MRC Epidemiology Unit
Annalijn I Conklin, University of California, Los Angeles; Nita Forouhi, University of Cambridge, and Pablo Monsivais, University of Cambridge In a study of over 25,000 adults with detailed information about their eating habits, people with a greater diversity of foods in their diet showed a 30% lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes over a […]
Local takeaways create a double burden for obesity
Thomas Burgoine, University of Cambridge and Pablo Monsivais, University of Cambridge People in the UK are spending more than ever on takeaway food and there’s good reason to believe that this is contributing to the nation’s obesity problem. Two-thirds of UK adults are either overweight or obese. But the amount of excess weight the nation […]
How we discovered that genes could influence the age when you first have sex
As far as big life decisions go, choosing when to lose your virginity or the best time start a family are probably right up there for most people. It may seem that such decisions are mostly driven by social factors, such as whether you’ve met the right partner, social pressure or even your financial situation. […]
Opinion: It’s time to change the way we think about changing what people eat
The Chancellor’s recent announcement about a tax on sugary drinks is a step in the right direction towards fighting obesity, but we will need to use lot of different approaches simultaneously to make big changes, writes Dr Jean Adams from the Centre for Diet & Activity Research and Medical Research Council Epidemiology Unit. The UK […]
Opinion: Obesity: stop accusing the poor of making bad choices
Pablo Monsivais, University of Cambridge Last month, the UK health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, called childhood obesity “a national emergency”, but the government has once again delayed publishing its strategy aimed at combating it. Obesity is much more common in people with less money and education and this socioeconomic gap is getting larger. An unhealthy diet […]
Buses, bicycles and building for health
Dr Jenna Panter writes about her research that found that Cambridgeshire’s ‘guided busway’ is encouraging people to be more active on the commute, and what this might mean for health in our daily lives. Most of our time is now spent sitting, whether it’s in the car, at a desk or on the sofa. It […]
Everyone’s talking about sugar
In March 2014 the World Health Organization (WHO) published draft guidelines on sugar consumption, recommending that the intake of free sugars should be reduced in both adults and children, and should account for less than 10% of total calorie intake, and proposing that a reduction to below 5% of total energy intake per day would have […]
Should we keep the “five-a-day” message?
In an article in the Daily Telegraph, Dr. Nita Forouhi, who leads the Unit’s Nutritional Epidemiology programme, argues that the message that we should try to consume at least five portions of fruit and vegetables per day is supported by new evidence, and that the focus should be on enabling more people to meet that […]