Spliced feed for The Science Network

Giving Obesity the CHOP [Sciencebase Science Blog]

Posted: 23 Jun 2008 07:00 AM CDT

Obesity news I am once again drawn to research from a team at the University of Westminster, a renowned institution that doles out so-called science degrees in homeopathy. This time the paper in question, published in the inaugural issue of the International Journal of Food Safety, Nutrition and Public Health (2008, vol 1, issue 1, pp 16-32) is on that perennial favourite: what to do about the obesity epidemic.

Ihab Tewfik, a senior lecturer in the School of Biosciences, at Westminster, reports that “the prevalence and severity of people suffering from obesity has increased markedly worldwide,” and adds that “The WHO declared obesity a ‘crisis of epidemic proportion’.” Nothing of which I can be too critical in those statements, except for one small point.

While obesity and the diseases and disorders for which it is purportedly a risk factor - type II diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, atherosclerosis, cardiovascular disease, stroke, and heart attack - are almost certainly on the increase in North America, Western Europe, and pockets of the Pacific Rim, the use of the term “worldwide” is rather ironic. This is especially true given that the WHO and other international organizations consistently report massive cases of disease, malnourishment and poor water supply across great tracts of the earth’s surface from Africa and South America to Asia and the former Soviet Union.

Anyway, Tewfik and colleagues have proposed a conceptual framework for a three-year intervention programme that could be adapted to the prevention of childhood obesity, which is a growing problem in many parts of the world, if not quite worldwide.

Ironically, they have named the framework, with one of those shoehorned acronyms, as CHOP, for Childhood Obesity Prevention and explain their approach as follows:

The approach is based on a behaviour modification model without giving foods. Family, school and children are essential counterparts to achieve meaningful improvement. Advocated by policies makers and embraced with favourite environmental factors, CHOP programme could be the conceptual framework for nutrition intervention that can be effectively integrated within the national health framework to attain public health goals.

Apparently, what this boils down to is giving children healthy foods, increasing physical activity and workout limits, limited TV and other screen times, implementing a non-food reward system, and allowing self-monitoring. As part of this approach schools will intervene in teaching children that they should eat five portions of fruit and vegetables each day, that they should cut the amount of fat they eat, limit their screen time and be active every day.

It all sounds like good, solid advice. Indeed, it’s the kind of advice the medical profession, nannyish governments, and even grandparents, have been offering for decades. Unfortunately, growing children
are
notoriously reluctant
to take advicegrowing children are notoriously reluctant to take advice, especially when it comes to avoiding sweets and crisps, eating their greens, and switching off the Playstation (other gaming consoles are available).

The Westminster researchers, however, suggest their CHOP system would be convenient once the appropriate team, policies and resources have been successfully assembled. One has to wonder at a cost to whom these resources might be assembled. They do concede that, “In some circumstances this conceptual framework may be regarded to be too ambitious to attempt de novo within three years especially in some developing countries, where lack of access to health care, to drinkable water, to food, to education and housing is prevalent.”

It’s probably not necessary to implement it in places where food is in limited supply, surely. But, even in apparently developed nations, I’d suggest that costs will be severely prohibitive while children will be reluctant to partake (what positive rewards will replace treats and screen time?). Moreover, by their own admission, obesity is on a rapid climb among adults too and one has to wonder how these resources will be applied to persuade parents and carers of increasingly obese children will themselves be persuaded to take part if they do not appreciate the potential benefits.

A post from David Bradley Science Writer

Giving Obesity the CHOP

Scholarship in the Digital Age [Excited Light]

Posted: 23 Jun 2008 04:25 AM CDT

A book I would like to read.

Scholars in all fields now have access to an unprecedented wealth of online information, tools, and services. The Internet lies at the core of an information infrastructure for distributed, data-intensive, and collaborative research. Although much attention has been paid to the new technologies making this possible, from digitized books to sensor networks, it is the underlying social and policy changes that will have the most lasting effect on the scholarly enterprise. In Scholarship in the Digital Age, Christine Borgman explores the technical, social, legal, and economic aspects of the kind of infrastructure that we should be building for scholarly research in the twenty-first century.

Borgman describes the roles that information technology plays at every stage in the life cycle of a research project and contrasts these new capabilities with the relatively stable system of scholarly communication, which remains based on publishing in journals, books, and conference proceedings. No framework for the impending “data deluge” exists comparable to that for publishing. Analyzing scholarly practices in the sciences, social sciences, and humanities, Borgman compares each discipline’s approach to infrastructure issues. In the process, she challenges the many stakeholders in the scholarly infrastructure–scholars, publishers, libraries, funding agencies, and others–to look beyond their own domains to address the interaction of technical, legal, economic, social, political, and disciplinary concerns. Scholarship in the Digital Age will provoke a stimulating conversation among all who depend on a rich and robust scholarly environment.

Christine L. Borgman is Professor and Presidential Chair in Information Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. She is the author of From Gutenberg to the Global Information Infrastructure: Access to Information in the Networked World (MIT Press, 2000).

Via: MITPRESS

References of the book can be found on author’s webpage.

Astronomers find new Milky Way arm [Earth & Sky Podcast]

Posted: 23 Jun 2008 04:06 AM CDT

Hear Harvard astronomer Thomas Dane talk about a great step forward in our understanding of the winding spiral arms of our Milky Way Galaxy.

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Stable microbubbles may aid manufacturing [Earth & Sky Podcast]

Posted: 22 Jun 2008 04:06 AM CDT

The smaller a bubble is, the easier it is to pop it. But Harvard’s Emilie Dressaire used a store-bought kitchen mixer to make tiny bubbles that won't won't pop for over a year.