Publications

Understanding and Combating Childhood Obesity

Photo by Leo Rivas on Unsplash


Below is a valuable resource that addresses a pressing issue affecting our children today – childhood obesity.

We recently came across an insightful article titled "Understanding and Combating Childhood Obesity," and we believe it's a must-read for parents, caregivers, and anyone passionate about the well-being of our younger generation.

Here’s the link: https://renewbariatrics.com/children-obesity/

In this comprehensive piece, the authors shed light on the root causes of childhood obesity, the long-term impact on health, and most importantly, practical tips and strategies to promote a healthier lifestyle for our kids. The article not only highlights the severity of the issue but also provides actionable steps that individuals and communities can take to make a positive change.

   

   

   

NOF British Journal of Obesity - register for your free copy

We are pleased to announce that the British Journal of Obesity – the official journal of the National Obesity Forum, in association with the Obesity Management Association - has now launched and the first edition of the journal has been printed. The British Journal of Obesity is a quarterly, peer-reviewed publication for all healthcare professionals with an interest in the management of obesity.

The British Journal of Obesity provides up-to-date discussion and content to assist healthcare professionals in providing a unified, multidisciplinary approach to this modern-day epidemic, and welcomes articles for peer review from clinicians active in the field of obesity management who have experience to share, even if they have little or no experience in publishing papers. Read by general practitioners, practice nurses, dietitians, psychologists and bariatric surgeons, the British Journal of Obesity is rapidly establishing itself as the publication of choice for healthcare professionals managing this global health phenomenon.

Online content from the journal is available at: 
www.britishjournalofobesity.co.uk
 

If you are interested in receiving a hard copy of the journal, please contact  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 



NOF British Journal of Obesity

We are pleased to announce that the British Journal of Obesity – the official journal of the National Obesity Forum, in association with the Obesity Management Association - has now launched and the first edition of the journal has been printed. The British Journal of Obesity is a quarterly, peer-reviewed publication for all healthcare professionals with an interest in the management of obesity.

The British Journal of Obesity provides up-to-date discussion and content to assist healthcare professionals in providing a unified, multidisciplinary approach to this modern-day epidemic, and welcomes articles for peer review from clinicians active in the field of obesity management who have experience to share, even if they have little or no experience in publishing papers. Read by general practitioners, practice nurses, dietitians, psychologists and bariatric surgeons, the British Journal of Obesity is rapidly establishing itself as the publication of choice for healthcare professionals managing this global health phenomenon.

Online content from the journal is available at:
www.britishjournalofobesity.co.uk
 

If you are interested in receiving a hard copy of the journal, please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 




Book Review; Big Fat Surprise by Nina Teicholz

Review by Debbie Cook and David Haslam

 

Big Fat Surprise by Nina Teicholz is a revelation; an enjoyable book whose author is not afraid to court controversy about how the food we are eating can be damaging to our health. She follows a tradition of brave writers prepared to go out on a limb with ideas which would challenge the accepted mantra. In 1972, John Yudkin courted ridicule by claiming that sugar was ‘Sweet White and Deadly’. In more recent years, Yudkin’s reputation has been re-established, partly by the work of Gary Taubes, Robert Lustig, John Briffa and others: sugar has been identified in some quarters as a major player in the obesity, and also the type two diabetes epidemic. Others, notably the food and sugar industry have rejected the idea, and Government have instead considered measures to reduce fat intake in the nations diets, including fat taxes as well as ‘nudging’ companies in the right health direction with pledges and the ‘Responsibility Deal.’
 

More recently, the assumed wisdom has been challenged in various areas; the Action on Sugar campaign has emphatically pointed the finger at sugar, ‘sweet poison’,  as a culprit in the obesity epidemic, and demanded Government action in the same way as the over consumption of salt has been tackled.
 

The UK is ready for the revelation that sugar is toxic, and that refined carbohydrates and fruit juice are detrimental to health, and has taken it fairly well. But the next big shock wave – that another macronutrient is an important, healthy and necessary part of the diet: namely saturated fat – may take some swallowing. For some time it has been whispered quietly. The entrenched dogma that saturated fat is entirely without nutritional benefit is now being challenged. Some clinicians have long believed certain nutritional tenets – saturated fat can be beneficial; repast doesn’t arrive on our plates as a ‘macronutrient selection’, but as whole food, packaged as a meal.  They have felt for too long that they have been part of an underground resistance movement afraid to speak for fear of ridicule. But now they have a champion; Nina Teicholz book ‘The Big Fat Surprise’ elegantly presents robust evidence of the benefits of certain dietary fats in what she describes as a ‘Nutritional Thriller’, exploring the paucity of evidence which lead to initial dietary guidelines, in comparison to today’s convincing large-scale trials.
 

Teicholz takes us on a twisting journey encompassing board room drama, political hefties and questionable evidence, in the wars of nutritional science where only the big food companies are winners. In a meticulously well researched book, we are informed and educated about why the modern world faces an epidemic of obesity, why generations of Americans religiously followed the nutritional dogma fed to them by researchers of questionable integrity. Research funded by food companies. ‘
 

Tiecholz, drawing heavily on and expanding from Gary Taube’s book ‘Good calories Bad calories’, manages to explain the science in such a way that the book becomes appealing to both clinicians and non-medics who are interested in both their own health and that of their patients. The book provides a very detailed catalogue of references which underpin her argument; that meat, eggs butter and cheese all belong in a healthy diet and should never have been consigned to the ' only eat on rare occasions' pile. In doing so she does not pillory the pro-sugar lobby but rather insists that we would all be healthier if we ate less sugar and carbohydrate and more saturated fat instead.
 

