Posts Tagged ‘Dietetics’

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NHS Weight Loss programmes “less effective” than Weight Watchers

Friday, November 4th, 2011

New research published online in the British Medical Journal has revealed that diet programmes such as Weight Watchers, Slimming World and Rosemary Conley are cheaper and far more effective than those run by the NHS.

Traditional NHS programmes comprised of counselling from specially trained staff in GP surgeries or pharmacies were found to ultimately lead to less long term weight loss than slimming clubs, where dieters lost more weight and kept it off for longer.

It is thought that this research will now encourage the public attend classes run by commercial companies as opposed to opting for NHS treatment.

The study involved 740 obese or overweight men and women recruited from one NHS Trust in Birmingham. They were divided into six groups, with three attending commercial slimming clubs and three attending either group-based or one-to-one NHS programmes run by advisers and dieticians. Another group was provided with 12 vouchers for free entrance to a local fitness centre.

All programmes reportedly achieved weight loss after 12 weeks which ranged from an average of 1.37kg in the GP group to 4.43kg in the Weight Watchers group. The NHS programmes were also found to be no better than the people exercising at a local fitness centre at this point.

At the one year mark, all the programmes except the GP and pharmacy groups had resulted in “significant weight loss”, with Weight Watchers being the only programme to achieve significantly greater weight loss and being better attended than the control group.

Compared to the NHS programmes, commercially-run ones meant people typically lost an extra 2.3kg.

This research supports another study published in The Lancet in September which showed that a year-long Weight Watchers programme was far more beneficial than helpful doctor’s advice.

The researchers from the University of Birmingham concluded as a result that commercially provided weight management services are more effective and cheaper. They also assert that primary care based services led by specially trained staff in the NHS are “ineffective”.

A spokesman for the Department of Health however said that weight management programmes can be very “cost-effective”, and that the best method to lose weight will be different for everyone.

“The local NHS must think about which weight management service will work best based on an individual patient’s needs” they stated.

Original Source The Telegraph

About Pathway Software

Pathway Software (www.pathwaysoftware.com) specialises in the design and development of patient information systems for Allied Health professionals.

Its flagship product, Therapy Manager, is an Electronic Patient Record (EPR) system specifically designed for Therapy Services to provide decision makers with the ability to track and manage clinical activity and analyse cost of care by patient, episode or service. The system also demonstrably reduces administration time and the costs of managing Therapy Services

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Diet Changes Could Affect Alzheimer’s

Tuesday, July 26th, 2011
A study by researchers at the San Francisco VA Medical Center published in Lancet Neurology has indicated that changes to diet and lifestyle could potentially see the number of Alzheimer’s cases drop by more than half.

It was revealed that low education, smoking, physical inactivity, depression, mid-life hypertension, diabetes and mid-life obesity are the most significant alterable factors which contribute to Alzheimer’s disease. These modifiable risk factors were thought to be linked to up to 51% of all Alzheimer’s cases worldwide (17.2 million cases) and up to 54% of Alzheimer’s cases in the United States (2.9 million cases).

Deborah Barnes PhD, a mental health researcher at the centre who led the study said the implications of the findings were vast, as it suggested that simple lifestyle changes, such as increasing physical activity and stopping smoking, could have a tremendous impact on preventing Alzheimer’s and other related dementias.

Barnes asserted that more research first needs to be done focusing on the assumption that changing these factors will affect the incidence of the condition. “We are assuming that when you change the risk factor, then you change the risk,” Barnes said. “What we need to do now is figure out whether that assumption is correct”.

Senior Investigator Kristine Yaffe MD, Chief of Geriatric Psychiatry at the centre, noted that the number of Alzheimer’s sufferers is expected to triple over the next 40 years. She states that it would be extremely significant if it were possible to discern how to prevent some of these cases, as it would drastically reduce the burden on health services.

Original Source Mediplacements

About Pathway Software

Pathway Software (www.pathwaysoftware.com) specialises in the design and development of patient information systems for Allied Health professionals.

Its flagship product, Therapy Manager, is an Electronic Patient Record (EPR) system specifically designed for Therapy Services to provide decision makers with the ability to track and manage clinical activity and analyse cost of care by patient, episode or service. The system also demonstrably reduces administration time and the costs of managing Therapy Services.

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£140 million cost to Wales NHS by obesity and alcohol

Thursday, March 31st, 2011
A study by Swansea University has suggested that obesity and excessive drinking are directly costing the NHS in Wales more than £140 million each year, with indirect costs potentially being even higher.

Chief medical officer Dr Tony Jewell said both were preventable health issues and that as a result of these llifestyle behaviours, additional and unnecessary demands were being placed on the service. These pressures will needed to be tackled in a cost-effective way as they are occuring at a time of significant pressure on NHS Wales budgets.

The research, commissioned by the assembly government, put the cost of obesity to the NHS in Wales at £73 million and excessive alcohol consumption at between £69.9-73.3 million. Professor Ceri Phillips who was involved in the study said that it was likely to account for approximately 3% of NHS Wales spending, increasing to 10% if smoking was included.

