Dr Maria Maynard
Reader in Public Health Nutrition | Leeds Beckett University
Leeds, England, UNITED KINGDOM
Expertise in the health & diets of minority ethnic & migrant communities - exploring nutrition-related inequalities, obesity & diabetes.
Areas of Expertise (7)
Communities
Obesity
Nutrition
Migrant Health
Diet and Inequality
Healthy Living
Deprivation
Biography
Dr Maria Maynard is Reader in Public Health Nutrition in the Nutrition and Dietetics Group, School of Clinical and Applied Sciences at Leeds Beckett University. She leads the Migrant Health Research group and the Inequalities theme of the Applied Obesity Research Centre. Her expertise is in the health and diets of minority ethnic and migrant communities - exploring aspects such as nutrition-related inequalities, obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. She works with those who are living with multiple levels of deprivation to understand how to address better health outcomes that prioritise their own perspectives, cultures, traditions and food preferences. She has undertaken work with the Black Health Initiative, the Leeds West Indian Centre Charitable Trust, Leeds City Council and Public Health England.
Maria co-founded and co-managed the DASH longitudinal study of the health of young people from diverse ethnic groups in London. She works internationally as the UK lead of a multidisciplinary and multi-agency network funded by the Global Challenges Research Fund conducting projects addressing malnutrition, urban renewal and sustainable livelihoods among vulnerable women and their children in Ghana and Nigeria. Maria is also on the Editorial Board of the the journal BMC Public Health.
Multimedia Appearances
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Education (3)
Leeds Beckett University: Post-Graduate Certificate Academic Practice 2014
University of Bristol: Ph.D., Nutritional Epidemiology 2000
University of London: B.Sc., Nutrition 1991
Affiliations (7)
- Chair, Race Equality and Diversity forum
- Member, Nutrition Society
- Member, Society for Social Medicine
- Member, European Public Health Association
- Member, Association for Nutrition
- Associate Member, International Centre for Life course Studies in Society & Health
- Member, Black British Academics
Links (2)
Event Appearances (5)
Building international collaborations: nutritional status and interventions
Department of Public Health (2019) University of Ghana
Psychosocial determinants and health in young adults. Ethnicity, migration and health inequalities: data opportunities and gaps
The MRC DASH study (2018) University of Sheffield
Views on risk, prevention and management of type 2 diabetes among UK Black Caribbeans in the FOODEY study
1st World Congress on Migration, Ethnicity, Race & Health (2018) Edinburgh, Scotland
Ethnicity and Health in the FOODEY, DASH, & DEAL studies: current approaches and future directions
Public Health Research Seminar Series (2018) University of Salford
Migrant Health Research Group: the FOODEY study
Interdisciplinary Research Network Event (2017) Leeds Beckett University
Articles (5)
Weight misperception and psychological symptoms from adolescence to young adulthood: longitudinal study of an ethnically diverse UK cohort
BMC Public Health2020 To evaluate the association between weight misperception and psychological symptoms in the Determinants of young Adults Social well-being and Health (DASH) longitudinal study.
Improved prediction equations for estimating height in adults from ethnically diverse backgrounds
Clinical Nutrition2020 When body height cannot be measured, it can be predicted from ulna length (UL). However, commonly used published prediction equations may not provide useful estimates in adults from all ethnicities. This study aimed to evaluate the relationship between UL and height in adults from diverse ethnic groups and to consider whether this can be used to provide useful prediction equations for height in practice.
Minority men's engagement with health promotion (Boyz2men): an exploratory cross-sectional study
The Lancet2020 Ethnic health disparities continue to widen in the UK. For example, UK black men have double the risk of prostate cancer compared with white men, and deprivation has a greater negative impact on men's health outcomes than on women's.
Nutrient Composition of Popularly Consumed African and Caribbean Foods in The UK
Foods2019 Traditional foods are important in the diets of Black Africans and Caribbeans and, more widely, influence UK food culture. However, little is known about the nutritional status of these ethnic groups and the nutrient composition of their traditional foods.
Fruit and vegetable consumption and mental health across adolescence: evidence from a diverse urban British cohort study
International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity2019 Evidence on the relationship between fruit and vegetable consumption (FV) and mental health in adolescence is sparse and inconsistent. Social determinants of FV include ethnicity, family environments and economic disadvantage.
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