After my PhD at King’s College London (formerly Queen Elizabeth College), I worked in the food industry for a short while and then moved to the Institute of Food Research, Norwich, initially as a Senior Research Scientist and latterly as Head of the Nutrition Division and Programme Leader for Micronutrients. In 2006 I was offered a personal chair in the School of Medicine, Health Policy & Practice UEA and moved to UEA in early 2007.

Professional Qualifications and Professional Memberships

• BSc (2:1) Food Sciences, University of London
• MSc (Distinction) Nutrition, University of London
• PhD, University of London
• DSc, University of London
• Registered Nutritionist
• Fellow of American Society for Nutrition
• Member of European Iron Club
• Honorary Fellow of the UK Nutrition Society

Research Interests

• Mineral metabolism in humans
• Micronutrient requirements and dietary reference values
• Nutrient bioavailability
• Health claims
• Diet and ageing

Recent Invited Presentations

• Can I make a nutrition or health claim? Nutrition and Brain Health. Broadland Food Innovation Hub, 4 May 2023, Norwich.
• The origins of health claims and their future. Foodomics Conference, Auckland, NZ, 8-9 Sept 2022 (recorded plenary). https://www.highvaluenutrition.co.nz/news-and-events/5316-2/
• Selenium status and infectious disease susceptibility. Nutrition Society Scottish Section Conference 2022, 4-5 April 2022, Edinburgh.
• Myths and controversies in nutrition. Norwich Rotary Club, 3^rd August 2021.
• The case for harmonizing nutrient reference values around the world. ASN Symposium on Global Harmonization of Nutrient Recommendations, ILSI Annual meeting, 20 Jan 2020, Costa Rica.
• Effects of consuming a Mediterranean-style dietary pattern on trace element intake, and iron and selenium status, in elderly men and women: results from the NU-AGE study. FESTEM2019 - International Symposium on Trace Elements and Minerals, Potsdam, Germany, 3-5 April 2019.
• EFSA's approach to dealing with bioavailability in setting Dietary Reference Values. Bioavailability 2018, Norwich, UK, 13th Sept 2018.
• Requirements for iron, zinc and selenium: the EURRECA experience. 5^th International Congress of the Federation of European Societies for Trace Elements and Minerals, 22-24 May 2013, Avignon, France.
• You are what you eat – or are you? Myths and controversies in nutrition. Reepham Rotary Club, Reepham, Norfolk, 6^th August 2018.
• Approaches used to estimate bioavailability when deriving dietary recommendations for iron and zinc in adults. Nutrition Society Spring meeting on Nutrient-nutrient interaction, Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons, Glasgow, 26 March 2018.
• Calcium and Vitamin D – Essential for bone, so why the controversy? Royal Society of Medicine symposium entitled “Starving for truth: Nutrition myths and controversies”, 6 Nov 2017, RSM, London.

My research expertise is in micronutrients, in particular iron, and I have used a variety of techniques to study mineral metabolism and bioavailability in humans. I am interested in micronutrient requirements for optimal health, including the role of food biofortification to prevent deficiencies. I am currently involved in various risk assessment activities relating to food safety and the broader role of diet in promoting health.  

