Aug 4, 2026 · 56 min · 12 segments
What does the evidence actually show when we look at plant-based dietary patterns through the lens of food processing? And does classifying foods as "ultra-processed" meaningfully change how we…
Alicia ThompsonGuest
Danny LennonHost
So with that out of the way, let's jump into this conversation between myself and Dr. Alicia Thompson.
I think as I mentioned to you, as I'm sure we'll get to a bit later on, after reading one of your publications, I thought not only was it an, an excellent paper that we'll talk about, but also raises some really important points that are big topics in nutrition science at the moment.
But before I get into any of my questions, can you let people know a bit about your work, your research interests, anything else you think might be relevant to them?
My name is Alicia Thompson, and I'm a research fellow at the Cohort Center for Sustainable Food Systems at Queen's University Belfast.
So I'm interested in how habitual dietary patterns relate to long-term health outcomes, particularly chronic diseases like Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and also mortality.
So a lot of my work thus far has been on plant-based diets, but really trying to move beyond the simple question of whether someone eats a plant-based diet or not.
I'm interested in the quality within the plant-based dietary pattern because two people can have very different plant-based diets.
Alongside that, I've also worked on flavonoids, flavonoid-rich foods, which fit quite naturally into this area, so foods like tea, berries, citrus fruits, and other plant foods that contribute to a range of bioactive compounds.
And we're interested in how these patterns are also associated with better long-term health.
And then more recently, this paper on plant-based diets and ultra-processed foods has come about.
And again, we're just, again, delving into the area of plant-based diet quality and what contributes to this.
So with that out of the way, let's jump into this conversation between myself and Dr. Alicia Thompson.
I think as I mentioned to you, as I'm sure we'll get to a bit later on, after reading one of your publications, I thought not only was it an, an excellent paper that we'll talk about, but also raises some really important points that are big topics in nutrition science at the moment.
But before I get into any of my questions, can you let people know a bit about your work, your research interests, anything else you think might be relevant to them?
My name is Alicia Thompson, and I'm a research fellow at the Cohort Center for Sustainable Food Systems at Queen's University Belfast.
So I'm interested in how habitual dietary patterns relate to long-term health outcomes, particularly chronic diseases like Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and also mortality.
So a lot of my work thus far has been on plant-based diets, but really trying to move beyond the simple question of whether someone eats a plant-based diet or not.
I'm interested in the quality within the plant-based dietary pattern because two people can have very different plant-based diets.
Alongside that, I've also worked on flavonoids, flavonoid-rich foods, which fit quite naturally into this area, so foods like tea, berries, citrus fruits, and other plant foods that contribute to a range of bioactive compounds.
And we're interested in how these patterns are also associated with better long-term health.
And then more recently, this paper on plant-based diets and ultra-processed foods has come about.
And again, we're just, again, delving into the area of plant-based diet quality and what contributes to this.
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