The latest news from the Centre for Diet and Activity Research
- CEDAR renewed for five years
- CEDAR and partners secure Lifelong Health and Wellbeing grant for Norfolk study
- New Evidence Brief – Walking & Cycling for Transport
- Recent CEDAR publications
- CEDAR/MRC Epidemiology Seminar – 15 May, Shane Snow, Department for Transport
- CEDAR/MRC Epidemiology Seminar, 3 July: Lifestyle and cancer prevention – Professor Annie S Anderson
- Save the date: What shall we do about diet and physical activity? Joint science and policy meeting, 9 October 2013
CEDAR Renewed for Five Years
Building evidence and research capacity for effective public health action
As part of the UK Clinical Research Collaboration initiative that supports five Public Health Research Centres of Excellence, CEDAR has recently been renewed for five years.
We are very pleased to be able to continue the work that we have started at CEDAR, and we look forward to building on our relationships with academic, policy and practice partners.
Poor diet and lack of physical activity are big challenges for health and society, and they do not exist in isolation. They are driven as much by the social, cultural, economic and physical environment in which we live as they are by our personal attitudes and beliefs. CEDAR aims to improve our knowledge of these wider factors so that populations can be supported in adopting sustainable healthy behaviours.
This goes beyond traditional health-promotion to looking at the wider aspects of how we live our lives, for instance how we travel to work or school, or how the physical and economic environment affect the food we buy.
To address these complex issues, CEDAR draws on the expertise of a wide range of scientific disciplines, including behavioural science, biostatistics, epidemiology, health economics, health geography, and nutrition research. This collaboration is achieved by a partnership between the Universities of Cambridge and East Anglia, and MRC Units of Epidemiology, Human Nutrition Research, and Biostatistics. CEDAR is hosted by the Cambridge Institute of Public Health.
CEDAR and partners secure Lifelong Health and Wellbeing grant for Norfolk study
Researchers led by CEDAR’s Simon Griffin have secured a grant to examine the promotion of physical activity in older age, building on and adding to data from the EPIC-Norfolk study. The three year research programme will generate evidence to inform the development and evaluation of interventions and policy to promote physical activity in older people. The project involves researchers from CEDAR, the MRC Epidemiology Unit, the Department of Public Health and Primary Care, and Clinical Gerontology.
One of the main challenges that faces health services and society is the care of older people with limitations to their independent living. The promotion of more physical activity among the middle-aged and elderly may make this challenge more manageable.
In this project, we will look at patterns of physical activity and sedentary behaviour and how they change over time. The study will examine the personal and environmental factors that influence physical activity in older people, and add to knowledge about the sorts of activities that might reduce risk of disease and be feasible for older people. These are important steps in developing interventions and policy to help populations adopt sustainable healthy behaviours.
- Find out more about EPIC-Norfolk
- Find out more about the MRC Lifelong Health and Wellbeing initiative
New Evidence Brief – Walking and Cycling for Transport
How promoting active travel can help meet the physical activity challenge
It is well established that many people are not spending enough time being physically active and that this can contribute to serious health problems. Given the time people spend travelling to work and other destinations, encouraging active travel is a promising way of meeting this challenge. It also has the potential to deliver environmental and economic benefits.
- View the Evidence Brief as a web page
- Download as a pdf
- Order printed copies from ocf26@medschl.cam.ac.uk
- More Evidence Briefs here
Thank you to everyone who has helped us develop the content and format of these documents. Please keep telling us if you think there are ways we can improve them. Contact Oliver on ocf26@medschl.cam.ac.uk
Recent CEDAR publications
The following papers are a selection of recent publications by CEDAR authors:
- Change in active travel and changes in recreational and total physical activity in adults: longitudinal findings from iConnect (Open Access)
- Access to Recreational Physical Activities by Car and Bus: An Assessment of Socio-Spatial Inequalities in Mainland Scotland (Open Access)
- Health co-benefits and transportation-related reductions in greenhouse gas emissions in the San Francisco Bay Area
- Incorporating walking or cycling into car journeys to and from work: the role of individual, workplace and environmental characteristics
- Higher maternal education is associated with favourable growth of young children in different countries
- Is environmental setting associated with the intensity and duration of children’s physical activity? Findings from the SPEEDY GPS study
- Association between diet and physical activity and sedentary behaviours in 9-10-year-old British White children
You can find all CEDAR publications through our online database: www.cedar.iph.cam.ac.uk/publications
On it you can search over 130 scientific papers by author, journal, study, title and abstract keywords. We’ve also marked where papers are Open Access. A list of all Open Access publications can be found at: www.cedar.iph.cam.ac.uk/publications/tag/open-access
CEDAR/MRC Epidemiology Seminar, 15 May: Shane Snow – Department for Transport
Shane Snow, Cycling Strategy Facilitator, Department for Transport will talk on:
Locking in the Olympic legacy by rebalancing towns, cities and communities in favour of more Cycling and Walking.
15 May 2013, 12-1pm, Institute of Metabolic Science (IMS), Level 4 seminar rooms 1-2.
The IMS is found on the Addenbrooke’s campus, and can be found on the bottom left of this map.
About Shane. Shane Snow has spent 14 years in the Department for Transport including stints on High Speed rail and working in a Ministers Office. He currently facilitates city transit authorities, cycling campaign groups and cross Whitehall stakeholders to produce a long term ambition for more and safer cycling in UK cities. Shane has expertise leading and engaging individuals, teams and multi-sector stakeholders in new ways of making a bigger difference. Shane works with Pauline Reeves, who has been a Centre for Science and Police/CEDAR Policy Fellow. You can read about Pauline’s experience in this role here.
CEDAR/MRC Epidemiology Seminar, 3 July: Lifestyle and cancer prevention – Professor Annie S Anderson
Professor Annie S Anderson, Professor of Public Health Nutrition, Centre for Public Health Nutrition Research, Centre for Research into Cancer Prevention and Screening, University of Dundee will talk on:
Lifestyle and cancer prevention – the elephant in the room
3 July 2013, 12.30-1.30pm, Institute of Metabolic Science (IMS), Level 4 seminar rooms 1-2.
The IMS is found on the Addenbrooke’s campus, and can be found on the bottom left of this map.
About Professor Anderson. Annie Anderson is a Public Health Nutritionist and Dietitian with extensive experience in designing, implementing and evaluating lifestyle intervention trials whilst based at the Universities of Cambridge, Aberdeen, Glasgow and Dundee. Her training (BSc, SRD, PhD) spans biological aspects of nutrition as well as behavioural, social and cultural dimensions. Professor Anderson’s main interests lie in understanding factors that influence the promotion of lifestyle change (principally diet and obesity) and the impact of theory based, behaviourally focused dietary and obesity interventions (policy, practice and individual) in relation to disease risk reduction. More about Prof Anderson here.
Save the date: What shall we do about diet and physical activity? – Joint science and policy meeting
9 October, 10am – 3pm.
There will be up to 40 places for policymakers and practitioners to join CEDAR at our meeting to discuss the scientific and policy implications for diet and physical activity research on Wednesday 9 October, 10am-3pm.
The day will include presentation and discussions on emerging evidence and on policy perspectives and priorities, as well poster sessions and other chances to join the dots between science and policy. We will send out formal invitations soon, but please mark the date in your diary if you think you would like to attend.
Sign up for future issues here.
Questions and comments to Oliver Francis: ocf26@medschl.cam.ac.uk