Health and the Modern Food System: Understanding Sensitivities and How to Heal – Wednesday 13th May 2026

From soil degradation to the microbiome – understanding why our changing world is making us reactive to our food and how to reclaim our health.

We are witnessing a global spike in food allergies and intolerances, but the cause isn’t just in our genes—it’s in our environment. This talk explores how the disruption of our natural food cycles has fundamentally changed the chemistry of what we eat and how our bodies respond. We will connect the dots between.

The Systemic Shift: How industrial farming, soil depletion, and heavy chemical use have altered wheat and dairy proteins, while our “ultra-clean” modern environments have inadvertently weakened our immune resilience.

The Biological Impact: What “leaky gut” and microbiome loss actually mean for the individual, and why our bodies increasingly view modern food as a threat rather than nourishment.

The Path Forward: Moving beyond the guesswork of elimination diets to find the right clinical support and choosing foods that our bodies truly recognize as fuel.

Join us to discover why our environment is making us sensitive to our food and learn practical, systemic ways to restore the cycle of health.

Photo above by Liesel Bockl

Meet the Panellists

Claire Mackenzie is a film, impact and content producer. She is the producer of independent environmental documentaries ‘Six Inches of Soil’ and ‘From the Ground Up’, both exploring our current farming system, and the recently launched ‘Six Inches of Soil’ podcast.

She has a background in TV production, charity fundraising and event organising. As an environmental campaigner she set up eco community groups both in London and Cambridgeshire – with food and farming at the heart of her campaigning.

With a passion for holistic health care she has been a trained therapist for 15 years, specialising working with those affected by cancer and a trustee at Cambridge Cancer Help Centre.

Claire is never happier than when she has her hands in the soil. When she can she works at Sweetpea Market Garden (farm featured in Six Inches of Soil) In 2025 she set up ‘Regen Cam’, an ever growing group of soil / agroecology loving folk in Cambridgeshire.

Nicola Moore is a highly respected nutritional therapist, educator, and thought leader with over 20 years’ experience at the forefront of nutrition, mental wellbeing, and behaviour change.

A Fellow of the Institute for Optimum Nutrition, Nicola spent 12 years on the senior academic team and four years as Head of Clinics, mentoring hundreds of practitioners and shaping modern clinical practice.

Her work focuses on the powerful relationship between nutrition, mood, hormones, and eating behaviour, helping individuals move beyond restriction, emotional eating, and diet culture to achieve sustainable health and emotional resilience. Nicola is known for translating complex nutritional science into compassionate, practical strategies that work in real life.

Alongside her clinical work, Nicola mentors practitioners, speaks regularly in the media, and has worked with elite performers and public figures. She is passionate about how mood-supportive nutrition can drive innovation in health, wellbeing, and the future of food.

Dr Lucy Williamson is an award-winning Public Health Nutritionist and former Vet with 30 years’ experience across soil, livestock, food and human health. She communicates the evidence base on soil-to-gut nutrition for optimal health. Lucy holds advisory roles to advance food system change, working at the intersection of regenerative agriculture and human health. A former lecturer and ambassador for the Love British Food campaign, Lucy’s book ‘Soil to Gut‘ will be published in July 2026.

This is a collaborative event put together by Community Champion of The Conduit’s Health Community Group, Liz Varones and Community Champion of The Conduit’s Food Systems Community Group, and co-founder of Women in the Food Industry, Mex Ibrahim.

Mex Ibrahim is passionate about gender equality, co-founding Women in the Food Industry in 2019. The organization supports women across the food sector, advocating for equality, inclusion, and leadership opportunities, and empowering women to achieve their career goals in the industry. It became a non-profit social enterprise in 2023.

With expertise in sustainability, entrepreneurship, and ethical eating, Mex is a trustee of the charity School Food Matters, a member of the Guild of Food Writers, sits on the advisory board of New Food Magazine, is an associate of the Royal Society of Public Health and manages The Conduit’s Food Systems Community Group.

Mex also runs her own successful freelance business in social media, content creation, and digital strategy.

Liz Varones is a seasoned marketing and sales leader and the Vice President of Growth at Mendelian, whose mission is to make rare diseases a priority. Mendelian’s  team have built software, which enables doctors to help patients earlier, by finding the undiagnosed. Liz has led numerous transformation initiatives that helped drive new solutions for customers (predictive model for chronic pain conditions), marketing capabilities (key account management, digital), and ways of working (content management platform, portfolio storytelling).

She is also founder of Anthos Consulting Group, through which she offers services in brand narrative development, visual representation and aligning core offerings to customer and market needs.

The Solutions Bar: After the panel you can enjoy an interactive showcase and tastings of innovative, sustainable, and “allergy-friendly” food and drink.

Conduit Members can register for free on The Conduit app here.

However if you are not yet a member please email mecca@womeninthefoodindustry.com to join the list of people keen to attend this event.