REDs: what is new?

José L Areta currently works as a lecturer in Sports Nutrition and Metabolism at the School of Sport and Exercise Sciences at LJMU. His work has provided novel insights in relation to the amount, timing, quantity and distribution of carbohydrates, fat and protein and dietary supplements around training. Originally trained as a Biologist (with a minor in Zoology) at the National University of La Plata in Argentina, he specialised in exercise physiology and nutrition during his PhD at RMIT University in Australia working with world-leaders in his field. As part of his PhD he led human research trials at the prestigious Australian Institute of Sport and established links with researchers of different Universities and institutes in Australia.

Following his PhD he undertook post-doctoral training at the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, a world-leading institute in sport and exercise sciences. Jose is also a lifelong athlete, in parallel with his academic work José not only has competed in different sports (predominantly endurance-based), in some cases at National-level, but also works closely with top endurance athletes and teams to optimise their training and nutrition for performance.

Neil Walsh is currently a professor at Liverpool John Moores University. Prior to working at LJMU, Neil spent 19 years at Bangor University where his team produced leading research on: nutritional strategies to avoid immune suppression and infection; practical strategies to acclimate to the heat; and, new techniques for non-invasive biomonitoring of athletes and soldiers. His team’s work has influenced UK military policy by showing the benefits of preventing nutritional deficits in soldiers for both immune health and physical performance. Neil has published widely in international journals, co-authored a textbook in Exercise Immunology and led a highly cited consensus statement on exercise and immunity in 2011.

More recently, Neil has co-authored consensus statements on ‘dietary supplements and the high-performance athlete’ for the International Olympic Committee and ‘immunonutrition and exercise’ for the International Society of Exercise Immunology. He currently serves on the editorial board of Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise and Exercise Immunology Review and has previously served as Physiology editor for Journal of Sports Sciences. Neil frequently provides education and training for staff at world-leading sports teams and organisations.

Professor Asker Jeukendrup is one of the world’s leading sports nutritionists and exercise physiologist who spent most of his career as a professor at the University of Birmingham (UK) as Head of The Human Performance Laboratory. Currently he is a (visiting) professor at Loughborough University. He has authored 9 books and over 250 research papers and book chapters. During his career Asker has worked at the forefront of research as well as directly with athletes, including Olympic and World champions, Tour de France cyclists and Champions league football teams.