University of Otago human nutrition Emeritus Prof Lisa Houghton was recently appointed alongside Edible Research founder and nutrition researcher Dr Meika Foster, by Food Safety Minister Andrew Hoggard.
FSANZ has set the standards for safe food in Australia and New Zealand for more than 25 years, and ensures consumers in both countries can be confident the food they buy is safe to eat.
Prof Houghton joined the university’s human nutrition department in 2008 and her research interests have been focused on the assessment and health consequences of micronutrient deficiencies in "at risk" population groups, with particular expertise in maternal and young child undernutrition.
Recent topics of investigation include nutritional assessment of infants, young children and mothers in Indonesia, Kenya and India; investigation of the influence of infant and young child feeding practices on diet quality, gut microbiota, growth and morbidity; assessment of the impact of a complementary feeding home-fortification strategy using a desiccated beef powder on the growth and development of young children; and, development of a field friendly exclusive breastfeeding biomarker tool.
Before arriving in New Zealand, she was an assistant professor at Acadia University in Canada, and was a research associate at The Hospital for Sick Children in Canada, and the Premature Infant Nutrition group at Abbott Laboratories in the United States.
She is a member of American Society of Nutrition and the International Society for Research on Human Milk and Lactation.
