Heart Beat

August 16 – Online treatment programmes for obesity are successful and cost-effective, according to a new analysis. Weight loss or weight maintenance programmes delivered online or by computer help overweight and obese patients lose or maintain their weight, conclude researchers led by Dr Susan Wieland of the University of Maryland, Baltimore, USA. Their Cochrane review [...]

Community nurses who teach new parents about healthy eating and exercise can cut the rate of childhood obesity, researchers say today. Professor Louise Baur of the University of Sydney, Australia, and her team recruited 667 first-time mothers and gave them eight home visits from community nurses, firstly during pregnancy and then at one, three, five, [...]

December 6 – Parents are being asked whether they would welcome more help to prevent their babies becoming too fat – after a study identified key areas of confusion. Researchers found that parents were often confused about the benefits of breast milk. And while health visitors and nursery nurses were expert at helping with breast-feeding, [...]

November 8  – People with cancer – or its early signs – should be given advice about their weight if they are obese, researchers warned today. Obesity is especially linked to bowel cancer – but a study reported to a major UK conference today found clinicians reluctant to discuss it with patients diagnosed with the [...]

October 14 – The Government’s new drive to tackle obesity across the UK has been labelled as “disappointing” by heart health campaigners. The obesity Call to Action calls on local authorities, businesses, charities, health professionals and individuals to play their part in making Britain a healthier nation. The aim, says health secretary Andrew Lansley, is [...]

  Parents were being urged today to keep an eye on their children’s weight as they head back to school. The NHS Choices service offered parents a helping hand – while issuing a warning about rising obesity rates. It said 30 per cent of British children are currently overweight or obese. It advises parents to [...]

September 2 – Nurses should be good role models for their patients and commit to exercise and healthy lifestyles, it has been claimed. Joyce Fitzpatrick, Professor of Nursing at the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing at Case Western Reserve University, USA, said that nurses should lead by example and encourage their patients to adopt [...]

August 26 – Britain will have 11 million extra obese adults within 20 years if present trends continue – meaning the problem would affect nearly half the population, researchers warned today. In the USA the numbers could jump by 65 million. The analysis, in The Lancet, suggests the UK would have to deal with an [...]

Footballer David Beckham is 35 and still playing – and most British men see him as a physical role model, according to a new survey. And most fall well short of their ideal, according to the survey of some 500 men conducted for NHS Choices during National Obesity Week. As many as 40 per cent [...]

Australian researchers have carried out the first study to estimate the effects of long-term changes in daily step count on insulin sensitivity. The Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Melbourne, Australia, enrolled 592 middle aged adults in the national study to map diabetes levels across the country between 2000 and 2005. At the beginning, participants completed a [...]