Dr Lim Jia Jiet

Profile

I completed my BSc (Hons) Nutrition at the University of Nottingham (Malaysia) in 2016. My final year project was a cross-sectional study investigating the association between dietary salt intake and blood pressure in young university adults. I subsequently completed my doctorate at the University of Auckland (New Zealand) in 2021. The PhD studentship was funded by the Riddet Institute (a New Zealand Centre of Research Excellence).

I am an early-career health researcher with >7 years experience in conduction nutrition intervention studies. My Phd focused on unravelling the biological mechanisms of appetite hormones (e.g. GLP-1) and amino acids on regulating appetite, towards the ultimate objective of understanding how dietary proteins influence energy intake and weight management. I have been awarded a PhD Output Award to publish my statitsical modelling of appetite response comprising multiple appetite-related hormones and amino acids, termed “satiety fingerprint”. I have made a novel discovery that “hypo-glycinemia” is associated with increasing hunger response and uncovered an intriguing inverse association between glycine and branched-chain amino acids (BCAA) in the blood following protein intake.

Following my PhD, I work as a Research Fellow at the University of Auckland, wokring on 4 nutrition trials under the New Zealand’s National Science Challenge – High Value Nutrition program, of which I had the opportunity to conduct a gold-standard residential trial investigating the effects of ethnicity and diets on markers of diabetes in Asian Chinese vs European Caucasian populations in Auckland, New Zealand. I also had I am also keen in participating in collaborative investigations, where i collaborated with the PREVIEW-NZ Study consortium to investigate the BCAA-glycine hypothesis, and with Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (Ghana) evaluating the benefits of cocoa on cardiovascular health.

I join the School of Food Science and Nutrition in November 2024, working as a Research Fellow in Appetite and Energy Balance. I will be mainly working on the EMBED Study, which aim to understand the effect of different rate of weight loss on body composition, in turn attempting to unravel how the loss of fat-free mass acts as a signal to drive motivation to eat. I also hold an Honarary Academic position at the University of Auckland, closely working with my previous team on intervention projects related to diabetes prevention. 

Grants:

2024 – Maurice and Phyllis Paykel Trust Project Grant, New Zealand.

Scholarship and Awards:

2021 – PhD Output Award, University of Auckland, New Zealand.

2019 – Best Poster Presentation (2^nd Runner Up), University of Auckland, New Zealand.

2016 – 2020 Riddet Institute PhD Scholarship, New Zealand.

Research interests

1. Nutrition intervention trials focusing on appetite control, weight loss, dietary protein intake and diabetes prevention.
2. Markers of appetite (GLP-1, PYY, GIP, Amylin) –  What are we measuring and what it means?
3. Amino acid metabolism – Investigation of BCAA-glycine relationship following dietary protein intake and what it means to metabolic health?
4. Glucoregulatory peptides (Insulin, C-peptides, glucagon)
5. Body compostion
6. Resting and postprandial energy expenditure

Qualifications

• PhD in Biological Science, University of Auckland, New Zealand.
• BSc (Hons) Nutrition, University of Nottingham, Malaysia.

Professional memberships

• Registered Nutritionist, Nutrition Society of New Zealand.