Obesity News Bulletin

Irish government steps up plans to tackle nation’s growing obesity crisis

The Irish government has stepped up its plans to tackle the nation’s growing obesity crisis through the establishment of a task force that will look at the ways saturated fat, salt, sugar and calories can be reduced in processed food that is prevalent in Ireland.

Along with the task force a ‘Roadmap for Food and Product Reformation in Ireland’ was also published by the Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly and the Minister of State for Public Health Frank Feighan. 

Mr Donnelly highlighted the links between diet and non-communicable diseases and noted that it was “particularly evident in economically disadvantaged areas, where people tend to eat more processed food”. He also suggested that the new task force would work with the food industry “to combat inequality by improving the quality of the food available”.

Mr Feighan suggested that modern lifestyles were having a negative impact of people’s health and said that people were “living very busy lives and it’s not always easy, even with the best of intentions, to eat or buy the healthiest option”. He then suggested that the task force and road map were “important and positive steps forward for all of our health and wellbeing and will help to improve the nutritional quality of the processed food available to consumers and will have tangible benefits for public health”.

The Food Reformulation Task Force will sit within the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) and will provide “a dedicated resource to work with all levels of industry to ensure progress and to address the difficulties that may arise in the highly technical process of reformulation”. FSAI chief executive Dr Pamela Byrne said the reformulation of foods has been proven to have a “positive impact on the quality of the diet and reducing salt, sugar and saturated fats in food products will positively contribute to a healthier population”. She said the FSAI would be engaging “with the food industry and other stakeholder” over the next four years.

The move comes as more retailers and producers move to make their products less harmful.

Obesity raises risk of gum disease

According to new research from the University of Buffalo, chronic inflammation caused by obesity may trigger the development of cells that break down bone tissue, including the bone that holds teeth in place. The study sought to improve understanding of the connection between obesity and gum disease.

The study also found that excessive inflammation resulting from obesity raises the number of myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSC), a group of immune cells that increase during illness to regulate immune function. MDSCs, which originate in the bone marrow, develop into a range of different cell types, including osteoclasts, a cell that breaks down bone tissue. This research was published in October in the Journal of Dental Research

Also known as periodontal disease, gum disease affects more than 47% of adults 30 years and older, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Bone loss is a major symptom of gum disease and may ultimately lead to tooth loss.

Keith Kirkwood, professor of oral biology in the School of Dental Medicine at the University of Buffalo said the following about the study, “although there is a clear relationship between the degree of obesity and periodontal disease, the mechanisms that underpin the links between these conditions were not completely understood.” 

“This research promotes the concept that MDSC expansion during obesity to become osteoclasts during periodontitis is tied to increased alveolar bone destruction,” says Kyuhwan Kwack, postdoctoral associate in the Department of Oral Biology. “Taken together, this data supports the view that obesity raises the risk of periodontal bone loss.” 

The findings may shed more light on the mechanisms behind other chronic inflammatory, bone-related diseases that develop concurrently with obesity, such as arthritis and osteoporosis, Kirkwood says.

Experts warn of obesity “pandemic” in Spain

On November 17, 2021, the Spanish Obesity Society (Seedo) launched a campaign asking for a new national multidisciplinary and transversal plan aimed at addressing Spain’s growing obesity epidemic. 

According to recent data, more than 60 percent of Spanish adults are considered overweight, 24% of which have obesity and 40 percent of children between 6 and 9 years old are considered overweight, and this is unlikely to have improved during the pandemic. These figures have led specialists to predict what’s been described as a “tsunami of cases” in the coming decades.

“Obesity is a problem that will accompany us in the coming years if strong measures are not taken now,” warned the president of Seedo, Francisco Tinahones. “Strategies must be proposed to prevent and fight obesity because it is not an aesthetic problem but one of the most important diseases facing our health systems.” Tinahones clarified the need for a global plan to tackle obesity, and that the small specific actions taken so far had been merely “drops in the ocean of obesity,” and not useful.

Tinahones proposes that this new strategy include financing from the health system for obesity medication, a tax policy that penalises unhealthy food products and encourages healthy ones, food labelling that clearly reflects how healthy or unhealthy a product is, regulations that prohibit certain advertisements, urban planning that creates spaces for exercise, and the promotion of physical activity.

Can rye help reduce weight and obesity?

