Tagged: Obesity

Limiting the size of single serve sugary drinks: New NZ study on health and cost impacts - Public Health Expert

Public Health Expert • Apr 01, 2019 •

• Obesity,
• soda,
• sugar-sweetened beverages,
• tooth decay

Dr Cristina Cleghorn, Prof Nick Wilson, Dr Helen Eyles There is a lot of focus on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) internationally, due to their role in tooth decay, obesity and diabetes [1-3], their lack of beneficial nutrients, and potential acceptability as an intervention target [4]. Our just-published study has shown that an intervention to reduce the size of all single-serve SSBs … Read More

Better health and diet well before conception results in healthier pregnancies - Guest Work

Guest Author • Apr 24, 2018 •

• alcohol,
• Australia,
• brain spine,
• Diet,
• exercise,
• gestational diabetes,
• glucose,
• healthy weight,
• insulin,
• neural tube defects,
• New Zealand,
• Obesity,
• pre eclampsia,
• pregnancy,
• sugar,
• weight

Gita Mishra, The University of Queensland and Judith Stephenson, UCL This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. Maternal and child health in Australia, like most countries, has traditionally focused on health during pregnancy and in the early years of life. But this approach may be missing a key opportunity … Read More

And now the Brits are doing it: A sugary drink tax levy on the industry - Public Health Expert

Public Health Expert • Apr 03, 2018 •

• Diabetes,
• economics,
• Grattan institute,
• GST,
• Lancet,
• Obesity,
• soda,
• soft drinks,
• sugar,
• Sugar Tax,
• tax,
• tobacco consumption,
• tony blakely,
• UK

Prof Tony Blakely, Prof Nick Wilson, Dr Anja Mizdrak, Dr Cristina Cleghorn From 1 April 2018, the UK is putting in place a type of sugary drinks tax – actually a “soft drinks industry levy”. This blog reviews how they are doing it, early signs of its success, and ponders its relevance for NZ.  We also take this opportunity to … Read More

World-first study links birth interventions and long-term childhood illness - News

Jean Balchin • Mar 26, 2018 •

• augmentation,
• Australia,
• Birth,
• caesarean section,
• Diabetes,
• hormones,
• induction,
• jaundice,
• Labour,
• Medicine,
• metabolic disorder,
• NSW,
• Nursing,
• Obesity,
• pain medication,
• population based data,
• respiratory infections,
• vaginal birth,
• women

A comprehensive study lead by a team of leading international researchers has found significant links between medical interventions used in the birthing process – such as caesarean section and induction – and a child’s long-term health. Illustration depicting Caesarean section. Blausen.com staff (2014). “Medical gallery of Blausen Medical 2014”. WikiJournal of Medicine 1 Western Sydney University collaborated with University … Read More

Dietary counselling – how effective and cost-effective is it? - Public Health Expert

Public Health Expert • Mar 20, 2018 •

• blood pressure,
• BMI,
• cholesterol,
• Diet,
• dietary consultation,
• food,
• fruit,
• glucose level,
• HDL,
• Health,
• intensity,
• intervention,
• lipids,
• Obesity,
• physical activity,
• sodium intake,
• vegetables,
• waist,
• weight

Prof Nick Wilson, Dr Cristina Cleghorn, Dr Linda Cobiac, Dr Anja Mizdrak, Prof Cliona Ni Mhurchu, Prof Tony Blakely In this blog we consider recent literature (particularly reviews) on the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of dietary counselling as a health intervention. Most studies suggest that dietary counselling is effective though the benefits are typically modest and short-term. The literature on cost-effectiveness … Read More

When we lose weight, where does it go? - Guest Work

Guest Author • Mar 15, 2018 •

• Carbon dioxide,
• Eating,
• fitness,
• food,
• Health,
• kilograms,
• metabolism,
• Obesity,
• oxygen,
• sleep,
• solids,
• urea,
• water,
• weight loss

Ruben Meerman, UNSW and Andrew Brown, UNSW This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. The world is obsessed with fad diets and weight loss, yet few of us know how a kilogram of fat actually vanishes off the scales. Even the 150 doctors, dietitians and personal trainers we surveyed … Read More

Your Fitbit could warn you about heart disease - News

Jean Balchin • Feb 23, 2018 •

• ceramides,
• clinicians,
• collaborative research,
• Diabetes,
• Fitbit,
• heart disease,
• lipids,
• metabolism,
• misdiagnosis,
• Obesity,
• technology,
• tracker data,
• wearables

It seems that almost everyone these days has a fitbit, or some other form of wearable sensor for personal fitness tracking. However, a research article published in the open access journal PLOS Biology has revealed that these finicky little devices can be used to gain new insights in several fields of biomedical research.  Weng Khong Lim and colleagues from the SingHealth … Read More

The Sugar Levy: a Briefing - The Dismal Science

Paul Walker • Jan 15, 2018 •

• Britain,
• Budget,
• diet drinks,
• levy,
• Obesity,
• Sugar Tax

In March 2016, Chancellor George Osborne announced a ‘sugar levy’ on manufacturers of soft drinks. Intended to begin in April 2018, the plan is for a two-tier tax with one rate set for drinks containing more The IEA in London has released a short paper, The Sugar Levy: A Briefing, on … Read More

The long, strange history of dieting fads - Guest Work

Guest Author • Nov 12, 2017 •

• diets,
• Eating,
• fad diets,
• food,
• Obesity

By Melissa Wdowik, Colorado State University.  “Of all the parasites that affect humanity I do not know of, nor can I imagine, any more distressing than that of Obesity.” So started William Banting‘s “Letter on Corpulence,” likely the first diet book ever published. Banting, an overweight undertaker, published the book in 1864 to espouse his success after … Read More

‘Junk’ science: Children and advertising study - The Dismal Science

Eric Crampton • Oct 12, 2017 •

• advertising,
• junk food,
• Obesity,
• public health,
• research

It is difficult to see what good purpose was served by this study. The Otago people (in conjunction with Auckland’s public health group) put cameras on kids that would take snapshots every six seconds. Then they poured through the footage to see how often the cameras, and presumably the kids, saw things that Otago people have long wanted to have … Read More