Richard Allison is a Performance Nutritionist and Clinical Dietician at the Institute of Sport, Exercise and Health (ISEH). He is a registered Dietitian with the British Dietetic Association and member of the Sport and Exercise Nutritionist Register (SENr). He completed a master's degree from Loughborough University in sports nutrition and a Doctorate in Philosophy (PhD) from Liverpool John Moore's specialising in vitamin D and athlete health.
Richard has substantial applied experience within the area of applied sports nutrition and clinical dietetics. He works with a variety of clientele, from elite athletes to serious amateurs, those seeking weight loss to those with nutrient deficiencies or sports injuries.
Richard has been Head of Performance Nutrition at Arsenal FC since 2017. Between 2011 to 2017, he was the Senior Sports Dietitian at Aspetar Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Hospital in Qatar, where he was responsible for implementing performance nutrition strategies across a variety of populations ranging from world class footballer players to youth academy athletes. Richard has worked with athletes from a range of sporting disciplines, including football, rugby, NBA, athletics, swimming, cycling and combat sports.
His areas of expertise include, nutrition for the injured athlete, those wishing to make weight (gain & loss), body composition analysis and macro-nutrition for performance and recovery.
Combined with a knowledge of training and its application, Richard can develop nutritional strategies to help support your training, competition (performance), refuelling and recovery from injury. Additionally, he can take account of any nutritional medical conditions the client may have e.g. diabetes or coeliac disease. He can advise and maintain nutritional status when individuals want to trial dietary interventions such as exclusion diets or dietary interventions and provide impartial advice about any sports supplementation.
Richard has studies published in Medicine and Science in Sport and Exercise, European Journal of Preventative Cardiology and British Journal Sports Medicine.
A former Royal Marine Commando he is a keen amateur athlete who enjoys running and cycling. Richard has completed numerous marathons, ultramarathons, triathlons and cycle races, raising money for several charities along the way.
Diseases, Medical Tests and Treatments- World-class performance nutrition programming including individualised competition and recovery strategies.
- Dietary assessment leading to a bespoke nutrition strategy that meets the performance needs of individuals (improved body composition, increased muscle mass/reduced fat mass).
- Personalised nutrition support for those recovering from injury (e.g. ACL reconstruction, hamstring repair, syndesmotic repair, etc.).
- Nutrition and diet advice to prevent or support medical conditions.
- Body composition analysis using DXA or anthropometry (skinfolds).
- Blood (laboratory) support to optimise nutrition programming.
- Weight management including pre-, post-surgery.
- Hydration, travel and immunity support for athletes competing in foreign and challenging environmental conditions (Ironman, adventure racing, sportives).
- Independent advice on safe sports supplementation.
- Advice on food allergies, gastrointestinal issues, iron and vitamin D deficiencies.