Dr Jewell said this was the first instance of such an estimate, and stresses that in addition to already implemented legislation and pricing mechanisms, individuals must take responsibility for the health and social risks deriving from these lifestyle choices.

The research emphasises the need to need to better educate the public on the issues of obesity and alcohol abuse via the media.

Specialist dietitian Sioned Quirke reinforced that obesity and it’s derivations are becoming an overwhelming problem for health and the NHS. She reports drastically increasing instances of diabetes, which due to its related complications such as heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, blindness and amputation is thought to account for 10% of the entire NHS budget within the UK.

Individual case studies however have suggested that the majority of obese individuals have never been referred to a dietician or been provided with effective nutritional advice, suggesting failures in the process of managing obesity.

The Welsh health survey in 2008 said 21% of people in Wales were obese and 57% were either obese or overweight, and with these figures set to rise, the NHS will have to seek other methods for the management and prevention of related issues.

Original Source BBC News

About Pathway Software

Pathway Software (www.pathwaysoftware.com) specialises in the design and development of patient information systems for Allied Health professionals.

Its flagship product, Therapy Manager, is an Electronic Patient Record (EPR) system specifically designed for Therapy Services to provide decision makers with the ability to track and manage clinical activity and analyse cost of care by patient, episode or service. The system also demonstrably reduces administration time and the costs of managing Therapy Services.

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Early warning test for diabetes

Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011
A team of Harvard researchers have discovered a simple blood test which could be used to identify diabetes up to 10 years before the first symptoms of the disease occur.

The paper published in Nature Medicine reported that the discovery was made by monitoring the levels of five different amino acids in the blood which enabled the researchers to correctly identify individuals who went on to develop type 2 diabetes.

Of the the 2,422 subjects tested, 201 later subsequently went on to develop diabetes, and it was found that the researchers had readily identified these patients years before they developed any symptoms. It was also recorded that those with the highest levels of amino acids in their blood were five times as likely to develop diabetes within the following 12 years of the study.

Ultimately this implies that a similar test could be used to screen for type 2 diabetes, with early detection aiding in the prevention of related complications such as blindness and long term dietetic input.

Dr Victoria King, head of research at Diabetes UK praised the research, stating how early diagnosis and effective management of type 2 diabetes are crucial in reducing the risk of developing diabetes complications, such as heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, blindness and amputation.

The risk of developing type 2 diabetes is strongly linked to obesity leading a sedentary lifestyle and eating an unhealthy diet. It has been seen that in many instances the condition can be prevented or delayed by maintaining a healthy weight and lifestyle, so prior warning of the condition would be pivotal in preparing these individuals nutritionally to best manage the disease.

Prior to this study, early indicators for diabetes have been scarce, with many clinicians simply having to predict diabetic onset from consistent monitoring of a individuals weight and blood sugar levels.

Whilst the test will require further study before it can be implemented for general use, the implications for the NHS are huge, as early detection will mean that the condition can be effectively managed prior to onset. As the treatment for diabetes and it’s complications currently spans a vast range of medicine and therapies at an estimated cost of 10% of the NHS yearly budget, considerably less resources will have to be directed to the condition if it can be better managed from the outset, meaning they can be redistributed towards other aspects of frontline patient care.

Original Source BBC News

About Pathway Software

Pathway Software (www.pathwaysoftware.com) specialises in the design and development of patient information systems for Allied Health professionals.

Its flagship product, Therapy Manager, is an Electronic Patient Record (EPR) system specifically designed for Therapy Services to provide decision makers with the ability to track and manage clinical activity and analyse cost of care by patient, episode or service. The system also demonstrably reduces administration time and the costs of managing Therapy Services.

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Maternal diet linked to diabetes

Tuesday, March 8th, 2011
Scientists have reported a mechanism linking a poor diet during pregnancy and an increased risk of offspring developing diabetes in later life, emphasising the importance of a healthy diet was important during the earliest developmental stages.

Their research has indicated an imbalanced diet in the expectant mother can compromise the long-term functioning of the Hnf4a gene in the child, which is thought to be pivotal in the development of the pancreas and in insulin production.

Experimentally, rats were fed a protein-deficient diet and found higher rates of type 2 diabetes in the offspring, as expected. Furthermore, in the resultant offspring the Hnf4a gene appeared to be silenced as the rats aged, suggesting this may cause diabetes and can be directly linked back to the maternal diet.

Whilst further research would be needed to establish whether other instances of imbalanced diets had similar consequences in rats, it seems to be an early indication that similar mechanisms could occur in humans, and that the effects might be felt by more than just the immediate offspring.

In accordance with other studies indicating that such genetic mutations can be inherited across generations, the importance of having a healthy diet during pregnancy is now more pertinent than ever.

Original Source BBC News Health

About Pathway Software

Pathway Software (www.pathwaysoftware.com) specialises in the design and development of patient information systems for Allied Health professionals.

Its flagship product, Therapy Manager, is an Electronic Patient Record (EPR) System specifically designed for Therapy Services to provide decision makers with the ability to track and manage clinical activity and analyse cost of care by patient, episode or service. The system also demonstrably reduces administration time and the costs of managing Therapy Services.

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