The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation will award 10 grants of up to 250.000 US$ for policy advocacy to improve food and recreation environments in communities at high risk for obesity.
Vegetarians have better sex!
Jan 28
Enjoy this naughty TV commercial from Peta:
Here is a new Danish TV-commercial from the retailer SPAR supporting the sexy undertones in 6 A Day. In Danish only:
The Nuffield Council on Bioethics set up an expert working party to examine the ethical issues surrounding public health in January 2006. The idea of a ‘nanny state’ is often rejected, but the state has a duty to look after the health of everyone, and sometimes that means guiding or restricting people’s choices. On the other hand, the state must consider a number of principles when designing public health programmes, and justification is required if any of these principles are to be infringed.
Active commuting to school
Jan 28
This new study from University of Birmingham is about the association between active commuting to school, weight and physical activity status in ethnically diverse adolescents predominately living in deprived communities.
Multidisciplinary research in public health: A case study of research on access to green space
Jan 28
The health benefits of using a green spaces for walking or exercising are well recognized. However, whether people choose to use local green space may be determined by a variety of factors. These are likely to include physical distance to access of green space, as well as perceptions and understandings of what is being accessed and how it should be used. This study has also illustrated the ways in which multiple methods can be integrated in public health research, and the merits of different approaches to undertaking multidisciplinary work of this type.
Designing for Better Health
Jan 28
Changemakers.net is organizing an online, open source competition as a global search for individuals and institutions who help people make better decisions regarding their health and the health of others. Designing settings and scenarios in which people make healthy choices requires presenting those choices in a way that takes the all-too-human side of decision making into account. People need (and want) choices, but they also need (and want) help’”a nudge’”when they’re not sure what to do.
5,167 Canadians aged 15-79 years completed a telephone survey. Self-efficacy and intention were the strongest correlates and had the greatest effect on PA.
The UK retailer Asda organized a petition and a caimpaign called “VAT’s not fair!”
Family-based lifestyle interventions that not only modify diet and physical activity but also include behaviour therapy programs can help obese children lose weight and maintain that loss for at least six months. This Cochrane Review also found that in adolescents the effect lasts for at least 12 months. Adding weight controlling drugs orlistat or sibutramine to behaviour change programs for adolescents may provide additional benefits.
The UK Food Standards Agency wants to see more consistent nutrition information for consumers at the point they make a decision about what they eat out of home and announced that the first step will be the introduction of calorie labelling.