A high-protein Mediterranean diet and resistance training on the amelioration of cardiometabolic risk markers in cardiac rehabilitation patients with sarcopenic obesity

This is an exciting opportunity to develop your research skills and start a scientific career in the fields of health, nutrition and exercise.

In the UK, cardiovascular disease (CVD) is behind 1 in 4 deaths, killing 150,000 people every year. Cardiac rehabilitation has contributed to reduce the number of fatal outcomes, using an approach based on exercise training plus advice on healthy lifestyle, including healthy eating and management of overweight. In the cardiac population, we find an obesity paradox, where patients can present low body fat but of a predominant abdominal distribution, and low lean mass. This combination of low lean mass and low, abdominally distributed fat mass is known as sarcopenic obesity (SO), and it is linked to greater risk of CVD and increased mortality. Therefore, increasing relative lean mass content, rather than promoting weight loss, is an appropriate target in cardiac rehabilitation patients. High protein intakes combined with resistance training can positively influence muscle mass.

This project will study the prevalence of sarcopenic obesity in cardiac rehabilitation patients, and its relationship with CVD risk markers, and will investigate the effects of a high-protein, Mediterranean-style diet on body composition and CVD risk markers.

You will be part of a multidisciplinary group, which results from the collaboration between Liverpool John Moores University (the School of Natural Sciences and Psychology and the School of Sports Studies, Leisure and Nutrition) and the University of Chester (Department of Clinical Sciences and Nutrition). The supervisory team have expertise in obesity (Dr Fatima Perez de Heredia, LJMU), cardiovascular health (Dr Ian Davies, LJMU) and nutrition (Dr Tom Butler, University of Chester).

The successful candidate should have a UK honours degree (or equivalent) in nutrition, sports science, biology or another relevant discipline, and be in possession of (or expect to complete soon) a postgraduate degree relevant to nutrition.