Rebecca Denniss: research on nutrition and concussions

Doctoral researcher Rebecca Denniss is the author of our page on Nutrition, so we asked Rebecca tell us about her research.

Rebecca has an MSc in cognitive neuroscience and is currently a doctoral researcher at Sheffield Hallam University in the UK, under the supervision of Dr. Lynne Barker, Dr. Catherine Day, and Dr. Paul Richardson, investigating the potential for micronutrient interventions to improve cognition following traumatic brain injury. You can read more about Rebecca here.

For my research I am giving my participants supplements; however, it is always better to eat whole foods. I felt that at this early stage of my research it might be asking too much of my participants to change their diet without the supporting evidence that it would have a positive impact. I made this research decision despite the anecdotal evidence I have had from people who have changed their diet post-injury and have felt that their cognition has improved as a result of the change.

In the future, I plan to take the results from my current research and refine it to really find out exactly what works and what exactly it improves in terms of cognition. I also plan to share what I find with medical professionals who work with individuals who have sustained a concussion or traumatic brain injury and hopefully have dietary advice given out as standard practice.