Name: Dr Kristina PENTIEVA

School: Biomedical Sciences

Position: Senior Lecturer (Human Nutrition)

Academic and Professional Qualifications/Membership

1981
1985
1989
1994
1995
2011 / MD [Medicine] (First)
PhD[Medical Sciences]
PgD [Nutrition&Dietetics]
PgD [Toxicology]
PgD [Maternal&Child Nutrition]
(Distinction)
PgCHEP
Fellow of the Higher Education Academy / Medical University, Sofia, Bulgaria
Medical University, Sofia, Bulgaria
Medical University, Sofia, Bulgaria
Medical University, Sofia, Bulgaria
International Agricultural Centre, Wageningen, The Netherlands
University of Ulster, UK
Higher Education Academy, UK

Brief Outline of Career History

2004-present Senior Lecturer/Senior Research Fellow University of Ulster

1998-2004 Research Fellow/Research Officer University of Ulster

1996-1998 Postdoctoral Fellow MRC, University of Cambridge, UK

1985-1996Senior Researcher/Researcher National Centre of Hygiene, Bulgaria

Professional Activities outside the Institution:

  • The Nutrition Society;
  • Fellow of the Higher Education Academy UK;
  • Editorial board member of journal “Nutrients”
  • Member of the EFSA working group for updating dietary vitamin requirements for the European population
  • Member of the Panelon Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies, EFSA

Research Interests:

Micronutrient requirements and recommendations for intake in humans: B-vitamin status, homocysteine and disease; Food folate: Bioavailability; Food fortification, functional foods; Micronutrients and antioxidant status; Micronutrients and toxicity

Total Number of Publications/Public Output to Date:80+

Details of Some Recent Publications:

  • Pentieva K, Selhub J, Paul, L., Molloy AM, McNulty B, Ward M, Marshall B, Dornan J, Reilly R, Parle-McDermott A, Bradbury I, Ozaki M, Scott JM, McNulty H. Evidence from a randomized trial that exposure to supplemental folic acid at recommended levels during pregnancy does not lead to increased unmetabolized folic acid concentration in maternal or cord blood. The Journal of Nutrition 2016; 146(3):494–500.PMID: 26817717 doi:10.3945/jn.115.223644
  • Irwin RE, Pentieva K, Cassidy T, Lees-Murdock DJ, McLaughlin M, Prasad G, McNulty H, Walsh CP. The interplay between DNA methylation, folate and neurocognitive development. Epigenomics 2016; 3. doi:10.2217/epi-2016-0003
  • McGarel C, Pentieva K, Strain JJ, McNulty H.Emerging roles for folate and related B-vitamins in brain health across the lifecycle.Proc Nutr Soc. 2015 74(1):46-55. doi: 10.1017/S0029665114001554.
  • Reilly R, McNulty H, Pentieva K, Strain JJ, Ward M.MTHFR 677TT genotype and disease risk: is there a modulating role for B-vitamins? Proc Nutr Soc 2014;73(1):47-56.doi:10.1017/S0029665113003613