Dr Maria Traka

Maria is the Deputy Head of Food Databanks National Capability (FDNC), based at Quadram Institute Bioscience. FDNC is a national coordinating ‘hub’ in food, nutrition and health and the leading national provider of new and continuously updated data, tools and services vital for public health, research and innovation. Their Composition of Foods Integrated Dataset (otherwise known as McCance and Widdowson data), food bioactives composition datasets, and associated tools are used by academia and industry and are vital for UK public health with respect to understanding the effect of diet and its dietary components on health, as well as in the development of healthier food products.

Maria’s research interests lie in understanding the role of plant-rich diets in improving health. She is committed to improving and facilitating the adoption of dietary assessment technology (diet apps, Mobile Health etc.) in clinical nutrition research and the assessment of plant-derived bioactives alongside nutrients in diets. She has an active interest in understanding the role of diet in regulating gut microbiome and using data-driven approaches in personalised nutrition.