Showing posts with label obesity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label obesity. Show all posts

Thursday 7 December 2017

"stark" increase

Overweight child by a swimming poolImage copyrightGETTY IMAGES


There is a "stark" increase between the ages of seven and 11 in the proportion of children in the UK who are overweight or obese, new data suggests.
The study of nearly 12,000 children found 25% were overweight or obese at age seven, rising to 35% at 11.
Between 11 and 14, there was little change, however, which researchers say may be because children of this age are making more of their own food choices.
Campaigners are calling for more action on weight issues in younger children.

Mothers' education

Researchers from the Centre for Longitudinal Studies (CLS) at the UCL Institute of Education analysed information on nearly 12,000 of the children taking part in the Millennium Cohort Study, who were born in 2000 and 2001 and have had their weight and height measured at the ages of three, five, seven, 11 and 14.
Rates of excess weight varied by nation, with nearly 40% of young people in Northern Ireland obese or overweight compared with 38% in Wales and 35% in both Scotland and England.
The levels showed little change up to the age of seven, but then made a big jump in the next four years.
At the age of seven, 25.5% of the boys were overweight or obese - but this proportion rose to 36.7% four years later.
With the girls, 23.7% were carrying excess weight at seven - but 33.9% were overweight or obese at 11.
However, at 14 the boys' proportion had dropped to 34.1%, while the girls' had risen slightly to 36.3%.

Bar chart of levels of overweight/obese children

The data, which was collected between January 2014 and March 2015, also revealed a link between young people's weight and their mothers' level of education.
Nearly 40% of 14-year-olds whose mothers had no qualifications above GCSE level were overweight or obese, while the proportion was 26% among those whose mum had a degree or higher qualifications.
Also, children who were breastfed as infants, and those whose parents owned their own home, had lower odds of carrying excess weight at 14.
Dr Benedetta Pongiglione, co-author of the study, told the BBC that while it did not investigate the reasons for the levelling off in rising obesity in 11- to 14-year-olds, trends suggested why this had occurred.
"We know that that age of early to mid adolescence is a time where children start to make more decisions on their own, which can imply different... physical activity, diet and other choices," she said.
"Peer pressure also plays a bigger role in their lives.
"From what we observe, maybe the time between seven and 11 is when parents take most of the decisions."
Prof Mary Fewtrell, nutrition lead at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, and Caroline Cerny, from the Obesity Health Alliance, both called for restrictions or a 21:00 watershed on junk-food advertising.
Prof Fewtrell said a range of measures should be considered, including "statutory school-based health education in all schools and robust evaluation of the soft drinks and sugar reduction programme".
Ms Cerny said it had to be made "easier for families to make healthier choices".
She added: "Children can see up to nine junk-food adverts in just 30 minutes while watching their favourite shows, and we know this influences their food choices and how much they eat."
Prof Emla Fitzsimons, another co-author of the study, said: "Children who are overweight or obese face an increased risk of many health problems later in life, including cardiovascular disease and type-2 diabetes.
"There is still a worryingly high proportion of young people in this generation who are an unhealthy weight."
The government has plans to try to cut childhood obesity, with a tax on sugary drinks coming into force on 1 April 2018.
Independent think tank the Centre for Social Justice has suggested it follows the example of Amsterdam, which is the only European city to have lowered obesity rates in the past five years with a variety of programmes - mainly through schools.
Childhood obesity rates have also fallen in New York after a poster campaign on the subway system.

Tuesday 1 January 2013

Public health minister Anne Milton: "We're too fat and we need to do something about it"

Global governments 'must get tough on obesity'

Body fat being measured using callipers.The international group of researchers, who have published a series of articles in The Lancet, said no country had yet got to grips with the problem.
Obesity-related problems, such as diabetes, were now accounting for between 2% and 6% of health care costs in most countries.
Rising spending
But as one of the articles showed, this is likely to get worse if current trends continue.
Researchers made projections for the US and the UK - two of the developed countries with the worst rates of obesity.
They predicted obesity rates would rise from a quarter in the UK to about 40% by 2030.
Such a scenario would cost the NHS an extra £2bn a year - the equivalent of 2% of health spending.
The rise in costs would be even greater in the US, where obesity rates would rise from one in three to about one in two.
The researchers accepted that the whole of society - from the individual to industry - had a role to play in tackling the problem.
But they said governments needed to take a lead by using legislation and direct intervention to create a better environment.
They said many measures - including taxes on unhealthy food, restrictions on junk food advertising, traffic light labelling and school-based education programmes - would save money as well as benefit health.

