Ronette Lategan-Potgieter

Associate Professor of Practice and Associate Chair of Health Sciences

I am passionate about teaching, research, and nutrition promotion, with a commitment to promote how optimal nutrition supports performance, enhances quality of life, and promotes longevity. My goal is to inspire students to apply evidence-based nutrition principles both personally and professionally, empowering them to make meaningful contributions to health and well-being.

  • PhD, dietetics, University of the Free State, South Africa
  • MS, dietetics, University of the Free State, South Africa
  • BS, dietetics, University of the Free State, South Africa

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Ronette Lategan-Potgieter

Biography

As an educator and dietitian, I am passionate about communicating the profound impact of nutrition on health and well-being and how lifelong dietary and lifestyle choices can enhance quality of life, support optimal performance, and promote longevity.

More About Ronette Lategan-Potgieter

Areas of Expertise

  • Community nutrition and Health promotion
  • Cultural influences on health behavior
  • Malnutrition, with a focus on micronutrient deficiencies
  • Nutrition for optimal growth and development
  • Health care business administration with a focus on business analytics and machine learning

Course Sampling

  • Introduction to Nutrition Science
  • Advanced Topics in Nutrition
  • Senior Research Proposal
  • Senior Research Project
  • Cross-cultural aspects of Health Behavior
  • Study abroad to South Africa

My research focuses on enhancing human potential and development, with particular emphasis on infant and young child nutrition, as well as brain health and the preservation of cognitive function across the lifespan. I am also interested in leveraging technology and machine learning to improve nutritional assessment, identify risk factors, and develop innovative strategies that promote health and well-being

  • Scott K. Powers, Erica Goldstein, Ronette Lategan-Potgieter, Matthew Schrager, Michele Skelton, Haydar Demirel. 2025. Health benefits of physical activity: What role does skeletal muscle-organ crosstalk play? Sports Medicine and Health Science, ISSN 2666-3376.
  • Powers SK, Lategan-Potgieter R, Goldstein E. 2024. Exercise-induced Nrf2 activation increases antioxidant defenses in skeletal muscles. Free Radic Biol Med. Nov 1;224:470-478. doi: 10.1016/j.freeradbiomed.2024.07.041. Epub 2024 Aug 23. PMID: 39181477.
  • Thea Hansen, Elmine du Toit, Cornel van Rooyen & Ronette Lategan-Potgieter. 2022. Sociodemographic variables affecting caregivers attitudes towards the provision of healthy breakfast and lunchboxes to children in their care, South African Journal of Clinical Nutrition, DOI: 10.1080/16070658.2022.2048444
  • Carina Haasbroek, Ronette Lategan-Potgieter, Cornel van Rooyen & Marizeth Jordaan. 2021. Do lifestyle choices influence the development of overweight and obesity in the South African Air Force, Bloemfontein? South African Journal of Clinical Nutrition, DOI:10.1080/16070658.2021.1948810
  • Thea Hansen, Elmine du Toit, Cornel van Rooyen & Ronette Lategan-Potgieter. 2021. Breakfast and lunchboxes provided to foundation phase learners: do caregivers knowledge and attitude reflect their practices? South African Journal of Clinical Nutrition, DOI: 10.1080/16070658.2021.1946247
  • Elmine du Toit and Ronette Lategan-Potgieter. 2021. Chap ter 27 - Health benefits and nutrient composition, in Production guidelines for Pecan, Sippel AD and Du Toit, H (Ed). (3rd Ed) ARC-Tropical and Subtropical Crops (ARC-TSC)
  • Jeffrey B. Blumberg; Hellas Cena, Susan I. Barr, Hans Konrad Biesalski, Ricardo Uauy Dagach, Brendan Delaney, Balz Frei, Manuel Ignacio Moreno Gonzlez, Nahla Hwalla, Ronette Lategan-Potgieter, Helene McNulty, Jolieke C. van der Pols, Pattanee Winichagoon, Duo Li. 2018. The Use of Multi-Vitamin/-Mineral Supplements: A Modified Delphi Consensus Panel Report. Clinical Therapeutics. 
  • Myburgh B, Nel R, Lategan-Potgieter R. 2017. Implementation of the Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission (PMTCT) Program in the Northern Cape, South Africa. Current HIV Research, 15(1): 38-45.
  • Lategan R, van den Berg VL, Ilich, JZ and Walsh CM. 2016. Vitamin D status, hypertension and body mass index in an urban black community in Mangaung, South Africa. African Journal of Primary Health Care and Family Medicine, 8(1).
  • Lategan R, Malibe P and Van Niekerk L. 2016. Providing Meals in Institutional Settings, In Community nutrition for developing countries. Ed. Steyn NP & Temple N. Athabasca University, Canada: AU Press.
  • Steenkamp L, Lategan R and Raubenheimer J. 2016. Moderate malnutrition in children aged five years and younger in South Africa: are wasting or stunting being treated? South African Journal of Clinical Nutrition;29(1):27-31.
  • Steenkamp L, Lategan R and Raubenheimer J. 2015. The impact of Ready-to-Use Supplementary Food (RUSF) in targeted supplementation of children with moderate acute malnutrition (MAM) in South Africa. South African Family Practice, 57 (5)
  • Lategan R, van den Berg VL and Walsh CM. 2014. Body adiposity indices are associated with hypertension in a black, urban Free State community. African Journal of Primary Health Care and Family Medicine, 6 (1)
  • Steenkamp L and Lategan R. 2013. The acceptability and intake of lipid-based pasted as a food supplement in a South African context. South African Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 26 (3): 150-151.
  • Lategan R, Steenkamp L, Joubert G and Le Roux M. 2010. Nutritional status of HIV infected adults on antiretroviral therapy and the impact of nutritional supplementation in the Northern Cape Province. South African Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 23 (4): 197-201.
  • Lategan R, Malibe P, Van Niekerk L and Dannhauser A. 2008. Nutritional Management for Community-based institution feeding, In Community nutrition textbook for South Africa: A rights-based approach. Ed. Steyn NP & Temple N. Cape Town: South African Medical Research Council.