Professor Peter Brukner OAM, MBBS, FACSP, FACSM, FASMF, FFSEM is a specialist sports and exercise physician and the founding partner at the Olympic Park Sports Medicine Centre in Melbourne. Peter is a world-renowned sports medicine clinician and researcher. His most recent team appointments have been as Head of Sports Medicine and Sports Science at Liverpool Football Club and, until 2017, Team Doctor for the Australian cricket team

Peter has served two terms as President of the Australian College of Sports Physicians during which time he was instrumental in the establishment of a specialist level training program in Australia for sports medicine physicians. Peter was the first Australian to be elected to the Board of the American College of Sports Medicine.

His major area of research interest has been in overuse injuries particularly stress fractures, but he has also published widely in areas such as groin pain, exercise-related lower leg pain, fatigue and the female athlete. Peter has been the keynote speaker at numerous international conferences including the World Congress of Sports Medicine, the Asian Congress of Sports Medicine, the American College of Sports Medicine and the British Association of Sports Medicine. He has been co-president of the Football Medicine conference for the past four years.

Presentation: Diet. How did we get it so wrong for the last 50 years?

Since the release of the Dietary Guidelines, initially in the U.S. in 1980, then subsequently in Australia two years later accompanied by the Healthy Eating Pyramid which became the cornerstone of nutrition education, the U.S., Australia and other Western countries have got fatter and sicker. Have the Dietary Guidelines contributed to the epidemics of obesity and chronic disease afflicting modern society?

Was the restriction of dietary cholesterol and saturated fat based on science or politics? What does modern nutrition science say about the macronutrients – carbohydrates, fats and protein? Is sugar or vegetable oil the main culprit? What has been the impact of ultra-processed food? How can we do better?