OBESITY MEASURES

CategorySaves moneyMinor costHigher cost
SOURCE: THE LANCET
FOOD
  • Tax junk food
  • Limit junk food ads
  • Traffic light labelling
  • Cost benefit category
LIFESTYLE
  • Discourage kids from TV
  • Exercise and healthy eating at school
  • Work with obese children
  • Help families with overweight children
  • School walking trains
TREATMENT
  • Surgery for obese teenagers and adults
  • Weight loss drugs
Others, such as providing obesity surgery and health programmes aimed at families with overweight children, would come with a minor cost although should still be looked at.
Oxford University expert Professor Klim McPherson, who was one of the lead researchers, said: "It is about changing the environment in which people live so they can make healthier choices."

But he said too many countries shied away from taking the right action and urged a forthcoming UN summit on health in September to "show leadership" by putting pressure on governments to act.
In particular, he criticised the government in England, which has been focusing on voluntary agreements with industry rather than legislation.
He said ministers were "enfeebled by their ideology" and too worried about accusations of the nanny state.
"They have this idea that government action in this sphere would not be a good idea," he added.
Professor Boyd Swinburn, who is based in Australia and works for the World Health Organization, agreed governments had been too slow to act on the "obesity crisis".
"There is more willingness to invest in drugs and surgery than dealing with the underlying causes."
He also compared the tactics of the food industry - in terms of getting people addicted to their products and in blocking attempts to discourage consumption - to those of tobacco firms in previous decades.Dr Frank Atherton, president of the Association of Directors of Public Health, also said he was in favour of the interventions being suggested: "Of course we have to work with industry, but there is a feeling that the emphasis of this government has turned too far away from legislation."
However, Terry Jones, of the Food and Drink Federation, said the industry had been taking positive steps.
"The Lancet fails to recognise the lengths to which the UK food and drink industry has gone to help improve the health of the nation, particularly in relation to rising obesity levels," said Mr Jones.
Public health minister Anne Milton said the government believed the best way to achieve results was through a "collective voluntary effort".
She said this was achieving results, citing the pledge by industry to put calorie information on menus.

"We have no current plans to impose a 'fat tax', but we are working with food companies to reduce fat, sugar and salt and ensure healthier options are available.
"We also want to see businesses use more consistent and informative front-of-pack nutrition labelling than has been achieved in the past," she added.
"We recognise the significant threat that obesity poses to society and have taken a proactive part in improving health."


Start Quote

Of course we have to work with industry, but there is a feeling that the emphasis of this government has turned too far away from legislation”
Dr Frank AthertonAssociation of Directors of Public Health

hospitals in particular had "poorly developed" systems in place.


Obesity: NHS approach 'extremely patchy'

obese manThe NHS has a "poorly developed" approach to tackling obesity, the college said

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Obesity services across the UK are "extremely patchy" and valuable opportunities to help obese patients are often lost, doctors say.
The Royal College of Physicians said hospitals in particular had "poorly developed" systems in place.
Its report said the problems meant services were often just dealing with the symptoms, such as heart disease or diabetes, rather than the cause.
There needed to be a rethink over how to approach the problem, it added.
The UK is now among the most obese nations in the world.
One in four adults are obese - a figure which is predicted to more than double by 2050.
Wide variations
The report recognised that attempts were being made to stem the tide of obesity through health promotion campaigns.
But it said that should not detract from the fact the NHS had to do more to deal with those patients who were already obese.

