John Monro

Biography

Dr John Monro is a scientist with Plant & Food Research working with carbohydrates. His recent work has included the development of the Glycaemic Glucose Equivalents (GGE)/serve measure, or Glycaemic Load, which represents the impact of a specified amount of food on blood glucose levels. He has also developed a similar measure for the availability of dietary fibre. Dr Monro's work in association with the New Zealand Food Composition Database led him to an interest in food composition data and motivated him to find guides to healthy food choices that overcame some of the inadequacies of dietary fibre, available carbohydrate, and glycaemic indices. He received his PhD in Plant Chemistry from Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand, while employed by the then Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR). His initial research was on the structure of plant cell walls, followed by research on the plant cell walls in the ruminant nutrition, and then on dietary fibre in human nutrition. He has also completed a Master of Arts degree majoring in psychology. Dr Monro has had several prominent roles including editorships of Food Chemistry and Nutrition Society of New Zealand and he is a member of the Australian and New Zealand Food Authority expert committee on food labelling. A prolific publication record and numerous presentations of research findings around the world have covered his work in the fields of evidence-based food choice, measuring and communicating the effects of foods on health and psychological functionality of food. Dr John Monro is a scientist with Plant & Food Research working with carbohydrates. His recent work has included the development of the Glycaemic Glucose Equivalents (GGE)/serve measure, or Glycaemic Load, which represents the impact of a specified amount of food on blood glucose levels. He has also developed a similar measure for the availability of dietary fibre. Dr Monro's work in association with the New Zealand Food Composition Database led him to an interest in food composition data and motivated him to find guides to healthy food choices that overcame some of the inadequacies of dietary fibre, available carbohydrate, and glycaemic indices. He received his PhD in Plant Chemistry from Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand, while employed by the then Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR). His initial research was on the structure of plant cell walls, followed by research on the plant cell walls in the ruminant nutrition, and then on dietary fibre in human nutrition. He has also completed a Master of Arts degree majoring in psychology. Dr Monro has had several prominent roles including editorships of Food Chemistry and Nutrition Society of New Zealand and he is a member of the Australian and New Zealand Food Authority expert committee on food labelling. A prolific publication record and numerous presentations of research findings around the world have covered his work in the fields of evidence-based food choice, measuring and communicating the effects of foods on health and psychological functionality of food.

Research Interest

Food Chemistry and Nutrition