Recent publications 

1. Burgos G, Liria R, Zeder C, Kroon PA, Hareau G, Penny M, Dainty J, Al-Jaibaji O, Boy E, Mithen R, Hurrell RF, Salas E, Zum Felde T, Zimmermann MB, Fairweather-Tait S. Total iron absorbed from iron-biofortified potatoes is higher than that from nonbiofortified potatoes: a randomized trial using stable iron isotopes in women from the Peruvian highlands. J Nutr. 2023 Apr 13:S0022-3166(23)35553-6.
2. Fairweather-Tait S (2023) The role of meat in iron nutrition of vulnerable groups of the UK population. Front. Anim. Sci. 4:1142252. doi:10.3389/fanim.2023.1142252.
3. Filippini T, Fairweather-Tait S, Vinceti M. Selenium and immune function: a systematic review and meta-analysis of experimental human studies. AJCN 2022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajcnut.2022.11.007
4. Fairweather-Tait SJ. Nutritional Anemia in the Elderly. Nutritional Anaemia (e-book). Crystal D. Karakochuk, Michael B. Zimmermann, Diego Moretti, Klaus Kraemer (eds), Springer, Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-14521-6
5. Grootswagers P, Mensink M, Berendsen AAM, Deen CPJ, Kema IP, Bakker SJL, Santoro A, Franceschi C, Meunier N, Brugère CM, Bialecka-Debek A, Rolf K, Fairweather-Tait S, Jennings A, Feskens EJM, de Groot LCPGM. Vitamin B-6 intake is related to physical performance in European older adults - the NU-AGE study. Am J Clin Nutr 2021 Apr 6;113(4):781-789.
6. Montiel-Rojas D, Nilsson A, Santoro A, Bazzocchi A, de Groot LCPGM, Feskens EJM, Berendsen AAM, Madej D, Kaluza J, Pietruszka B, Jennings A, Fairweather-Tait S, Battista G, Capri M, Franceschi C, Kadi F. Fighting sarcopenia in ageing European adults: the importance of the amount and source of dietary proteins. Nutrients 2020 Nov 24;12(12):3601.
7. Montiel-Rojas D, Santoro A, Nilsson A, Franceschi C, Capri M, Bazzocchi A, Battista G, de Groot LCPGM, Feskens EJM, Berendsen AAM, Bialecka-Debek A, Surala O, Pietruszka B, Fairweather-Tait S, Jennings A, Capel F, Kadi F. Beneficial role of replacing dietary saturated fatty acids by polyunsaturated fatty acids in prevention of sarcopenia: findings from the NU-AGE cohort. Nutrients 2020 Oct9;12(10):3079.
8. Malavolti M, Fairweather-Tait SJ, Malagoli C, Vescovi L, Vinceti M, Filippini T.  Lead exposure in an Italian population: food content, dietary intake and risk assessment. Food Research International 2020 Nov;137:109370. doi: 10.1016/i.foodres.2020.109370.  
9. Ghosh TS, Rampelli S, Jeffery IB, Santoro A, Neto MC, Capri M, Giampieri E, Jennings A, Candela M, Turroni S, Zoetendal E, Hermes GDA, Elodie C, Meunier N, Brugère CM, Pujos-Guillot E, Berendsen AM, de Groot LCPGM, Feskens EJM, Bielak MJ, Kaluza J, Pietruszka B, Comte B, Maijo-Ferre M, Nicoletti C, de Vos W, Fairweather-Tait S, Cassidy A, Brigidi P, Franceschi C, O’Toole PW. Mediterranean diet intervention alters the gut microbiome in older people reducing frailty and improving health status: the NU-AGE 1-year dietary intervention across 5 European countries. Gut. 2020 Feb 17:gutjnl-2019-319654.
10. Jongstra R, Mwangi MN, Burgos G, Zeder C, Low JW, Mzembe G, Liria R, Penny M, Andrade MI, Fairweather-Tait S, Felde TZ, Campos H, Phir KS, Zimmermann MB, Wegmüller R. Iron absorption from iron-biofortified sweet potato is higher than regular sweet potato in Malawian women while iron absorption from regular and iron-biofortified potatoes is high in Peruvian women. J Nutr, nxaa267, https://doi.org/10.1093/jn/nxaa267.
11. Parmanand B, Watson M, Boland KJ, Ramamurthy N, Wharton V, Morovat A, Lund EK, Collier J, Le Gall G, Kellingray L, Fairweather-Tait S, Cobbold JF, Narbad A, Ryan JD, Systemic iron reduction by venesection alters the gut microbiome in patients with haemochromatosis, JHEP Reports (2020), doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhepr.2020.100154.
12. Montiel-Rojas D, Nilsson A, Santoro A, Franceschi C, Bazzocchi A, Battista G, de Groot LCPGM, Feskens EJM, Berendsen A, Pietruszka B, Januszko O, Fairweather-Tait S, Jennings A, Nicoletti C, Kadi F. Dietary fibre may mitigate sarcopenia risk: findings from the NU-AGE cohort of older European adults. Nutrients 2020, 12, 1075.
13. Filippini T, Malavolti M, Borrelli F, Izzo AA, Fairweather-Tait SJ, Norneber M, Vinceti M. Green tea (Camelia sinensis) for the prevention of cancer. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2020, issue 3, Art No CD005004.
