Simon Steenson

Dietary sugars and cardiometabolic health

Diet and gastrointestinal health

Healthy and sustainable diets

Simon is a Postdoctoral Research Associate within the Department of Nutritional Sciences at King’s College London. After completing a BSc in Nutritional Biochemistry at the University of Nottingham, Simon spent 18 months working as a researcher within the Nutrition and Bone Health Group at the MRC Human Nutrition Research Unit in Cambridge. Following this, Simon completed a four-year BBSRC-sponsored Doctoral Training Programme in Nutritional Sciences at the University of Surrey, earning his PhD in September 2018.

His research focused on on the impact of fructose sugar on fat metabolism in the small intestine (including de novo lipogenesis), involving both a human intervention study, as well as mechanistic work with Caco-2 cells, which was completed as a Visiting Researcher at the University of Reading. Simon has since worked as a Nutrition Scientist at the British Nutrition Foundation and as the Head of Research Interpretation at the World Cancer Research Fund, gaining a breadth of experience in the interpretation and dissemination of nutrition science across a broad range of areas, including work with stakeholders across the media, food industry, academia, government, and education sectors.

Simon's current research (supervised by Prof Kevin Whelan) is investigating the effects of fructose on NAFLD (non-alcoholic fatty liver disease), working with external collaborators at Queen Mary University of London. Simon is also contributing to the FruGut study, working with Dr Dominic Farsi. He also contributes to coursework and examination assessments within the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics. 

Simon holds titles as an Honorary Research fellow at Queen Mary University and as an Honorary Assistant Professor within the School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham.