra level of stress that disrupted the typical menstrual cycle.  

A standard hormone panel test showed undetectable progesterone and oestrogen at the bottom of the reference range.  Thyroid hormones were also at the bottom of ’normal’.    

Aged 44 the subject became ill with an unrelenting cold/lung infection that would return whenever she tried exercising again.  As a consequence, she went around 2 months barely exercising and 11 weeks later, menstruation returned for the first time in 7 years. 

Conclusions to be drawn are that for this particular subject, running seems to be what causes her body the most stress and signals the hypothalamus to divert energies away from reproduction.  It may be that high-impact exercises cause an additional stress to the body that is absent with swimming, cycling, and yoga. Low-impact exercise may challenge the cardiovascular system, respiration and involve muscle work, but these forms of training lack the repetitive shock-waves of weight-bearing exercise. It is likely that a low-protein diet may also contribute not only to the scarcity of amino-acids as building blocks for sex hormone production, but also to mineral deficiencies, in particular zinc, which is needed at every step of the reproductive processes (and thus menstruation), as well as for immunity (historic lung infection). This article seems to back up this theory.

It therefore seems necessary to look at the type of exercise and diet when dealing with a client with HA.  If there is no weight issue, the type of exercise may be a factor.  For some individuals, daily exercise may be important for both mental health and cardiovascular health and therefore, replacing high-impact exercise with low-impact exercise, as well as ensuring adequate protein intake, may be a good approach.  

If anyone has any insights to add to this, please email me at coriander@cnelm.co.uk 

Nicola Pearson

BSc Nutritional Therapy
Nicola graduated in 2013 with a BSc after completing the Dip ION and an MSc in Reproduction and Development with The University of Bristol,. She is a research supervisor and course interviewer at CNELM. 

Read her story here...
Food Matters Live 2018

By Joanne Hart, graduate of the CNELM BSc NT degree in 2014, Registered Nutritionist and Yoga Teacher. Joanne has also worked as a supervisor for CNELM, for Nuffield Health, in adult education, and delivered corporate workshops as well as running her own nutrition practice, which is focused mainly on sporty and busy people.

"Food Matters Live is an annual event in London. I attended this year as I value meeting other industry professionals and, like most NT’s, am interested in food. I also like to find out what the new products launches might be and understand what packaged foods my clients are going to start talking about.

The event consists of seminars, a conference and many food manufacturers showing their food with the hope of publicity or getting into the UK.  I tend to visit the food stalls and find out what’s new, or why it’s there.  Then if I have time I try and attend a talk.  It would be easy to listen to talks all day but my goal is to interact, and try a few food samples.

From my visit around the food stalls I could categorise a few themes and have further discussed a couple of them below: - 
•    Portion sizes
•    Fermented Drinks
•    Insects
•    Functional Foods
•    Alternative grains

In the portion size category, the manufacturers are aiming to either meet the 100-calorie snack guideline from the Government, or to get a full set of green traffic lights on their wrappers. Obviously as nutrition professionals we are going to read the ingredients, but most of our clients don’t often do that. Examples of snacks were popcorn which is in a smaller pack, mini rice cakes at 70 Kcal and cereal bars with green traffic lights.  I also saw a few products aimed at children in small packs, such as a pack of roasted chickpeas which would be really useful in place of nuts and seeds, especially in no-nut policy schools.  

Fermented drinks are of course big news.  I’ve attended the Birmingham BBC Good Food Show for many years and been amazed by the mass of new soft and alcohol drinks every year. It must be a booming business if you can get the right product in the right place. The Food Matters drinks were the healthier version of this, with a whole row of kombuchas and some that will be available in supermarkets. I asked if it might be sold in pubs but there is a challenge with keeping the product cool during all of the transport process so it doesn’t over ferment.  As well as kombucha I saw banana water and melon water.