14. Fairweather-Tait SJ. Reminiscences of my life as a nutritionist - and looking to the future. Eur J Clin Nutr (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41430-020-0573-z.
15. Filippini T, Malavolti M, Borrelli F, Izzo AA, Fairweather-Tait SJ, Norneber M, Vinceti M. Green tea (Camelia sinensis) for the prevention of cancer. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2020, issue 3, Art No CD005004.
16. Ghosh TS, Rampelli S, Jeffery IB, Santoro A, Neto MC, Capri M, Giampieri E, Jennings A, Candela M, Turroni S, Zoetendal E, Hermes GDA, Elodie C, Meunier N, Brugère CM, Pujos-Guillot E, Berendsen AM, de Groot LCPGM, Feskens EJM, Bielak MJ, Kaluza J, Pietruszka B, Comte B, Maijo-Ferre M, Nicoletti C,14, de Vos W, Fairweather-Tait S, Cassidy A, Brigidi P, Franceschi C, O’Toole PW. Mediterranean diet intervention alters the gut microbiome in older people reducing frailty and improving health status: the NU-AGE 1-year dietary intervention across 5 European countries. Gut 2020 (in press).
17. Fairweather-Tait S, Speich C, Mitchikpè CES, Dainty JR. Dietary iron bioavailability: a simple model that can be used to derive country-specific values for adult men and women. Food Nutr Bull. 2019 Nov 20:379572119885482. doi: 10.1177/0379572119885482.].
18. Jennings A, Tang J, Gillings R, Perfecto A, Dutton J, Speakman J, Fraser WD, Nicoletti C, Berendsen AAM, de Groot LCPGM, Pietruszka B, Jeruszka-Bielak M, Caumon E, Caille A, Ostan R, Franceschi C, Santoro A, Fairweather-Tait SJ. Changing from a Western to a Mediterranean-style diet does not affect iron or selenium status: results of the NU-AGE one year randomized clinical trial in elderly Europeans. Am J Clin Nutr 2020 Jan; 111(1): 98–109.
19. Johnston BC, Zeraatkar D, Han MA, Vernooij RWM, Valli C, Dib RE, Marshall C, Stover PJ, Fairweather-Tait S, Wojcik G, Bhatia F, de Souza R, Brotons C, Meerpohl JJ, Patel CJ, Djulbegovic B, Alonso-Coello P, Bala MM, Guyatt GH. Unprocessed red meat and processed meat consumption: dietary guideline recommendations. Annals of Internal Medicine 1^st October 2019 doi:10.7326/M19-1621.
20. Rodriguez-Ramiro I, Dell'Aquila C, Ward JL, Neal AL, Bruggraber SFA, Shewry PR, Fairweather-Tait S. Estimation of the iron bioavailability in green vegetables using an in vitro digestion/Caco-2 cell model. Food Chemistry 301, 15 December 2019, 125292https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2019.125292.
21. Jennings A, Berendsen AM, de Groot LCPGM, Feskens EJM, Brzozowska A,   Sicinska E, Pietruszka B, Meunier N, Caumon E, Malpuech-Brugère C, Santoro  A, Ostan R, Franceschi C, Gillings R, O' Neill CM, Fairweather-Tait SJ, Minihane AM, Cassidy A. Mediterranean-style diet improves systolic blood pressure and arterial stiffness in older adults. Hypertension. 2019 Jan 14: HYPERTENSIONAHA11812259. doi: 10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.118.12259.  [Epub ahead of print].
22. Giampieri E, Ostan R, Guidarelli G, Salvioli S,Berendsen AAM, Brzozowska A, Pietruszka B, Jennings A, Meunier N, Caumon E, Fairweather-Tait S, Sicinska E, Feskens EJM, de Groot LCPGM, Franceschi C, Santoro S. A novel approach to improve the estimation of a diet adherence considering seasonality and short term variability – the NU-AGE Mediterranean diet experience. Front. Physiol. 10:149. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2019.00149.
23. Parmanand BA, Kellingray L, Le Gall G, Basit AW, Fairweather-Tait S, Narbad A.  A decrease in iron availability to human gut microbiome reduces the growth of potentially pathogenic gut bacteria; an in vitro colonic fermentation study. J Nutritional Biochem 2019;67:20-7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnutbio.2019.01.010.
24. Santoro A, Guidarelli G, Ostan R, Giampieri E, Fabbri C, Bertarelli C, Nicoletti C, Kadi F, de Groot LCPGM, Feskens E, Berendsen A, Brzozowska A, Januszko O, Kozlowska K, Fairweather-Tait S, Jennings A, Meunier N, Caumon E, Napoli A, Mercatelli D, Battista G, Capri M, Franceschi C, Bazzocchi A. Gender-specific association of body composition with inflammatory and adipose-related markers in healthy elderly Europeans from the NU-AGE study. Eur Radiol. 2019 Feb 4. doi: 10.1007/s00330-018-5973-2. [Epub ahead of print].
