Randomised Controlled Trial Of A Brief GP Intervention To Reduce Overweight In Victorian Primary School Children
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$662,600.00
Summary
Childhood overweight and obesity is one of the most pressing public health problems of our time. The aim of this study is to lower the levels of overweight and mild obesity in children aged 5-9 years, through sustainable family and child nutritional and-or physical activity behavioural choices that can be implemented by general practitioners (GPs). This trial addresses the urgent need identified in the 2003 NHMRC Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Management of Overweight and Obesity in Childr ....Childhood overweight and obesity is one of the most pressing public health problems of our time. The aim of this study is to lower the levels of overweight and mild obesity in children aged 5-9 years, through sustainable family and child nutritional and-or physical activity behavioural choices that can be implemented by general practitioners (GPs). This trial addresses the urgent need identified in the 2003 NHMRC Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Management of Overweight and Obesity in Children and Adolescents for simple, well-designed intervention studies which can be translated into usual clinical practice. Effective and coordinated universal prevention, secondary prevention and management services will all be needed to reduce the problem, and a great deal of research is needed in all of these. This proposal addresses the most neglected area of research - secondary prevention in the primary care sector. Through our previous research, we have already showed that this approach is feasible and acceptable to families and GPs. Our multidisciplinary research team is well-established, and we are not aware of any other research team in Australia that has the capacity and expertise to conduct this research at this point in time. In this randomised controlled trial, we expect a halving in the rate of gain in BMI over 6 and 12 months. This would equate to the average participant achieving a BMI of 25 (verging on overweight) rather than 30 (obese) by adulthood. If effective, we expect the following outcomes: 1) The adoption and maintenance of healthy lifestyle behaviours in that segment of the population which has most to gain over a lifetime - overweight and obese children 2) Documentation that general practitioners can make a significant contribution to combating the childhood obesity epidemic 3) A replicable, feasible, cost-effective primary care approach to childhood overweight-obesity tailored to the Australian health care system.Read moreRead less
Regulatory Strategies To Promote Healthier Australian Diets
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$645,205.00
Summary
Unhealthy diets are a leading cause of ill health. In contrast to our global leadership in tobacco control, Australia remains slow to use law as a tool to support healthy eating. This project will generate new insights on features of effective food policies to target excess sugar consumption. Using an innovative fusion of law and science, its findings will inform and accelerate current proposals to improve food labelling and tax sugary drinks to promote healthier Australian diets.
Nutritional Psychiatry: Extending The Evidence And Ensuring Translation
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$2,238,220.00
Summary
While poor diet is the leading contributor to illness and premature death globally, mental disorders account for the leading cause of disability. I have led the field internationally in establishing, for the first time, that diet quality and mental health are linked and have established a new field of research and clinical practice ‘Nutritional Psychiatry’. My program of research will now extend the evidence base and facilitate translation of this new knowledge into policy and practice.
Active Lifestyle Programs For Healthy Ageing (ALPHA)
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$2,305,160.00
Summary
The growing healthcare and service needs of our ageing society warrant our urgent attention. My research program will identify critical gaps in our current understanding on how to make healthy ageing more equitable and evaluate the effectiveness of novel self-managed lifestyle interventions. Ultimately, this will reduce falls and falls injuries, improve healthy ageing and reduce the associated healthcare expenditure on acute care, rehabilitation and home care services.