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25 May 2018

IPH presents results of a study of the lifetime cost of childhood obesity on the island of Ireland at the Summer Scientific Meeting 2018

The Faculty of Public Health's Annual Summer Scientific Meeting was held on 30th & 31st of May 2018 in Dublin. Professor Kevin P. Balanda from the IPH presented the results from the 'Lifetime financial costs of childhood obesity/overweight in Ireland and Northern Ireland'. The JANPA/safefood project estimated that the obesity/overweight in the island's 2015 childhood population was associated with lifetime excess financial costs of €7.1 (in 2015 values). Direct health care costs accounted for approximately 25% of this total costs. The biggest cost category was lost productivity due to premature death that accounted for approximately 60% of total excess lifetime costs on the island. The study highlights gender differences and North/South differences in the magnitude of the cost categories.

Contact Prof Balanda at kevin.balanda@publichealth.ie

JANPA http://www.janpa.eu/

To view the presentation, click here

Faculty of Public Health Medicine

To find out more information about IPH work on obesity, visit the Public Health Well

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25 May 2018

IPH contributes to the JANPA Skills Building Workshop to ECO2018

The ECO2018 Congress on Obesity was held from 23rd to 26th of May 2018 in Vienna, Austria. Professor Kevin P. Balanda from the IPH contributed a session to the JANPA Workshop. The brief session looked at mobilising data and research to estimate the lifetime costs of childhood obesity using the JANPA costing model. It outlined the data and research required, described some of the challenges and gave tips for overcoming these challenges. It ended with a brief overview of the opportunities that exist for countries in conducting such study in their country.

Contact Prof Balanda at kevin.balanda@publichealth.ie

To view the presentation, click here

JANPA

To find out more information about IPH work on obesity, visit the Public Health Well

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25 May 2018

IPH presents results of a study of the lifetime cost of childhood obesity on the island of Ireland to ECO2018

The ECO2018 Congress on Obesity was held from 23rd to 26th of May 2018 in Vienna, Austria. Professor Kevin P. Balanda from the IPH delivered an invited talk to the Congress on the 'Lifetime financial costs of childhood obesity/overweight in Ireland and Northern Ireland. The JANPA/safefood project estimated that the obesity/overweight in the island's 2015 childhood population was associated with lifetime excess financial costs of €7.1 (in 2015 values). Direct health care costs accounted for approximately 25% of this total costs. The biggest cost category was lost productivity due to premature death that accounted for approximately 60% of total excess lifetime costs on the island.

Contact Prof Balanda at kevin.balanda@publichealth.ie

To view the presentation, click here

JANPA

To find out more information about IPH work on obesity, visit the Public Health Well

View all spotlights

21 May 2018

Poster "Lifetime financial cost of childhood obesity on the island of Ireland" presented at the 6th ASOI Annual Conference

The 2018 meeting was held on the 14th of May 2018 in association with the Division of Population Health Sciences at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. This year the focus was on the environmental determinants of food consumption and obesity.

Professor Kevin P. Balanda from the Institute of Public health was delighted to present a poster on the Lifetime financial cost of childhood obesity on the island of Ireland.

For more information on the conference, click here.

To view the poster, click here.

To find out more information about IPH work on obesity, visit the Health Well Obesity Hub.

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8 May 2018

ASOI Conference 2018

The Association for the Study of Obesity on the Island of Ireland (ASOI) will hold its 2018 Annual Conference on May 14th 2018 in association with the Division of Population Health Sciences at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. The conference will take in the main campus of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, 123 St Stephens Green, Dublin 2.

This year the focus is on the Environmental determinants of food consumption and obesity. Send your abstract to be in with a chance to win the ASOI Award for best submitted abstract (see abstract submission details below).

Online registration for the conference is available here: asoi.web.ie/events/

ASOI 2018 Programme

ASOI 2018 Registration Form

ASOI 2018 Call for Abstracts

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10 April 2018

Joint Action on Nutrition and Physical Activity (JANPA)

WP4| COST OF CHILDHOOD OBESITY

The overall aim of this EU project was to contribute to halting the rise of overweight and obesity in children and adolescents by 2020. JANPA stands for “Joint Action on Nutrition and Physical Activity”.

