The Building Blocks of Life

For nearly two decades TC worked backstage in London's West End theatres and in the film and TV industry. But in 1999, looking for a new challenge she embarked on a Batchelor of Science degree course for Nutritional Therapy at the University of Westminster. Three years of rigorous scientific study firmly cemented her passion for nutrition and her belief in a thorough and questioning approach to evidence.

Graduating with a 2:1 BSc Hons in 2002 TC went on to work for the UK Food Standards Agency, the government department charged with ensuring food safety and standards across the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. In eight years working for government, TC came to realise the vital importance of an evidence based regulatory framework to ensure food safety. However, she also noted with some concern that UK government nutrition policy was not always as robustly up to date as it could be. Realising that lobbying for change to national nutrition policy would be easier outside of government, TC moved into industry.

From 2010-2020 she worked for the Proprietary Association of Great Britain (PAGB), a trade association representing the manufacturers of over-the-counter medicines, consumer-facing medical devices and food supplements. During her time there, TC raised the profile of vitamin D at national level; initiated and drove a collaborative project where the wider food supplements industry and government worked together to gain a health claim on folic acid reducing the risk of neural tube defects; commissioned multiple peer review papers and academic reports on the state of nutrition in the UK; wrote Nutrition Fact Sheets for the independent charity the Self Care Forum; successfully lobbied government at EU and national level to allow the use of the word "antioxidant" in the advertising and marketing of foods; and co-ordinated nine trade associations with varying agendas in responding to UK government consultations on the use of single-use plastics and recycling.

At the beginning of 2020 TC left industry to start working on a book. With this book TC hopes to redress some of the imbalances in nutrition awareness that UK government policy has imposed, as well as increase understanding of nutrition amongst primary care practitioners.