The latest news from the Centre for Diet and Activity Research
- CEDAR in the media: takeaways and obesity
- CEDAR in the media: physical activity in mothers and their children
- All-Party Commission on Physical Activity report & CEDAR/MRC submission
- Research highlights
- CEDAR/MRC Epidemiology Seminars
- MRC Epidemiology Physical Activity measurement seminar 15-19 September
CEDAR in the media: takeaways and obesity
Takeaway exposure associated with increased consumption and obesity
People who live and work near a high number of takeaway food outlets tend to eat more of these foods and are more likely to be obese than those less exposed. The first UK study to combine home, work and commuting environments of 5,442 adults found that those most exposed to takeaway outlets were almost twice as likely to be obese than those who encountered the fewest outlets.
Takeaway exposure was also strongly associated with increased consumption of takeaway food: those with the highest combined exposure to takeaway outlets consumed an extra 40g of calorific food a week (equivalent to half a small serving of French fries from a typical takeaway food outlet).
- Read the full story here
- Paper: Associations between exposure to takeaway food outlets, takeaway food consumption, and body weight in Cambridgeshire, UK: population based, cross sectional study BMJ 2014;348:g1464
The research was covered was covered by BBC News, The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, The Independent, The Daily Mail, Huffington Post, Cambridge News, the Naked Scientists podcast and many others.
CEDAR in the media: physical activity in mothers and their children
When mothers are active so are their children – but many mothers aren’t
A study of physical activity patterns of women and their four-year-olds reveals a strong association between the two. It also shows that only 53% of mothers engaged in 30 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous activity at least once a week. Taken together, these results highlight valuable avenues for intervention strategies.
Parents are strong influences in the lives of young children, with patterns of behaviour established in the early years laying the foundation for future choices. This new study suggests that, when it comes to levels of physical activity, mothers and their pre-school age children follow similar patterns, indicating a likely influence both ways.
- Read the full story here
- Paper: Activity levels in mothers and their preschool children Pediatrics 2013-3153
The research was covered by BBC News, CBS News, Times of India, NPR, New York Daily News, and others.
All-Party Commission on Physical Activity report and CEDAR submission
The All-Party Commission on Physical Activity has delivered their first report Tackling Physical Inactivity— A Coordinated Approach
This report looks at the scale and scope of the problem, mapping out the specific areas in which we need to work for change. The second part will make suggestions on how we can begin to tackle this epidemic.
You can read the report at http://activitycommission.com/
CEDAR and the MRC Epidemiology Unit provided two evidence submissions to the committee for this report.
You can read both at www.cedar.iph.cam.ac.uk/resources/evidence-submissions along with other submissions that we have made to parliamentary bodies and organisations that produce guidance on public health
Research highlights
The following are a selection of recent publications involving CEDAR researchers. All are Open Access.
- Economic development, urbanization, technological change and overweight: What do we learn from 244 Demographic and Health Surveys? (Yevgeniy Goryakin, Marc Suhrcke)
- How is post-industrial decline associated with the geography of physical activity? Evidence from the Health Survey for England (Esther Rind, Andy Jones, Humphrey Southall)
- How well do modelled routes to school record the environments children are exposed to? A cross-sectional comparison of GIS-modelled and GPS-measured routes to school (Flo Harrison, Thomas Burgoine, Kirsten Corder, Esther van Sluijs, Andy Jones)
- Objectively measured physical activity in four-year-old British children: a cross-sectional analysis of activity patterns segmented across the day (Kathryn Hesketh, Alison McMinn, Ulf Ekelund, Stephen Sharp, PJ Collings PJ, Nicholas Harvey, KM Godfrey, Hazel Inskip, Cyrus Cooper, Esther van Sluijs)
- Physical activity maintenance in the transition to adolescence: a longitudinal study of the roles of sport and lifestyle activities in British youth. (Hannah Brooke, Kirsten Corder, Simon Griffin, Esther van Sluijs)
- Understanding the relationship between food environments, deprivation and childhood overweight and obesity: Evidence from a cross sectional England-wide study (Andreea Cetateanu, Andy Jones)
You can search nearly 200 CEDAR scientific papers by author, journal, study, title and abstract keywords on our publications database at www.cedar.iph.cam.ac.uk/publications
We have made good progress in increasing the number of our papers which are open access: in total 90% of CEDAR papers are freely available on the web.
CEDAR / MRC Epidemiology Seminars
CEDAR jointly organises a seminar series with the MRC Epidemiology Unit in Cambridge, a chance to hear from leading researchers in diet and physical activity, along with the occasional policymaker.
Details of current talks are available on our website and at talks.cam.ac.uk. To receive email notifications of the latest talks, complete the form at www.cedar.iph.cam.ac.uk/news/seminars
- Paving bicycling’s path to redemption in the future of active travel
Kevin Krizek, Professor, Environmental Design and Transport, University of Colorado
Friday 2 May, 12.30 – 1.30pm
Meeting rooms 1&2, MRC Epidemiology Unit, Level 3 Addenbrooke’s Treatment Centre
- Food Environments: defining, measuring and developing interventions
Dr Amelia Lake, Lecturer in Knowledge Exchange in Public Health at the Centre for Public Policy & Health, University of Durham
Wednesday 21 May 2014, 1:00-2:00pm
Meeting rooms 1&2, Level 4 Institute of Metabolic Sciences, Addenbrooke’s Treatment Centre
MRC Epidemiology Physical Activity Measurement Seminar 15 – 19 September 2014
Applications are now open for the MRC Epidemiology Unit 7th Physical Activity Measurement Seminar at the Møller Centre in Cambridge.
The objective of the seminar, aimed at academic researchers, is to promote high quality field work in epidemiological studies through understanding of the underlying measurement principles and methods of data analysis.
The seminar encourages those who are interested or involved in the measurement of physical activity in the epidemiological setting to learn about the science and practical aspects of current techniques used in this field of research.
The programme is designed to cover the whole process of methodological considerations, data collection (in the field and laboratory settings), operational issues and the analysis & interpretation of data. The course has a primary focus on the objective measurement of physical activity and is expected to attract delegates from all over the world.
- Further information at www.mrc-epid.cam.ac.uk/pa-seminar
- Queries to pa-seminar@mrc-epid.cam.ac.uk