Delving back into decades of nutritional science, and the reason why the call to eat less fat and more carbohydrate ever existed (Ancel Keys, principally) for so many American’s, she delicately picks apart some of the better known, massive epidemiological studies and also some of the less well known, smaller studies. Her ability to translate the science into something altogether more digestible shines through the pages of this book. Apart from meticulous research, one of the more appealing aspects of this lengthy tome is that she has managed to turn a potentially dull subject- what we should all be eating to stay healthy and avoid cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity, into something of a thriller. The story itself becomes as important as the outcome and the refuting of the traditional dogma.
 

By the end of this book, utterly convincing as it is, you will begin to questions the old accepted science. I recommend every health care professional to read this book and help to sound the death-knell for the ‘one size fits all approach’. Fat can belong in a healthy diet. Fat, meat and eggs, should not be demonised and we should not be forced to adopt a unitary approach to nutrition therapy. This well- crafted and well written book should form another stepping stone in the quiet revolution against the out- dated nutritional advice that a low fat diet is the only path to follow for optimum health, which is surely helping to fuel the twin scourges of modern society, that of obesity and type two diabetes.     


 

PHE and UK Health Forum's Blackfriars Consensus on promoting brain health links dementia to obesity and lifestyle

Blackfriars Consensus on promoting brain health: Reducing risks for dementia in the population


Public Health England and the UK Health Forum have released the Blackfriars Consensus on promoting brain health: 
Reducing risks for dementia in the population which links dementia to obesity and lifestyle.

Read the document here



Man V Fat - a free digital magazine to help men with weight loss

Man V Fat is a new digital magazine designed to support and champion men who want to lose weight. Established by Andrew Shanahan, a writer for The Guardian, The Times and Loaded, it will be launched at the beginning of May 2014. The magazine will contains success stories, weight loss diaries, a range of features on men's weight loss issues and is backed up by a vibrant social media community on Twitter (www.twitter.com/manvfat), Facebook (www.facebook.com/manvfat) and on the web (www.manvfat.com). 

The magazine will be available on both iOS and Android and will be entirely free. It is committed to promoting only an evidence-based approach to weight loss and has the backing of both the National Obesity Forum and the British Dietetic Association. The magazine will be seeking comment from weight loss professionals as well as GPs and nurses so please feel free to submit any ideas to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

 

Low calorie sweeteners and its role in weight management

Consumption of low calorie sweeteners (LCSs) is increasing, but questions remain around their role as a potential tool for weight management. The existing evidence regarding the effect of LCSs on energy balance, appetite, food intake and glycaemic response, and their role in weight management was recently reviewed during a roundtable meeting of representatives from the National Obesity Forum.

The key conclusions and practical tips around the effective use of LCSs in weight management for healthcare professionals, as discussed during the meeting, form a new discussion document by the Forum. The document, entitled The role of low calorie sweeteners in weight management: Evidence and practicalities”, summarises the evidence for the use of LCSs in weight management while also addressing some of the common misunderstandings surrounding their use. In summary, the evidence reviewed suggests that LCSs are an appropriate tool for weight management with few, if any, discernable negative effects and some potential benefits.

The document was published as a supplement to this month’s edition of Diabetes Digest, and a PDF version can be obtained by clicking here.

The complete list of papers reviewed by the authors for the purposes of this supplement can be accessed here.

Acknowledgement: This document and the roundtable meeting of the authors upon which it is based were supported by Thirst for Knowledge, an educational initiative for healthcare professionals funded by Coca-Cola Great Britain. If you would like to receive updates on other Thirst for Knowledge initiatives, please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

 

XLS-Medical

As you know, healthcare professionals are regularly asked to support patients who want to lose weight, engaging them in conversations about a healthy diet and lifestyle as well as educating them about the small changes that can make a real difference.

The Obesity Journal has published a trial online, which shows XLS-Medical fat binder can help dieters lose up to three times more weight than dieting alone when taken in conjunction with a healthy balanced diet.

Click the read more link to learn about the trial and the role that XLS-Medical can play in supporting your patients’ weight loss journey. You can find further information at www.doctors.net.uk/XLSMedicalfatbinder.

Medical management during effective weight loss

Our publication - 'Medical management during effective weight loss' is now available for download. Click the read more link for more information and a link to download the document.

Since the advent in the UK of surgery for obesity and with an increasingly strong evidence base for use of formula low calorie and very low calorie diets, more healthcare practitioners in both primary and secondary care are seeing patients who are losing larger amounts of weight than previously observed. 

The patient undergoing therapeutic weight loss requires management of all the other aspects of bodily function that are affected by reduced dietary energy, modified gut function (after surgery), and altered hormonal and metabolic processes. 

The healthcare practitioner needs a clearly presented set of guidelines, based on sound science and medical evidence, to enable changes to drug therapy and guidance on diet and lifestyle to be made and advice to be given with confidence. 

The purpose of this publication is two-fold:

To provide outline guidance for healthcare practitioners caring for patients after bariatric surgery following discharge from the surgical unit

To provide outline guidance on management of other medical conditions during effective weight-loss whether following surgery or following non-surgical methods such as very low-calorie diets, part-formula low calorie diets and drugs.

NOF-Medical-management.pdf [Adobe Acrobat PDF - 1002.06 KB]

January 2011 NOF Newsletter

The January 2011 NOF Newsletter [Adobe Acrobat PDF - 1.44 MB]  is now available for downloading.