Andrew Salter

Professor of Nutritional Biochemistry, Future Food Beacon, University of Nottingham
Andy Salter is a Professor of Nutritional Biochemistry in the School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham. He has served two terms as Head of Division of Nutritional Sciences (2006-2009 and 2012-2018). He has also served (2012-2018) as a Trustee and Honorary Scientific Officer of the UK & Ireland Nutrition Society. He is currently on the Management Team of the University of Nottingham Future Food Beacon and leads the Future Protein Research Platform.

In 1982 he completed his PhD studies at Guy's Hospital Medical School (University of London) looking at looking at lipoprotein metabolism and cardiovascular disease in patients with Diabetes Mellitus. He then moved to the University of Toronto, Canada where he extend this work to look at changes in lipoprotein metabolism associated with obesity. In 1984 he moved to the University of Nottingham Medical School to take up a British Heart Foundation Fellowship focussed on dietary and hormonal control of hepatic lipid and lipoprotein metabolism.

He moved to the School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham in 1989 to take up a lectureship and where, with funding from Leverhulme Trust, British Heart Foundation and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, he has continued to study the molecular mechanisms whereby diet impacts on lipid metabolism in relation to metabolic disease. This work has also been extended to look at how the fat and fatty acid composition of animal products (meat and milk) can me manipulated to produce healthier products. In recent years he has also developed a parallel research portfolio associated with Global Food Security. This has specifically focused on the sustainable production of novel sources of dietary lipids and proteins, as both human foods and feeds for aquaculture and farm animal production.

Current research:

My long-term research interests focus on the impact of diet on chronic metabolic disease. In particular, I am interested in how diet impacts on lipid and lipoprotein metabolism and how this influences susceptibility to cardiovascular disease. Much of my work has been associated understanding the role of the liver in regulating lipid metabolism and, with the rapid rise in the occurrence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, the interaction of diet and lifestyle and genetic factors in the development of fatty liver has become a major focus our our work.

I have also developed a parallel research portfolio associated with Global Food Security. This has specifically focused on the sustainable production of novel sources of dietary lipids and proteins, as both human foods and feeds for aquaculture and farm animal production. With a combination of funding from government (including British Council and Innovate UK), and industry, this has included studies looking at strategies to reduce the over-consumption of red meat (in collaboration with Marlow Foods), the use of insects as a replacement of fishmeal in aquaculture (in collaboration with Crops for the Future, Malaysia) and as feed for farm animals (in collaboration with ABAgri). We are also working with the largest Insect producer in the UK (Monkfield Nutrition) to increase efficiency of insect production.