In this opening keynote, Patrick Holden will explore why improving health must begin with the food system itself. He will discuss the links between soil health, farming practices, food quality and human wellbeing, and why a shift towards real, sustainably produced food is essential for tackling chronic disease. Setting the wider context for the day, the session will reconnect healthcare with the origins of the food we eat and the systems that produce it—offering a food-system perspective that complements later discussions on how food can be transformed within healthcare settings.

Teaching nutrition alone is not enough if people lack the confidence, skills and opportunity to cook. This session will explore the rise of ultra-processed foods, the decline in cooking literacy, and the urgent need to reconnect individuals and communities with real, minimally processed food. It will highlight how restoring everyday cooking skills and reclaiming a vibrant real food culture can empower healthier lives, stronger communities, and a more hopeful future for public health.

Drawing on the growing evidence linking plant-rich diets with improved outcomes in chronic disease and overall health, the presentation will explore how healthcare institutions can translate nutrition science into everyday practice through catering and clinical pathways. It will share early examples of implementation and consider how hospitals can model healthier food environments for patients, staff, and communities while supporting wider NHS priorities around prevention and wellbeing.

Insulin resistance is the epidemic hiding in plain sight. It is a primary driver of heart disease, dementia, and some cancers, yet most women seeking to prevent these conditions have either never heard of insulin resistance or mistakenly believe it is mainly about blood sugar. Drawing on clinical experience and emerging research, Dr Lara Briden will challenge glucose-centric and calorie-restriction models, reframing metabolic health as a whole-body hormonal state that is highly responsive to targeted nourishment and other interventions. She will outline a practical troubleshooting framework by surveying common metabolic obstacles, including what she has identified as the five missing metabolic nutrients.

With the rapid rise of GLP-1 medications transforming obesity and metabolic care, clinicians are increasingly faced with questions about where food-based interventions fit within treatment pathways. This panel will explore how nutrition, lifestyle medicine and pharmacology can be integrated to deliver personalised, sustainable metabolic care.

 

Chronic Kidney Disease is often viewed as a late-stage condition managed pharmacologically, yet evidence shows that diet, metabolic health and inflammatory load influence renal decline long before diagnosis. This presentation explores how personalised nutrition and lifestyle strategies can support kidney health and help slow disease progression.

Calcium oxalate is the leading cause of kidney stones, yet its potential systemic effects are rarely explored despite evidence that oxalates can deposit in tissues, disrupt cellular function and calcium balance, and promote immune activation and oxidative stress. A review of 15 patients at the Functional Nexus Clinic found that lowering dietary oxalates was associated with improvement in a range of chronic extra-renal symptoms, highlighting the need for further research into systemic oxalosis.

Despite advances in pharmacological therapies, many patients with Inflammatory bowel disease continue to experience persistent symptoms and reduced quality of life, while access to specialist dietary support within NHS services remains limited. This session explores the emerging evidence linking diet, the gut microbiome, and inflammatory pathways, and illustrates through a real-world case study how personalised nutritional interventions, integrated alongside medical care, can support improved symptom control, patient self-management, and overall outcomes in IBD.

Dr Staci Whitman will unpack the emerging science of the mouth-gut-body axis and its role in whole-person health. She will explore how diet influences the oral microbiome, how oral health affects the …

From mental health challenges to ecological instability, today’s crises may be more connected than we think. Dr Robert Lustig argues that the modern food system—particularly ultra-processed foods—may be a central driver linking human health, social wellbeing, and planetary sustainability.