Start Quote

The only way we will ever tackle the problems caused by obesity is by everyone working together”
Professor Lindsey DaviesFaculty of Public Health
The report pointed out there were wide variations in the way obesity was treated across the UK - particularly in the frequency with which obesity surgery is performed.
It said there needed to be a much more "joined up" approach between hospitals and community services.
To help hospitals should also appoint a doctor to lead on obesity, it added.
Prof John Wass, from the RCP, said: "'Britain is getting bigger and whilst we try to prevent the increase in obesity, we must also prepare the NHS for the influx of patients presenting with severe complex obesity.
"A patient may arrive at my hospital with coronary heart disease, but if the root cause of their condition is obesity, we must be equipped to deal with that root cause."
Working together
Prof Lindsey Davies, president of the Faculty of Public Health, welcomed the recommendations and said she agreed greater coordination was needed.
"The only way we will ever tackle the problems caused by obesity is by everyone working together," she added.
But she also urged the government to be more proactive by addressing some of the wider determinants of obesity.
"Obesity is not only caused by how much we each eat or drink: if tackling it were as simple as telling people to eat less and move more, we would have solved it by now.
"Our chances of being obese are also affected by factors like whether we have easy access to affordable fruit, veg and other healthy foods, and if it safe to let our kids play outside."
A Department of Health spokesman acknowledged the medical profession had a "key role to play".
He added: "We are committed to tackling obesity and are taking action to help people keep a healthy weight and prevent them needing hospital care for obesity related conditions."

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Wednesday 27 July 2011

Rickets cases reported in Cardiff by health workers

Rickets cases reported in Cardiff by health workers

Coloured X-Ray of the legs of a child with rickets Rickets can lead to bone deformities and stunted growth

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Cases of the crippling children's bone disease rickets are being seen in Cardiff, BBC Wales has learned.

Caused by a lack of vitamin D, the disease can lead to deformities like bowed legs and stunted growth, but it largely disappeared last century.

Eye on Wales has learnt health professionals working in communities in south Cardiff are reporting incidents.

Public Health Wales does not hold statistics on the number of cases as rickets is not a notifiable disease

Dr Elspeth Webb, a reader in child health at Cardiff University, spends half her time working as a paediatrician within Splott and Tremorfa in the city.

She told the programme: "We're still seeing rickets in children in Cardiff in the 21st Century - which a lot of people might be very shocked and surprised by, thinking of it as a Victorian illness. But no, it's not.

"You get women living in certain communities that perhaps don't go out much because of religious, cultural traditions.

"They're covered up when they do. They don't get enough access to sunlight. So they get vitamin D deficient."

Start Quote

You don't see rickets in rich, advantaged, educated, middle-class South Asian people”

End Quote Dr Elspeth Webb Cardiff University

"Every pregnancy, you use up your vitamin D stores and if you're not making enough to replenish them, you gradually get more and more depleted.

"By your third or fourth child, that child is born already without enough vitamin D."

"So they'll be presenting with rickets at around 18 months."

While her experience suggests that rickets is confined within certain communities in south Cardiff, Dr Webb says that poverty and poor access to services are also reasons why the disease is occurring.

"You don't see rickets in rich, advantaged, educated, middle-class South Asian people. So it's a mixture of religious, cultural practices with poverty."

'Quite startling'

As co-ordinator of the Butetown Communities First project, Nathan Evans has been involved in the response to rickets and believes progress can be made towards eradicating the disease.

"For me this is something from the past. This is something that is alive and kicking in the 21st Century? This was quite startling for me."

Start Quote

Within Cardiff you've got quite dramatic contrasts between the northern area of Cardiff and the old docks area where life expectancy is considerably lower”

End Quote Prof Gareth Williams Cardiff University School of Social Sciences

"But then some of the remedies surrounding it are around that up-take of Vitamin D. So it's around diet, it's around lifestyle."

"The Local Health Board have this big drive around vitamin up-take. This has proved quite successful locally."

"As long as active promotion of where people can access vitamins, how they can maybe modify their behaviour in order to attract more sunlight into their lives then I believe this is something that can be reversed."

The cases of rickets serve to highlight the health inequalities - and differences in life expectancy - that exist within Wales' capital city.

