United Against Obesity

According to the WHO, worldwide obesity has more than doubled since 1980. There are so many stories in the media right now related to this epidemic, many of which are causing an uproar, from New York’s mayor, Michael Bloomberg, recently announcing a proposed ban on the sale of sugary drinks larger than 16oz in the city, to airlines like Samoa Air charging passengers by weight. There are also so many differing opinions on what impacts appetite regulation, from the lack of exercise, to sleep irregularity, to an unhealthy diet.

In the State of Georgia, more than 65 percent of adults and 40 percent of children are overweight or obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Recently, SIN Atlanta hosted a UK expert on the topic of obesity and nutrition to try to combat this deadly disease. Professor Halford of the University of Liverpool, who heads up the Department for Psychological Sciences, visited Georgia to meet with academic and industry leaders about weight management and satiety modification to explore the possibility of future collaboration.

His first stop was the University of Georgia where he met with Professor Clifton Baile who heads up a $10 million state-wide Obesity Initiative that addresses adult/childhood obesity and its related diseases. Topics of discussion included childhood obesity, bone health and body composition, and interventions for treating obese patients.

While at UGA, Professor Halford was keen to share outcomes from the £6 million EU-focused project called SATIN (SATiety Innovation) that he heads up from Liverpool. The programme is a five-year multidisciplinary effort to develop novel food products for European consumers that help achieve a balanced diet. Bringing together food scientists from business and academia, SATIN leads innovations in food production that will allow for more healthy choices for adults and children.

From his visit to the GA Department of Public Health, the CDC and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Jason picked up on a reoccurring theme- that the complicated relationship between obesity and poverty is hard to divide. Interestingly, we learned from GA Public Health that some counties in agriculturally-focused rural GA are shipping large amounts of produce out of the state while the locals have no access to these fresh products. Studies have shown that obesity, cardiovascular disease and heart disease are prevalent in these communities where physical inactivity is a common lifestyle, but locals should at least be able to buy directly from farms (which isn’t the case unfortunately). We were impressed however with the efforts by the State to educate young mothers and youth about healthy eating.

During his visit to Atlanta, Professor Halford was able to successfully engage American experts on the international problem of obesity. Working together, the UK and US have tackled many of the world’s problems. As the obesity epidemic grows, there will an even greater need for innovation across all sectors of the food industry. The continuous exchanging of ideas and research between the top experts in both countries will therefore become even more important.