Specialist Gastroenterology Dietitian
Evidence-based gut health for athletes
Specialist dietetic support for athletes and active adults managing digestive symptoms, gastrointestinal conditions, and performance-related nutrition concerns.
Welcome
Where clinical gastroenterology meets performance nutrition
Welcome to Gráinne O'Higgins GI Performance Nutrition. Gráinne is a Gastroenterology Specialist dietitian, combining NHS clinical expertise with sports nutrition to support athletes and active individuals experiencing gut symptoms or digestive conditions that may affect their health and performance.
Her approach is evidence-based, practical, and highly individualised, helping clients understand and manage their symptoms, improve day-to-day digestive health, and feel confident in how they fuel for training, recovery, and competition.
9+
Years in Gastroenterology
8+
Years with Sport Ireland
Elite
Olympic-level Support
Who I Support
Adult athletes & active individuals
I support those experiencing digestive symptoms, gastrointestinal conditions, or performance nutrition concerns that affect training, competition, or everyday life.
- IBS-type symptoms and other ongoing gut complaints
- Exercise-related gastrointestinal (G.I) symptoms
- Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Coeliac Disease, Bile Acid Malabsorption, Functional Dyspepsia, and other G.I disorders
- Digestive issues affecting fuelling, hydration, performance, or recovery
- Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S) or low energy availability
- Under-fuelling, poor recovery, or difficulty tolerating sports nutrition strategies
Why Work With Me
Bridging clinical care and athletic performance
"What makes this practice different is the combination of specialist gastroenterology experience and sports nutrition expertise."
For athletes, digestive symptoms are not only uncomfortable — they can interfere with training quality, competition readiness, confidence, recovery, and overall performance. My work bridges the gap between clinical digestive care and the practical demands of sport. Clients and referrers value a service that is clinical, evidence-based, grounded in real performance demands, and genuinely personalised to each individual.
About Gráinne
Advanced Practitioner Dietitian
Gráinne is an Advanced Practitioner Dietitian specialising in digestive health, with over 9 years' experience in Gastroenterology and the nutritional management of a wide range of digestive conditions. She works part-time within the NHS and is a registered member of the British Dietetic Association (BDA) and CORU, Ireland's regulator for health and social care professionals.
Alongside her NHS role, Gráinne runs a private practice supporting elite athletes with gastrointestinal issues. For the past 8 years, she has been trusted by Sport Ireland to provide gut health assessments for high-performance athletes and regularly receives referrals in digestive health and sports nutrition from sports medicine doctors across Ireland.
She holds a postgraduate diploma in Sports Nutrition and is a registered practitioner with the Sports and Exercise Nutrition Register (SENR). Gráinne has also presented at national conferences, including the National Dairy Council Conference in 2024 on IBS management and Sport Ireland's HPX Conference in 2023 on gut distress in athletes and evidence-based management strategies. She has further contributed to practitioner education by delivering gut health CPD workshops to high-performance nutrition teams within the Sport Ireland Institute, Sport Institute Northern Ireland, and the IRFU.
Qualifications
- Bsc Human Nutrition
- PgD Nutrition and Dietetics
- PgD Sports and Exercise Nutrition
- BDA, CORU and SENR registered
- Gastroenterology Specialist Dietitian (Advanced Practice NHS)