Those differences have always existed, but Gareth Williams - a professor of sociology at Cardiff University - said the gap was widening, not shrinking.

"Within Cardiff you've got quite dramatic contrasts between the northern area of Cardiff and the old docks area where life expectancy is considerably lower. There's a 10-year life expectancy difference."

"Everyone's life expectancy is getting better. The life expectancy of people in poor communities has been getting better very slowly.

"Whereas the life expectancy of people in wealthier places is getting better quite quickly."

Earlier this month, First Minister Carwyn Jones committed the Welsh Government to passing a Public Health Bill to deliver improved life expectancy and reduce health inequality within the life of this assembly.

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Monday 15 November 2010

putting up the price of junk food

Panorama reporter Shelley Jofre visits a chocolate factory in Denmark

By Shelley Jofre
Reporter, Panorama

In the same way as taxing cigarettes helped to reduce smoking and related illnesses, could putting up the price of junk food - as Denmark has done - cut obesity rates in the UK?

The first thing that struck me on the taxi journey into Copenhagen was how slim everyone looked.

I really had trouble spotting anyone fat.

And the second thing that became obvious the moment I stepped out of the cab and was almost run over by a cyclist, was that the Danes are clearly no strangers to exercise.

So why on earth has their government become the first in the world to introduce a tax on junk food?

The answer is depressingly simple. They may be among the slimmest in Europe but the Danes do not want to end up as fat as the British.

The UK is the fattest nation in Europe; one third of children and two-thirds of adults are overweight or obese.

Professor Peter Kopelman
When cigarettes were taxed... there was an immediate decline in the number that were bought
Professor Peter Kopelman
Obesity expert

At this rate, by 2050 obesity will be costing the state £32bn a year.

In Denmark there are signs that obesity among younger children is actually falling for the first time in 60 years.

But adult obesity is still on the increase and the government is anxious to reverse that trend.

"We've been relying on and emphasising self-responsibility for the last 50 years and it doesn't work," Charlotte Kira Kimby, of the Danish Heart Foundation told me.

"We know that sugar and fat are really what causes obesity to increase. So to target taxes makes sense and should have an impact on health."

'Ruin ourselves'

Think of all your favourite indulgences - chocolate, ice cream, crisps, sweets, cola… and imagine they all cost you significantly more than at present.

That is what is happening in Denmark. If it hit you in the pocket, would it make you change your behaviour? Or would you simply be furious about the food police telling you what to eat?

I met one Danish couple who are raising three young children on a modest income in what is already the most highly-taxed nation in Europe.

FIND OUT MORE
A hamburger and chips
Panorama: Tax the fat is on BBC One on Monday 15 November at 2030GMT
Or watch it later via the BBC iPlayer
Join the debate on the Panorama blog

But they do not resent the government adding further to their grocery bills; far from it.

Lars Moerck and Karina Kirkefeldt have both struggled with obesity in the past.

At his heaviest Lars jokes that he had the belly of "an English hooligan".

Having both lost substantial amounts of weight, neither of them wants their children to have the same problems.

"We ruin ourselves and somebody has to take action. So if we can't do it, then the government should make health for the people," said Karina.

And Charlotte Kira Kimby denies that the new taxes amount to government nannying.

"We still have the same free choice to buy the things we would like to buy in the shops.

"What is happening with this kind of tax is that we actually just see the state going in and balancing price because it is cheap to produce food with a high content of sugar, fat and salt."

Calorie cuts

Not everyone has welcomed the changes though.

Jesper Moller, chief executive, Toms
Jesper Moller believes consumers are already demanding healthier options

As chief executive of leading chocolate company Toms, Jesper Moller is Copenhagen's very own Willy Wonka.

He says firms like his are already reducing the calorie content of their products in response to customer demand.

He thinks the new taxes are an unnecessary burden.

"It just makes it very complicated to be a confectionary producer in Denmark. We already have some of the highest labour costs in the world," he said.

Obesity expert Professor Peter Kopelman of the Royal College of Physicians argues that the UK could learn a lesson from the lean Danes.

He believes that there is a clear parallel with the taxation of cigarettes.

