Dr Catarina Rendeiro

Supervisor Details

Contact Details

Dr Catarina Rendeiro

School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Birmingham

Scientific Background

Research Interests

Catarina’s research objectives are:

Establish mechanistic links between peripheral and cerebrovascular responses to dietary components, particularly plant-derived flavonoids.
Investigate the role of dietary flavonoids in affecting peripheral and cerebrovascular responses to physical activity and also physical inactivity.
Understand how diet can affect vascular responses to mental stress.

The ultimate goal of Catarina’s research is to establish effective lifestyle strategies that include both exercise and diet to improve peripheral vascular function, cerebrovascular function and mental health across different populations and throughout the lifespan.

Supervision Style

In three words or phrases: detail-oriented, collaborative, student-centred.

Provision of Training

I prefer to take responsibility for your technical training at first, leading to more independence later. Your technical training will also be supervised by my other more experienced PhD students.

Progression Monitoring and Management

We will define goals together in a regular basis and meet regularly to help you move along and to try tackle any problems that you might be facing. I do have high expectations but will help you to push yourself to your full potential. I am also very personable and always here for advice, scientific or otherwise.

Communication

I usually communicate with my students by email but they also have my personal number and can reach me in WhatsApp if they need to. I am flexible in terms of frequency and timings of 1 to 1 meetings, but expect you to take the lead on those meetings. I am always happy to discuss any issues (work or personal) that may impact your ability to achieve your goals during your PhD.

PhD Students can expect scheduled meetings with me:

In a group meeting

At least once per fortnight

In year 1 of PhD study

At least once per week

In year 2 of PhD study

At least once per fortnight

In year 3 of PhD study

At least once per fortnight

Meetings will be face to face, and I am usually contactable for an instant response on every working day.

Working Pattern

Certain tasks in my lab need to occur at set times, and students need to be able to commit to a rota/timetable shared with other members of the team.

Notice Period for Feedback

I need at least 2 week’s notice to provide feedback on written work of up to 5000 words.

MIBTP Project Details

Current Projects (2025-26)

Primary supervisor for:

'De-Stressing the brain’: Understanding the impact of nutrition on cognitive and cerebral function during mental stress

See the PhD Opportunities section to see if this project is currently open for applications via MIBTP.

Please Note: The main page lists projects via BBSRC Research Theme(s) quoted and then relevant Topic(s).

'De-Stressing the brain’: Understanding the impact of nutrition on cognitive and cerebral function during mental stress

Secondary Supervisor(s): Professor Suzanne Higgs

University of Registration: University of Birmingham

BBSRC Research Themes: Integrated Understanding of Health (Diet and Health)

Project Outline

The impact of diet on mental health and brain performance is a topic of growing focus and concern: diets rich in saturated fats have been associated with a significant risk for cognitive decline later in life (1,2), whilst healthier diets, rich in plant polyphenols are linked to reduced risk of dementia (3). Additionally, the increasing prevalence of stress in our societies is also contributing to poorer brain function: e.g. chronic stress alters functional connectivity and impairs attention (4).

During stressful periods, individuals often shift their food choices, towards high-fat/sugar foods and away from healthier options (5). Importantly, unhealthy/healthy food choices when temporally associated with stressful events might either exacerbate or protect cerebral function. To that point, we have recently shown that a high-fat-meal just before an acute episode of mental stress reduces pre-frontal cortical oxygenation in comparison to a low-fat control in healthy young adults (6). Such reduction in cerebral oxygenation is very likely to impact cognitive function. Yet, it is currently unknown for how long such deficits persist and what is the impact on cognitive performance. Furthermore, understanding the underlying mechanisms by which fat impacts brain function during stress will be crucial to inform future dietary guidelines; as well as potentiate the research on behaviour change around food choices during stressful periods.

Interestingly, preliminary data from our group also suggests that individuals that consume unhealthier diets (particularly higher levels of saturated fat) have reduced cortical oxygenation when subjected to mental stress, suggesting that aspects of habitual diet might be important to determine the resilience of the brain to deal with mental stress.

This project aims to:

1) Investigate which habitual dietary factors modify the susceptibility of the brain’s response to acute mental stress.

2) Establish the impact of a high-fat meal prior to mental stress on cognitive function/performance on a high susceptible versus a low susceptible group.

3) Explore the underpinning mechanisms by which fat intake affects brain physiology during mental stress by specifically evaluating changes in brain metabolism (mitochondrial respiration), peripheral inflammation and gut microbiome.

Mental stress is rapidly increasing worldwide, particularly in the UK, where 1/3 of young adults report evidence of depression and anxiety (Office on National Statistics, 2020). In the last decade, the incidence of mental health declarations in students, for example, have increased by 450%, making it a critical target population. This project will have important implications for understanding the consequences of acute stress for brain heath and cognitive performance in young adults and highlights the importance of food choices during periods of stress. There is currently no research on the physiological impact of diet, in relation to brain/mental health, during periods of stress.

References

Snowden SG, et al. Association between fatty acid metabolism in the brain and Alzheimer disease neuropathology and cognitive performance: a nontargeted metabolomic study. PLoS Med. 2017;14(3):e1002266.
Chudoba C, et al. A. Molecular effects of dietary fatty acids on brain insulin action and mitochondrial function. Biol Chem. 2019;400(8):991-1003.
Yeh, T-S., et al. Long-term Dietary Flavonoid Intake and Subjective Cognitive Decline in US Men and Women. Neurology. 2021 doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0000000000012454.
Liston C, et al. Psychosocial stress reversibly disrupts prefrontal processing and attentional control. PNAS. 2009. 106 (3) 912-917.
Hill D, et al. Stress and eating behaviours in healthy adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Health Psychol Rev. 2022 Jun;16(2):280-304.
Baynham R., et al. Fat consumption attenuates cortical oxygenation during mental stress in young healthy adults. Under review in Nutrients.

Co-supervisor on a project with Professor Suzanne Higgs and Professor Leigh Breen.

Previous Projects (2024-25)

Primary supervisor for:

‘De-Stressing the brain’: Understanding the impact of nutrition on cognitive and cerebral function during episodes of mental stress

Co-supervisor on a project with Professor Suzanne Higgs.