Exercise, immunity and infection

Michael Gleeson is Emeritus Professor of Exercise Biochemistry at Loughborough University. He retired in 2016 after 40 years of research and teaching mostly related to the diet, metabolism, health and performance of athletes. He had a particular interest in the effects of diet and exercise on the function of the immune system and is a Past-President of the International Society of Exercise and Immunology (ISEI). He has provided advice on minimising risks of infection and nutritional strategies to maintain immune function to numerous sports clubs and organisations.

Michael has co-authored several books on exercise biochemistry, sport nutrition and exercise immunology and published over 200 research papers in scientific and medical journals. In the past few years has contributed to international expert consensus reviews sponsored by the IOC (influence of training load on illness and injury risk), ISEI (immuno-nutrition), ISSN (probiotics and the athlete gut microbiota) and UEFA (nutrition in elite football) as well as completing the 3rd edition of his highly popular book Sport Nutrition co-authored with Professor Asker Jeukendrup. In 2020 he released his first solo books: Eat, Move, Sleep, Repeat, Beating Type 2 Diabetes and The Pick’n Mix Diet. These are a series of healthy lifestyle guidebooks that have been written for the benefit of public health.