Nudges are very important... tax is not a nudge, tax is a shove
Andrew Lansley, Health Secretary

Prof Kopelman said: "When cigarettes were taxed, you found that there was an immediate decline in the number that were bought.

"We also saw that there was a decline in the diseases that complicate cigarette smoking. I think there are lessons to learn for unhealthy food."

The Health Secretary Andrew Lansley is due to publish a white paper on public health for England shortly. In it, he will lay out his strategy for tackling obesity.

But it seems any idea of a junk food tax is already off the table.

"Nudges are very important. Tax is not a nudge, tax is a shove," he said.

"If you start down the route of taxation, quite often you get quite a lot of push back against that. The public don't think it's our job to be trying to tell people what to do."

Read his lips. No new taxes.

It is too early to tell whether the Danish experiment will be successful but at least they have time on their side.

In the UK, the clock is ticking.

Public health experts fear that if we do not take steps to improve our diet in the UK, by 2050 we could expect a 20% rise in heart disease and a staggering 70% rise in Type 2 diabetes.

No-one would argue there is anything sweet about those statistics.

Panorama: Tax the Fat is on BBC One on Monday 15 November at 2030 GMT. Or watch it later via the BBC iPlayer. Join the debate on the Panorama blog.

Saturday 31 July 2010

BBC News


BBC News


Using 'fat' may encourage people to take more personal responsibility, says Anne Milton GPs and other health professionals should tell people they are fat rather than obese, England's public health minister says.

Anne Milton told the BBC the term fat was more likely to motivate them into losing weight.

She said it was important people should take "personal responsibility" for their lifestyles.

But health experts said the word could stigmatise those who are overweight.

Ms Milton, who stressed she was speaking in a personal capacity, said: "If I look in the mirror and think I am obese I think I am less worried [than] if I think I am fat."

She said too many staff working in the NHS were worried about using the term, but suggested it could help encourage "personal responsibility".

Continue reading the main story

Start Quote
People don't want to be offensive. There is a lot of stigma to being a fat person”
End Quote
Professor Lindsey Davies

UK Faculty of Public Health
"At the end of the day, you cannot do it for them. People have to have the information," she added.

The minister spoke to the BBC after setting out the coalition government's vision for public health.

A white paper is expected to be published in the autumn, which she said would stress the combined role of the individual, state, business and society.

The comments come after Health Secretary Andrew Lansley last month attacked the "lecturing" of recent public health campaigns, such as the drive on school meals that followed Jamie Oliver's TV shows.

'More brutal'

Professor Steve Field, of the Royal College of GPs, said he agreed with Ms Milton and already tried to use the term fat as much as he could.

"I think the term obese medicalises the state. It makes it a third person issue. I think we need to sometimes be more brutal and honest.

"You can be popular by saying the things people want to hear and in the NHS we too often do that when we should be spelling things out clearly."

The history of the term obesity
Continue reading the main story The term obesity comes from the Latin word obesus, which roughly translated means intensive eating
Societies have long been worried about problems of excess weight with Greek philosopher Hippocrates even writing about the dangers
But it was not until the mid 1600s that obesity started being used as a medical term and then in time directly linked to other diseases
Between 1830 and 1850 a Belgian scientist invented the BMI index to measure obesity by dividing weight by height
The Journal of Chronic Diseases reported in 1972 that BMI was the best way of measuring excess fat
Over the last three decades the terms BMI and obesity have been getting more and more popular with health professionals as a result
But Professor Lindsey Davies, president of the UK Faculty of Public Health, which represents public health professionals, warned against using 'fat' when dealing with patients.

"People don't want to be offensive. There is a lot of stigma to being a fat person."

She said health professionals started using the term obesity to encourage patients to think about the condition in a different way.

"Obesity is something that happens to people rather than something they are. The language you use all depends on the relationship you have with a patient.

"I would probably be more likely to say something like 'can we talk about your weight' rather than obesity, but that is a judgement you make on a patient-by-patient basis."

