Dr Shawn McLaren

Biography

Dr Shawn McLaren is Senior Lecturer in Dietetics. He studied dietetics at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, graduating with a BSc and PG Dip in Dietetics. He completed an MSc in Dietetics by dissertation at Nelson Mandela University while working as a community dietitian for the Eastern Cape Department of Health. Shawn has also worked with NGOs in the rural Eastern Cape, providing outreach education in the field of maternal and child health. He worked in the NHS as a community dietitian in south London, specialising in home enteral feeding.

He has been teaching dietetics since 2018 and completed his PhD in 2023. Shawn's teaching interests include body composition and anthropometry, lifecycle nutrition, research and data analysis. His textbook Nutrition and Global Health was published in 2022.

Shawn received the British Dietetic Association: Elizabeth Washington Award 2023 (General Education Trust award). This award is given for a dietitian’s published educational work which is broadly within the scope of nutrition and dietetics.

He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a member of the editorial board for the Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics.

Publications

Textbook

McLaren SW (2022). Nutrition and Global Health. London: Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN: ISBN: 978-1-119-77982-7

Peer-reviewed journal articles

McLaren S, Steenkamp L, Ronaasen J (2024). Assessment of growth monitoring among children younger than five years at early childhood development (ECD) centres in Nelson Mandela Bay, South Africa. Health Care Science 3(1): 32-40.

McLaren S, Steenkamp L (2022). Coverage of vitamin A supplementation, deworming and immunisations: Associations with nutritional status among urban children younger than five years in Nelson Mandela Bay, Eastern Cape. South African Journal of Child Health 16()4): 220-224.

McLaren S (2021). The relationship between hemoglobin level and socio-economic indicators among women of childbearing age in South Africa: A secondary analysis of DHS data. Ecology of Food and Nutrition 61:1, 56-63

McLaren S, Steenkamp L, McCarthy H. D, Rutishauser-Perera A (2020) Screening for overweight using mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) among children younger than two years in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. South African Journal of Clinical Nutrition 1-4. ISSN 1607-0658

McLaren S, Arbuckle C (2020) Providing optimal nursing care for patients undergoing enteral feeding. Nursing standard, 35 (3). pp. 60-65. ISSN 2047-9018

McLaren S, Steenkamp L, Feeley A, Nyarko J, Venter D (2018) Food insecurity, social welfare and low birth weight: implications for childhood malnutrition in an urban Eastern Cape Province township. South African Journal of Child Health, 12 (3), 95-99. ISSN 1999-7671

McLaren S, Steenkamp L, Venter D (2017) Use of Mid Upper-Arm Circumference (MUAC) as screening tool in an urban township in the Eastern Cape: rationale for testing changed cut-off values to identify malnutrition. South African Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 30 (4),118-119. ISSN 1607-0658

Conference proceedings

Khanyile N, McLaren S, Fairbrother U (2024). The association between breastfeeding duration and adiposity using waist-to-hip ratio and mid-upper arm circumference in South African children aged between one and five years. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society 83 (OCE4), E411.

Khanyile N, McLaren S, Faribrother U (2023). The association between housing structure and continued breastfeeding in two Southern African countries. Nutrition Society Summer Conference 2023.

Bhakta D, Shoulders K, Ellison G, Aghili A, McLaren S, Fairbrother U, McLean G (2023). A health promotion survey conducted in a university setting during the COVID-19 pandemic to increase awareness for vitamin D supplementation. Nutrition Society Summer Conference 2023.

Mahmood R, McLaren S (2022). A systematic review investigating the risk of COVID-19 severity and mortality associated with vitamin D sufficiency and deficiency within the adult population. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society 81(OCE1): Winter Conference 2021

McLaren S, Steenkamp L, McCarthy HD (2022). Design and validation of a double-burden mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) tape for South African children aged six to 24 months. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society 81(OCE1): Winter Conference 2021

McLaren S (2020). The care environment and risk of complications among home enteral tube feeding patients. Clinical Nutrition ESPEN 35 (Abstract and poster)