Dr. Susan Tosh is an Associate Professor at the University of Ottawa. She holds a PhD in Food Science from the University of Guelph. Dr. Tosh has extensive experience as a researcher and director of research teams, completing several national and international research projects and establishing fruitful collaborative links between the food industry, government and universities.
Dr. Tosh’s area of expertise is in the characteristics and health benefits of dietary fibres from cereal and legume crops. She is interested in how research on functional foods can inform the development of sustainable and healthy food systems. Dr. Tosh is recognized for her investigation of the mechanisms by which oat β-glucan reduces blood glucose and serum cholesterol. She has also conducted research on the health benefits of barley, lentil, chickpea, bean, pea and soy fibres. She has developed simulated digestion methods to investigate how fibre affects the breakdown and absorption of nutrients. These simulated digestion models have shown that food made from the same ingredients but prepared in different ways breakdown at different rates in the gastrointestinal tract.
Her publication track record includes more than 80 peer-reviewed articles and 3 book chapters. She has also contributed to the development and presentation of numerous technical reports for industrial partners and contributed regularly to scientific conferences in Canada and abroad, as a principal investigator or as a guest speaker.