Insects featured as usual too.  These are farmed and then the insect powder is added to nutrition energy bars or even a Christmas Cookie kit. One bar had 20g protein and they said the amino acid profile was the same as in beef. I did try some and it tasted just like a protein powder in a bar.  However, anyone with a shellfish/crustacean allergy may also be allergic to insects because of the shells. 

At Food Matters I had expected to see more products focused on sustainability and while there were a few products such as aquafaba mayonnaise and soya mince, there wasn’t much else on show, which suggests this topic is still in infancy and under discussion. It perhaps is something we have to go looking for, as a few manufacturers told me that their packaging needed redesigning.

I would recommend taking some time out to visit the show in 2019; you get to meet and question the people that sell food and hear what health claims they have. You find out about new trends and sometimes you meet other interesting people in the nutrition industry if you make the effort to chat to people at talks. All in all, a very worthwhile show."
 

ANH International
The ANH has written an interesting article on the merits of differing ‘diets’ for different individuals, confirming their belief (and ours) that a personalised approach is the only way to tackle widespread health issues going forward. 

They have also just released their ‘blueprint on health system sustainability’ to the UK Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which presents a new way for us to manage our health. 

Please send me your thoughts on this to coriander@cnelm.co.uk to open up discussion for the next edition. 
Waitrose Healthy Eating & Wellbeing

This bulletin from Food Matters Live explains what actions Waitrose is taking to support health and well-being. Waitrose are trialling personal nutrition consultations outside of London, in Basingstoke and will have 'Healthy Eating Specialists' in stores. 

Has anyone seen or spoken to any of these specialists in stores? Please email me at coriander@cnelm.co.uk and let me know what you thought. 

Student Resources

This video focuses on Lyme Disease protocols. Lyme is becoming more prevalent around the UK and Europe, as well as other parts of the world, with increasing numbers of people becoming aware of symptoms.  

Further research appears linking Parkinson’s to gut health, which builds on previous research in this area. There is also a section on the importance of the appendix to gut health and depression here.   

Food Matters Live has some presentations available as downloads, which are available here for those who didn’t get a chance to visit in November. 

A link to the summary overview of the Diet & CVD conference at the RSM can be found here


Gut Bacteria Kept in Check

New research demonstrates that the nutrients which gut bacteria need to thrive may be limited by our bodies in order to control their population. The researchers studies faeces from various animals, including humans and found that the amount of nitrogen made available to them is limited to 1 nitrogen atom per every 10 carbon atoms - less than half of what free-living microbes would get. By feeding mice high-protein foods, the researchers were able to see that increasing nitrogen in the gut led to an increase in microbes. By injecting the mice with nitrogen, they also observed that a host mammal is able to secrete nitrogen via the gut lining cells in order to feed the bacteria. By keeping nitrogen availability limited, mammals are able to control the numbers of microbes in the gut, but the research also demonstrates that a standard Western diet consisting of too much protein may mean we lose control of the microbial community. The researchers also demonstrated how antibiotics can lead to a detrimental increase in nitrate or sulphate, as there are fewer bacteria to keep them in check.

Energy Drinks Damage Blood Vessel Function

This research suggests that just one energy drink may be enough to harm blood vessel function. The study, which included 44 young, non-smoker, healthy medical students, looked at endothelial function after consumption of one 680ml energy drink. The test showed that after 90 minutes, the students had poorer artery flow-mediated dilation (an indicator of blood vessel health) than they had before consuming the energy drink. 

Gut Bacteria and the Brain

This fascinating research suggests that gut bacteria may also inhabit brain cells. The researchers found bacteria - mainly Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, and Bacteroidetes - in the brains of all 34 brains they studied - whether healthy or affected by neurological disease - except for germ-free mice's brains, which were sterile just the same as their guts. The research did not reveal the mechanisms via which the bacteria entered the brain and could see no damaging effects from their presence. Future research could examine how this proposed “brain microbiome” could maintain or threaten the health of the brain.
Chicken with Black Pepper
Please email me your favourite recipes to coriander@cnelm.co.uk and how you came to find them!