25. Ostan R, Guidarelli G, Giampieri E, Lanzarini C, Berendsen AAM, Januszko O,   Jennings A, Lyon N, Caumon E, Gillings R, Sicinska E, Meunier N, Feskens E,  Pietruszka B, De Groot LCPGM, Fairweather-Tait S, Capri M, Franceschi C,  Santoro A. Cross-sectional analysis of the correlation between daily nutrient intake assessed by 7-day food records and biomarkers of dietary intake among participants of the NU-AGE study. Frontiers in Physiology 2018;9:1359. doi:10.3389/fphys.2018.01359.
26. Rojas DM, Nilsson A, Ponsot E, Brummer RJ, Fairweather-Tait S, Jennings A, de Groot LC, Berendsen A, Pietruszka B, Madej D, Caumon E, Meunier N, Malpuech-Brugère C, Guidarelli G, Santoro A, Franceschi C, Kadi F. Short telomere length is related to limitations in physical function in elderly European adults. Frontiers in Physiology 2018; 9:1110. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2018.01110.
27. Maijo M, Ivory K, Clements SJ, Dainty JR, Jennings A, Gillings R, Fairweather-Tait S, Gulisano M, Santoro A, Franceschi C, Carding SR, Nicoletti C.One-year consumption of a Mediterranean-like dietary pattern with vitamin D₃  supplements induced small scale but extensive changes of immune cell phenotype, co-receptor expression and innate immune responses in healthy elderly subjects: results from the United Kingdom arm of the NU-AGE trial. Frontiers in Physiology 2018;9:997. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2018.00997.
28. Fairweather-Tait SJ, de Sesmaisons A. Approaches used to estimate   bioavailability when deriving dietary reference values for iron and zinc in adults. Proc Nutr Soc. 2018 Jul 27:1-7. doi: 10.1017/S0029665118000484.
29. Jennings A, Cashman KD, Gillings R, Cassidy A, Tang J, Fraser W, Dowling KG, Hull GLJ, Berendsen AAM, de Groot LCPGM, Pietruszka B, Wierzbicka E, Ostan R, Bazzocchi A, Battista G,  Caumon E, Meunier N, Malpuech-Brugère C, Franceschi C, Santoro A, Fairweather-Tait SJ. A Mediterranean-like dietary pattern with vitamin D3 (10 µg/day) supplements reduced rate of bone loss in older Europeans with osteoporosis at baseline: results of a one year randomised controlled trial. Am J Clin Nutr. 2018 Jul 11. doi: 10.1093/ajcn/nqy122. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 30007343.
30. Perfecto A, Rodriguez-Ramiro I, Rodriguez-Celma J, Sharp P, Balk J, Fairweather-Tait S. Pea ferritin stability under gastric pH conditions determines the mechanism of iron uptake in Caco-2 cells. J Nutr. 2018 Jun 22. doi: 10.1093/jn/nxy096. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 29939292.
31. Chiocchetti GM, De Nadai Fernandes EA, Wawer AA, Fairweather-Tait S, Christides T. In vitro iron bioavailability of Brazilian food-based by-products. Medicines 2018, 5, 45; doi:10.3390/medicines5020045.
32. Wawer AA, Jennings A, Fairweather-Tait SJ. Iron status in the elderly: A review of recent evidence. Mech Ageing Dev. 2018 Oct;175:55-73. doi:  10.1016/j.mad.2018.07.003.
33. Moore KL, Rodríguez-Ramiro I, Jones ER, Jones EJ, Rodríguez-Celma J, Halsey K, Domoney C, Shewry PR, Fairweather-Tait S, Balk J. The stage of seed development influences iron bioavailability in pea (Pisum sativum L.). Sci Rep. 2018 May 2;8(1):6865. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-25130-3.
34. Lynch S, Pfeiffer CM, Georgieff MK, Brittenham G, Fairweather-Tait S, Hurrell RF, McArdle HJ, Raiten DJ. Biomarkers of nutrition for development (BOND) – iron review. J Nutr. 2018 Jun 1;148(suppl_1):1001S-1067S. doi: 10.1093/jn/nxx036. PMID: 29878148.
35. Marseglia A, Xu W, Fratiglioni L, Fabbri C, Berendsen AAM, Bialecka-Debek A, Jennings A, Gillings R, Meunier N, Caumon E, Fairweather-Tait S, Pietruszka B, de Groot LCPGM, Santoro A, Franceschi C. Effect of the NU-AGE Diet on Cognitive Functioning in Older Adults: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Frontiers in Physiology 4;9:349. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2018.00349. eCollection 2018.

Current teaching activity is focused on undergraduate medical degree students (nutrition, diet and health and preventive medicine) and PA masters. students. Lectures include nutritional anaemias, vitamins and minerals, food allergy and intolerance, and obesity (malnutrition).

Co-lead for MB/BS Nutrition Theme

Module 12 tutor

BIO Promotions Panel member