Professor Rena I. Kosti
Rena I. Kosti, Ph.D. is Professor of Human Nutrition and Epidemiology and Vice-President of the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics at the University of Thessaly. She is the President of the Consumption, Nutrition and Health (CONUSA) expert group at the International Organization of Vine and Wine (OIV) with over 35 years of experience in nutrition research, epidemiology, and public health.
She is a leading researcher in childhood obesity, Mediterranean diet patterns, and the health impacts of wine, with over 2,700 citations and 42 peer-reviewed publications.
As President of the CONUSA expert group at OIV since 2019, Rena leads international scientific consensus-building on wine consumption guidelines and health recommendations for the organization’s 51 member states, which collectively represent 85% of global vineyard surface area. The initiatives are examining the relationships between wine consumption, nutrition, and health, while serving as Greece’s scientific representative on the OIV’s Scientific and Technical Committee.
Her research has particularly focused on the epidemic of childhood obesity in Mediterranean populations and the protective effects of traditional dietary patterns against non-communicable diseases. Read The Epidemic of Obesity in Children and Adolescents in the World, Household food spending, parental and childhood’s diet quality, in financial crisis: a cross-sectional study in Greece. and Adherence to a Mediterranean type of diet in the world: a geographical analysis.
At the University of Thessaly, Rena directs the Laboratory of Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics (CND-Lab) within the School of Physical Education, Sport Science and Dietetics, where she leads groundbreaking research on nutritional epidemiology and preventive cardiology. Her recent work includes examining the physician counseling’s role in lifestyle modifications for cardiometabolic disorders and the associations between dietary patterns and 10-year cardiovascular disease risk in the ATTICA cohort study.
She serves as Guest Editor for special issues in prestigious journals, including Children on “Research on Nutrition and Childhood and Adolescent Obesity,” and has contributed to setting international standards for dietary guidelines. Read Physicians’ Words, Patients’ Response: The Role of Healthcare Counselling in Enhancing Beneficial Lifestyle Modifications and Dietary patterns and alcoholic beverage preference in relation to 10-year cardiovascular disease.
Before her current academic position, Rena held a distinguished international career spanning over two decades in multinational pharmaceutical and nutrition companies, including management positions at Roche Hellas, Nutricia Hellas, Abbott Laboratories Geneva, Wyeth Hellas, Novartis Hellas, and FrieslandCampina.
As Director of New Market Development at Novartis Hellas from 1999 to 2001, she successfully launched the Gerber baby food line in Greece and promoted sports nutrition products. At Abbott Laboratories in Geneva from 1995 to 1996, she served as International Product Manager responsible for the Middle East and Africa region. Her expertise in infant nutrition and clinical products shaped market strategies across multiple international territories.
From December 2016 to October 2019, Rena served as Responsible for Food and Nutrition Policy at Greece’s Ministry of Rural Development and Food, where she represented Greece as the Scientific National Delegate to OIV in Dijon, France. She was a key member of the scientific writing team for Greece’s National Dietary Guidelines “EY Dia…Trofin” project, funded by the Ministry of Health, where she developed evidence-based nutritional recommendations for the Greek population.
Between 2010 and 2015, she served as Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Technological Educational Institute of Thessaly, and from 2015 to 2016, she was Pathway Leader for the BSc (Hons) in Dietetics at Aegean Omiros College.
Rena earned her Ph.D. in Human Nutrition and Epidemiology from the Agricultural University of Athens in 2009 with her dissertation on “Nutrition habits and obesity in a sample of adolescents: creation of a nutrition index for the evaluation of possibility of adolescent obesity,” achieving the highest distinction of “Excellent.” She earned her Master of Science in Food and Agricultural Biotechnology from the University of Reading in 1989 on a NATO scholarship, and her integrated Master’s degree in Food Science and Technology from the Agricultural University of Athens in 1987 with distinction. In 2016, she completed a postgraduate course in Nutritional Epidemiology at the German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbrücke, and in 1998, she obtained a Certificate in Management Studies from the University of Sunderland Business School.
She serves as Scientific Associate of the Hellenic Health Foundation, reviewer for numerous peer-reviewed journals, including Public Health Nutrition, International Journal of Food Science & Nutrition, and BMC Public Health, and evaluates research proposals for institutions, such as the Ministry of Health of Israel and the European Commission.
From 2005 to 2008, she was Scientific Expert in Organic Farming and Nutrition at Greece’s National Center for the Environment & Sustainable Development (NCESD). With over 40 peer-reviewed publications generating more than 2,700 citations, Rena’s research has significantly advanced the understanding of Mediterranean dietary patterns, childhood obesity prevention, and wine’s role in health.
Her seminal 2006 paper The Epidemic of Obesity in Children and Adolescents in the World has become a foundational reference in pediatric obesity research. Recent high-impact publications include systematic reviews on fish intake and cognitive decline, meta-analyses on olive oil and cancer prevalence, and longitudinal studies examining the effects of dietary patterns on cardiometabolic diseases. Read Fish intake, n-3 fatty acid body status, and risk of cognitive decline: a systematic review and a dose-response meta-analysis, Ready-To-Eat Cereals and the burden of obesity in the context of their nutritional contribution, and Mediterranean diet and stroke, cognitive impairment, depression: A meta-analysis.
Rena has presented at numerous international conferences and serves as an invited speaker on topics ranging from nutritional epidemiology to the benefits of the Mediterranean diet and the health impacts of wine. She frequently contributes to policy discussions on national dietary guidelines and has been instrumental in developing Greece’s nutritional recommendations. Her work bridges scientific research with practical public health applications, particularly in addressing the childhood obesity epidemic through evidence-based interventions.
Rena is based in Athens, Greece, where she continues her research at the University of Thessaly’s Department of Nutrition and Dietetics while maintaining her international leadership role at OIV. She is a member of the Geotechnical Chamber of Greece, the Greek Association of Atherosclerosis, and maintains professional registration with Greece’s National Accreditation Center for Continuing Vocational Training.
Visit her LinkedIn profile, University of Thessaly page, Google Scholar profile, ResearchGate profile, and ORCID page. Follow her on Facebook, Instagram, Sciprofiles, and on Facebook, Sciprofies and PubMed.