About

Assoc. Professor Antigone Kouris

PhD, APD, AN

Antigone is an Accredited Practising Dietitian with over 30 years experience as a clinician, researcher, author, educator and more recently food product developer.

• She has a PhD in Nutrition from the Faculty of Medicine at Monash University, Bachelor of Science  with Honours in Biochemistry/Microbiology from Melbourne University and Post Graduate Diplomas in Dietetics from Deakin University and Botanic Medicine from Newcastle University. 
• She has over 50 published papers (>1300 citations, h-index of 17), has co-authored 35 chapters to 7 university text books, has authored 3 of her own books (including a MediterAsian cook book) and contributed to numerous reports for the Australian Government and World Health Organisation. 
• She worked with and was mentored by the esteemed physician, medical nutritionist and scientist Professor Mark Wahlqvist MD, FRACP, AO for 20 years, primarily in the Department of Medicine at Monash University, where she did her PhD and contributed to the medical curriculum.  Her PhD was the first study to show that adherence to a Mediterranean Diet Pattern (MDP) in old age conferred longevity, resulting in a landmark paper in the British Medical Journal in 1995. Her research team at the time was also the first to develop a validated MDP score, enabling many researchers around the world to study the health benefits of the MDP contributing to the huge body of evidence surrounding this diet. She also coordinated an international cross-sectional study on 800 elderly from 4 countries called the “Food Habits in Later Life study”, which included Anglo-Celtic and Greek Australians, Aboriginal Australians in Western Australia, Greeks in Spata Greece, Swedes and Japanese. She was also the managing editor of the Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition for 4 years.
• She runs two businesses:
  1) private practice (in 2 locations) as a clinical dietitian specializing in the evidence and application of nutraceuticals and tailored diets to manage/treat over 20 conditions. She has over 30 years experience working with patients.
  2) food product development company specializing in functional low sugar high fibre cookies made with lupin.
• In 2011 she joined the Discipline of Dietetics at La Trobe University in Melbourne to contribute to dietetic training and to conduct studies on the Mediterranean diet as well as clinical trials on functional foods (lupin biscuits), herbs, spices and nutraceuticals. 
• She is an advocate of pulses (especially lupin)  due to their potential in improving the gut microbiome and in lowering blood sugars, cholesterol, blood pressure and weight.