Diet, Health and Disease

Background

 

The mission of the task force is to improve the scientific basis of weight management from a public health perspective. It focuses on the wider social, cultural and economic determinants of diet and lifestyle and the implications for public health. Concurrently the TF envisages identifying gaps in scientific knowledge, across the European region and for different demographic groups.

 

The joint ILSI Europe, WHO Europe and Free University of Amsterdam project to map overweight and obesity data in adults in the WHO European Region has gained significant interest and will impact on future monitoring schemes in the EU by highlighting the need for comparative and age-adjusted data.

 

The TAKE10! Pilot Intervention Study is gaining momentum in the UK. The value of this project is multi-dimensional. It strengthens collaboration with public health bodies, policy makers within Member states and Europe (including the EU Diet, physical activity and Health platform), ILSI entities globally and it establishes ILSI Europe as an action-oriented contributor to tackling the obesity epidemic, particularly in children.

 

The task force hosts symposia and consensus conferences at professional scientific meetings (e.g., ECO, FENS, ICO, ICN) to inform and connect with researchers, policy makers and health professionals.

 

 

Co-funded by the task force and the ILSI Research Foundation, this pilot project uses the successful TAKE 10! programme developed by the ILSI Centre for Health Promotion in the USA. It consists of 10-minute bursts of physical activity that are embedded into the curriculum, the hypothesis being that short bursts of exercise can be accumulated throughout the day. Not only can this reduce the risk of overweight and obesity by increasing energy expenditure in the short term but may also promotes habitual physical activity in the longer term.

 

The aim is to publish the outcome of the intervention as well as the lessons learned during the process as a series of research articles. In addition, the broader impact will ripple out from the school through the involvement of the local community, parents and other health professionals. Other researchers, educators, policy makers etc. will be brought into the TAKE 10! network, so other schools, regions or countries can benefit from the outputs of this pilot project.

 

 

A collaborative project between ILSI Europe, WHO Europe and the Free University of Amsterdam to map the trends in obesity across Europe overtime has just concluded. The results provide a useful baseline of age-standardised data from which to monitor future developments and identify emerging trends across Europe. The output includes a series of colour-coded maps and highlights the methodological differences between countries flagging up the urgent need to harmonise data collection methods within Europe. The article was published in Obesity Reviews in February 2012. It is planned to widely publicise this work as it provides a sound scientific basis for comparing obesity prevalence across Europe.

 

Future collaborative efforts under discussion with WHO Europe include a joint workshop on harmonising monitoring and surveillance methods for obesity (particularly in children) across European countries.

 

 

This new Concise Monograph builds on the popular ‘Healthy Lifestyles: Nutrition and Physical Activity’ Concise Monograph that was first published in 1999. This new publication includes such ‘hot topics’ as appetite and satiety, metabolic syndrome and obesity and summarises the evidence for optimising diet and lifestyle for healthy living. It was released during the ILSI Europe Annual Symposium, 29-30 March 2012.

 

 

* Scientific Advisor

 

 

 

 

 

 

C. M. Doak, T. M. A. Wijnhoven, D. F. Schokker, et al. Age standardization in mapping adult overweight and obesity trends in the WHO European Region.Obesity Reviews 2012;13:174–191.

 

S. Ziesenitz, A. Eldridge, J-M. Antoine et al. Healthy Lifestyles : Diet, Physical Activity and Health – Second Edition. ILSI Europe Concise Monograph Series 2012: 1-52.

C. Doak, T. Visscher, et al. The Prevention of Overweight and Obesity in Children and Adolescents: A Review of Interventions and Programmes. Obesity Reviews 2006 ;7(1) :111-136.

W.H.M. Saris et al., Editors. Overweight and Obesity in European Children and Adolescents: Causes and Consequences – Prevention and Treatment. European Journal of Pediatrics 2000;159(13):1-68. (Proceedings)

J. Gray. Overweight and Obesity in European Children and Adolescents: Causes and Consequences – Prevention and Treatment. ILSI Europe Report Series 2000:1-22. (Report)

M. Sjöström, Editor. Diet and Physical Activity – Interactions for Health. Public Health Nutrition 1999;2(3):321-459. (Proceedings)

For more information, please contact info@ilsieurope.be.