Obesity Update (2)

Anaerobic Exercise:
Anaerobic exercise comprises brief, strength-based activities, such as sprinting or bodybuilding, whereas aerobic exercise is centered around endurance activities, such as marathon running or long-distance cycling. However, the early stage of all exercise is anaerobic.

Examples of anaerobic exercise include weight lifting, sprinting, and jumping; any exercise that consists of short exertion, high-intensity movement, is an anaerobic exercise.

• International Obesity Taskforce - www.iotf.org
• Counterweight - www.counterweight.org
• Intercollegiate Course on Human Nutrition - www.icgnutrition.org.uk
• International Assoc. for the Study of Obesity - www.iotf.org/sydneyprinciples/index.asp

Dr. Donal O’ Shea   

Consultant Endocrinologist and Joint Chair of RCPI Obesity Policy Group:

Donal O’Shea qualified from University College Dublin in 1989. He moved to Hammersmith Hospital in London and worked as a Registrar in General Medicine, Cardiology and Endocrinology before being appointed as Senior Registrar in Endocrinology. He was awarded a Wellcome Trust Training Fellowship to study the hypothalamic control of appetite. In 1996, he was appointed as Consultant Physician/Senior Lecturer in Diabetes and Endocrinology at Charing Cross Hospital, London.
In 1999, he moved to his current position in St Vincent’s University and St Columcille’s Hospitals, Dublin where he runs a hospital based multidisciplinary treatment unit for the management of adult obesity. He chaired the Detection and Treatment subgroup of the National Obesity Taskforce in 2005, chairs the nutrition council of the Irish Heart Foundation and was appointed associate Professor of Medicine in UCD in 2007.

Obesity can shorten life by eight years

Being obese can shorten life by eight years and condemn a person to almost two decades of ill-health, new research has shown.

Scientists used a computer model to predict that diabetes and heart disease were likely to deprive an obese person of up to 19 years of healthy living.

For the very obese, with a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 35 or more, between one and eight years of life were likely to be lost.

Overweight individuals with BMIs of 25 to 30 were predicted to have their lives shortened by up to three years.

BMI is calculated by dividing a person’s weight in kilograms by height in metres squared and is the standard tool used to define levels of obesity.  Someone who is obese is said to have a BMI of 30 or more.

Lead researcher Professor Steven Grover, from McGill University in Montreal, Canada, said: “Our computer modelling study shows that obesity is associated with an increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease (including heart disease and stroke) and diabetes that will, on average, dramatically reduce an individual’s life expectancy and the healthy life-years free from living with these chronic illnesses compared with people of normal weight.

“The pattern is clear.The more an individual weighs and the younger their age, the greater the effect on their health, as they have many years ahead of them during which the increased health risks associated with obesity can negatively impact their lives.”

The study, published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology journal, drew on data from the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).

View more here

New Editions - Oxford Handbooks

Two recent editions have been added to the library collection -

Oxford Handbook of Endocrinology and Diabetes - 2014 (3rd edition)

616.4 OXF Oxford Handbook of General Practice -2014 (4th edition) 616 SIM

Launch of New ‘Five Minute Foot Screen’ Tool for Healthcare Professionals

In the run up to World Diabetes Day, which takes place on Thursday 14 November, an information poster ‘The Five Minute Foot Screen’ has been developed by the HSE’s Podiatry Clinic Manager in Galway, Dr David Watterson, and is supported by Diabetes Ireland. 

Left to Right: Dr Sean Dineen, Consultant Endocrinologist, University Hospital Galway; Angela McKenna, MSD; Dr David Watterson, Podiatry Clinic Manager, Merlin Park University Hospital, Galway

This innovative and simple tool will provide GPs, practice nurses and other health professionals with a step-by-step guide to completing a foot screen, primarily for patients with Diabetes, in less than five minutes.

‘The Five Minute Foot Screen’ supports the National Footcare Model of care and has been designed to include pictures of the individual tests that are performed, as well as pictures of common foot problems associated with diabetes.

“This poster will reinforce the existing skills and knowledge that our doctors, nurses and health professionals have in Ireland, and ensure that they can apply those skills and knowledge to help prevent foot complications that are reaching epidemic proportions in Ireland,” said Dr Watterson.

The design of The Five Minute Foot Screen is based on a ‘wheel’ with the patient at the centre.  It gives examples of how patients can help themselves as well as what healthcare providers can do for them to improve their outcomes.

View full press release here