Dr Luciana Torquati

About me:

Luciana is a Senior Lecturer in Nutrition and registered nutritionist with the Association for Nutrition (UK), and her research is multi-disciplinary working with colleagues in Natural Sciences, Bioscience, Sport Science, and Psychology. Her overarching theme is how modifying diet and gut microbiome can promote health and prevent chronic disease; either by direct changes in diet composition or diet behaviour (perceptions, nutrition education, cooking skills, self-efficacy).

Luciana joined Exeter in 2019 as a Lecturer in Nutrition. Before this, she was at The University of Queensland (Australia), where she completed her PhD in Nutrition and Dietetics. Her thesis discussed the development and evaluation of a diet and physical activity program for nurses. After that, her post-doctoral training looked at the effect of work patterns on energy balance, and physical and mental health.

She is currently researching inulin (fermentable fibre) supplementation on different gut microbiome-mediated outcomes. These include improved health and performance in athletes, and reduced cardiovascular disease and inflammation to sustain healthy ageing. Her work has also included projects with industry, including fermented foods characterisation (Benetts Kombucha, Exeter) and phytochemical bioavailability in broccoli (QUEX PhD studentship and PepsiCo).