Ingredients:
2 x 200g skinless chicken breast fillets, cut into 2.5cm cubes
½ teaspoon crushed black peppercorns
2 tablespoons olive or coconut oil
½ teaspoon ground coriander
50g chopped cashew nuts 
1 clove garlic, finely sliced
½ small lemon, juiced
Sea salt to taste

Method:
Dry the peppercorns in a hot pan until fragrant for about 1-2 minutes, then add the oil. Add the chicken, coriander, garlic and salt. Continue to stir-fry for another 10 minutes. 
Stir in the cashew nuts and lemon juice and stir-fry for 1 more minute. 
All times are UK time unless specified.

CNELM Events: 
The CNELM professional enhancement days can also be found here.
  • Wednesday 6th March (11.00-12.30) - Making the most of Moodle – Chris Neil
  • Monday 1st April (10.30-12.00) - Making the most of learning resources (TAP & CheckYourFood) – Indrani Saha
  • Tuesday 7th May (TBC) - online labs day - Deb Archibald
  • Thursday 16th May - (10.00-11.00) Study Skills, how to read and write a paper, critical note taking, finding papers - Michelle Barrow
  • Tuesday 9th July (TBC) - Food manufacturers day - David Titman
  • Thursday 19th September (TBC) - Student research presentations Indrani Saha
  • Tuesday 8th October (TBC) - Product days Deb Archibald
  • Tuesday 12th November (TBC) - Product days Deb Archibald
  • Tuesday 26th November Nutrition in Practice (TBC) – Emma Stiles & Catherine Broome
Non CNELM Events:  More webinars can be found here and here. 

Archived Recordings: Disclaimer
CNELM occasionally circulates information regarding external events which we think may be of interest to students, graduates and/or staff. Please note that CNELM is not involved in the organisation or the content of such events and circulates all such information in good faith.

We would like to gather your feedback for CPD events at CNELM. There are several upcoming events to be held at CNELM and it would be great to gather your thoughts on these events, as well as internal events such as Lab days and other events run by CNELM staff.  

Could anyone who has attended these events please email me their brief thoughts on them to coriander@cnelm.co.uk. 
CNELM circulates by email and includes in the student newsletter a range of job opportunities. Several students at CNELM already hold qualifications enabling differning scopes of practice. All students if working in the nutrition field should keep mindful of CNELM's Fitness to Practice Policy and ensure their scope of practice or work is in keeping with existing qualifications. If ever in doubt it is best to contact Kate as Head of Quality Assurance or Dave as Centre Administrator/Practice Supervisor. 

Exciting Opportunity for a BANT Volunteer:
Training Provider Liaison
BANT are seeking a student member volunteer for our Training Provider Liaison role.
The TPL carries out presentations to students at training providers discussing the benefits of being a BANT Student Member
A great opportunity to: -
Develop your network within Nutritional Therapy, both with fellow students, training providers and within BANT
Develop a greater understanding of the support and professional recognition BANT offers to its members and help to spread this positive message to your fellow students.

If you would like to apply, or to find out more about the role, please email the Volunteer Manager, Lara Seago at: lara.seago@bant.org.uk

Intern at the London Clinic of Nutrition, Marylebone London:
Part-Time - 2 days a week ideally Mondays and Fridays

The London Clinic has become known as the place to go in the UK for functional and integrated healthcare. It is an award winning clinic in Central London with a team of 20 staff. 

Brief Job description:
General Admin and reception duties
Getting involved with all aspects of the day to day running of the clinic
Regular patient contact and liaison
Intern role may lead to full-time job
Pay will be £15 per day to cover travel and food
Training and mentoring provided
2-3 days a week 0930-1730

Contact number - 0203 332 0030
Email oliver@londonclinicofnutrition.co.uk
Website - www.londonclinicofnutrition.co.uk
 
More classifieds can be found here, here and here
Copyright © 2024 Centre for Nutrition Education & Lifestyle Management, All rights reserved.


unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences 

Email Marketing Powered by Mailchimp
Facebook
Facebook
Twitter
Twitter
Website
Website