Considerable work has been done on the healthcare costs of adult obesity. Impacts of childhood obesity, however, are rarely included in such obesity costing studies. More work was necessary to understand the impacts of childhood obesity as well as exploring non-healthcare (societal) costs in more detail. JANPA Work Package 4 starts to fill this gap by “developing the evidence-based economic rationale for action on childhood obesity”.

The technical objectives of Work Package 4 are:

to describe the lifetime impact and cost of childhood obesity
to assess the benefits of reducing childhood obesity by 1% and 5%.

This was attempted in seven European countries.

Professor Kevin Balanda (kevin.balanda@publichealth.ie) led JANP WP4. The JANPA WP4 costing model was implemented in an adaptation of the UKHF’s existing software.

JANPA WP4 was a very challenging project and its final deliverables are now available. In particular, final figures for Ireland and Northern Ireland are presented in Deliverable D4.6.

JANPA

JANPA WP4

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13 February 2018

'Murtall' the new term for obesity in the Irish Language

The Association for the Study of Obesity on the island of Ireland (ASOI) has successfully changed the word for obesity in the Irish language. ‘Otracht’ was previously the Irish term for obesity. The English translation of ‘otracht’ is critical, negative and derogatory.

“Language is important. The words we choose matter” says Dr Jean O’Connell, Chair of ASOI. “People living with certain stigmatised diseases say that coping with the stigma of the disease is harder than coping with the disease itself. We need to change the way that we talk about overweight and obesity, in every language”.

Niamh Arthurs (Public Health and Clinical Nutritionist, ASOI Education role) addressed this concern with Foras Na Gaeilge. They advised Ms Arthurs to bring the case to the translation section of the Oireachtas in Leinster House. Following discussion, they informed the ASOI that the word ‘murtall’ will be used instead of ‘otracht’ in legislation in Ireland and they will also advise European institutions to use the term ‘murtall’ in future. Foras Na Gaeilge also stated that they would recommend general use of the term ‘murtall’.

'Murtall' the new term for obesity in the Irish Language

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23 February 2017

Eating 10 portions of fruit and vegetables a day may give us longer lives, say researchers

The study, by Imperial College London, showed that while eating the recommended five a day still helps reduce the risk of disease, the highest benefits are seen in people who consume 10 portions and calculated such eating habits could prevent 7.8 million premature deaths each year. A portion counts as 80g (3oz) of fruit or veg - the equivalent of a small banana, a pear or three heaped tablespoons of spinach or peas. The team also identified specific fruit and veg that reduced the risk of cancer and heart disease. Lower risks of cancer were linked to eating; green veg (eg spinach); yellow veg (eg peppers), and cruciferous vegetables (eg cauliflower). Lower risks of heart disease and strokes were linked to eating; apples; pears; citrus fruits; salads; green leafy vegetables (eg lettuce) and cruciferous veg.

For more information, click here

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16 February 2017

New research from safefood reveals men and young adults the least able when it comes to food and cooking skills

The research has measured the state of the nation’s food and cooking skills and has found men and young adults had lower levels of confidence and used less food and cooking skills like planning, cooking in batches or using up leftovers. Among those surveyed for the research, keeping basic food cupboard ingredients and sharing cooking responsibilities were viewed as positive ways to encourage more home cooking, however time pressures and "fussy eaters" were identified as barriers to cooking. Amanda McCloat, Head of The Home Economics Department at St. Angela's College, Sligo and Research Contributor commented “What was really evident from the research is how people gained confidence from simply trying out a recipe and how we should be encouraging non-cooks to give it a go.”

To view the press release and access the report, click here

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3 February 2017

Cancer cases among women are rising six times faster than in men, according to new research.

According to Cancer Research UK, unhealthy lifestyles are responsible for the rise in cancer cases among both sexes - but women are bearing the brunt of the increase. Obesity is one of the factors that can increase the risk of cancers that only affect women, such as womb cancer and ovarian cancer. Cervical and oral cancers are also on the rise in women. Smoking rates are now falling across the UK - but lung cancer figures are beginning to reflect women who took up the habit over recent decades. The charity says that cancer rates will continue to climb nearly six times faster in women than men over the next 20 years.

For more information, click here

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