Friday 23 July 2010

'Toxic trio' triggers gut disease


'Toxic trio' triggers gut disease




Foods like cake are off-limit to coeliacs The precise cause of the immune reaction that leads to coeliac disease has been discovered.

Three key substances in the gluten found in wheat, rye and barley trigger the digestive condition, UK and Australian researchers say.

This gives a potential new target for developing treatments and even a vaccine, they believe.

Coeliac disease is caused by an intolerance to gluten found in foods like bread, pasta and biscuits.

It is thought to affect around 1 in every 100 people in the UK, particularly women.

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The link between gluten and coeliac disease was first established 60 years ago but scientists have struggled to pinpoint the precise component in gluten that triggers it.

The research, published in the journal, Science Translational Medicine, studied 200 patients with coeliac disease attending clinics in Oxford and Melbourne.

The volunteers were asked to eat bread, rye muffins or boiled barley. Six days later they had blood samples taken to measure their immune response to thousands of different gluten fragments, or peptides.

Continue reading the main story

Start Quote
It's an important piece of the jigsaw but a lot of further work remains so nobody should be expecting a practical solution in their surgery within the next 10 years."”
End Quote
Sarah Sleet

Coeliac UK
The tests identified 90 peptides that caused some level of immune reaction, but three were found to be particularly toxic.

Professor Bob Anderson, head of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne, Australia, said: "These three components account for the majority of the immune response to gluten that is observed in people with coeliac disease."

Coeliac disease can be managed with a gluten-free diet but this is often a challenge for patients. Nearly half still have damage to their intestines five years after starting a gluten-free diet.

Professor Anderson said one potential new therapy is already being developed, using immunotherapy to expose people with coeliac disease to tiny amounts of the three toxic peptides.

Early results of the trial are expected in the next few months.

COELIAC DISEASE
Continue reading the main story Coeliac disease is an autoimmune disease
Gluten found in wheat, barley and rye triggers an immune reaction in people with coeliac disease
This damages the lining of the small intestine
Other parts of the body may be affected
Source: Coeliac UK
Sarah Sleet, Chief Executive of the charity Coeliac UK, said the new finding could potentially help lead to a vaccine against coeliac disease but far more research was needed.

She said: "It's an important piece of the jigsaw but a lot of further work remains so nobody should be expecting a practical solution in their surgery within the next 10 years."

The symptoms of coeliac disease vary from person to person and can range from very mild to severe.

Possible symptoms include diarrhoea, nausea and vomiting, recurrent stomach pain, tiredness, headaches, weight loss and mouth ulcers.

Some symptoms may be mistaken as irritable bowel syndrome or wheat intolerance.

Sunday 18 July 2010

Exclusive I must lose my 38KKK boobs ...or I will die

By RHODRI PHILLIPS and CAROLINE GRANT

Published: 17 Jul 2010
Add a comment (50)
A MODEL with the world's biggest breasts last night told how she must have them removed - or die.
Sheyla Hershey was struck down by a potentially fatal infection during an op on her 38KKK implants.

The Brazilian beauty, 30, said: "Surgeons say there's an 80 per cent chance I can keep one, but if I lose one I don't want to keep the other.

"The chance of being able to keep both is 10 or 20 per cent."



Filmed ... Sheyla in a clinic last year
Splash
On Thursday we reported how Sheyla was undergoing corrective surgery in the US after her boobs became infected following an op in Brazil last month.




The model travelled there to have her breasts restored - her tenth op - after giving birth last year.

US doctors refused to boost the size of her breasts - as it is illegal there to place more than a GALLON of silicone in implants.


Advertisement

Yesterday Sheyla was due to meet docs again to see if there was any hope of saving them.

The bug has entered her bloodstream, leaving her struggling to breathe. She added: "I am in a lot of pain which I am trying to control with medication. The infection is like a cancer.

"The only way to get rid of it is to cut away breast tissue."

Sheyla is obsessed with plastic surgery and also had liposuction and a nose job. Her boobs were hailed as the world's largest by a Brazilian book of records.



Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3058163/I-must-lose-my-38KKK-record-boobs-or-die.html#ixzz0u0vTZ3pX

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