New research published in Clinical Nutrition has indicated that consuming whole grain rye products can benefit your health greater than refined wheat products. The new study was conducted at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden. It examined how people lost more body fat and weight when eating a diet with high-fibre products containing whole grain rye, compared to those who ate refined wheat products.

This study is the biggest to look at the consequences of consuming specific grains on body weight and body fat, and the first to examine rye specifically. Scientists have also suggested that obesity is caused by what we are eating, and not by how much.

Researchers analysed 242 men and women with overweight aged from 30 to 70 for 12 weeks. Their weight, body composition, blood samples, and appetite was examined at the start, halfway through, and end of the study. The participants were given a specific daily quantity of either whole grain rye or refined wheat, both with the same energy value, and were given the same guidance from a dietician on how to eat healthily.

Although both the rye and wheat groups lost weight during the study, those who ate rye products lost an average of one kilogram more than those who ate wheat products, with the difference attributable to fat loss.

“Although we saw an overall difference in weight loss between the rye and the wheat group, there was also very large variation within those groups. Increasing our understanding of why different people respond differently to the same foods can pave the way for more specifically tailored diets based on individual needs,” says Rikard Landberg, Professor of Food and Health at Chalmers University of Technology.

Obesity and excess weight are among the biggest health challenges in the world and require many different measures. One idea is to develop foods that contribute to an increased feeling of fullness and have positive effects on metabolism, and previous studies had observed that those who eat rye, which has a very high content of dietary fibre, feel more full than those who eat the corresponding amount of energy in the form of refined wheat.

“But surprisingly,” says Kia Nøhr Iversen, “in this study, we actually never observed any difference in appetite. We think this may be simply because the method we used to measure appetite was not good enough. We are therefore working on evaluating and developing the method further.”

Childhood Obesity: A Growing Pandemic

Reported in The Lancet, childhood obesity rates have increased substantially over the past year in the UK, according to a new report from the UK Government’s National Child Measurement Programme. The report details that this rise in prevalence is the largest single-year increase since the programme began 15 years ago and highlights a trend in obesity among children and adolescents not just in the UK, but worldwide. The trend now extends to both low-income and middle-income countries despite obesity once being seen as a problem mainly for high-income countries. Childhood obesity has long been a cause for concern, but the effects of the pandemic and national lockdowns has added to the issue, making childhood obesity an undeniable public health crisis and one that should be addressed imminently. 

A different lifestyle brought about because of lockdown measures including school closures, restrictions on leaving the house, and limitations on meeting new people has meant children have seen a huge jump in screen time and have become more sedentary than they were previously. The CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report measured the effects of these lifestyle changes and it notes that the rate of BMI increase almost doubled in US children and adolescents aged 2–19 years during the pandemic compared to pre-pandemic. Children with overweight and obesity are more likely to become adults with obesity and to develop a host of non-communicable diseases including type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, and have an increased risk of cancer, premature death, and disability later in life. 

CCH Launches First Course in Arabic!

THE COLLEGE OF CONTEMPORARY HEALTH, LONDON, LAUNCHES FIRST COURSE IN NUTRITION AND WEIGHT MANAGEMENT IN ARABIC IN PARTNERSHIP WITH UNITED AMERICAN EXPERTISE, CAIRO

The College of Contemporary Health (CCH) is pleased to announce the launch of its highly acclaimed fully online CPD short course, Nutrition and Weight Management Essentials, in Arabic, in association with its Middle Eastern partner, United American Expertise (UNAMEX).

This is a first for CCH in having one of its flagship courses made available to healthcare professionals in the region and intends to make all of its courses in obesity and weight management available in Arabic.

“In 2020, CCH was approached by UNAMEX’s Cairo branch, a long established company in the region prominent in introducing pharmaceutical and healthcare services to the Middle East where there is a major healthcare problem with obesity and its comorbidities including Type-2 diabetes, high blood pressure, chronic heart disease, lipedema, many types of cancer, and osteoarthritis” said John Feenie, Founder and CEO of CCH. “Obesity is out-of-control in many Middle Eastern countries, and unfortunately, as in many Western countries, healthcare professionals locally have been inadequately trained to deal with the problem. This course, newly available in Arabic, Nutrition and Weight Management Essentials, provides a strong basis for healthcare professionals to gain the knowledge necessary to help rectify this deficiency. The arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic has brought this deficiency in training into sharp focus as there is clear evidence of a strong link between obesity, its comorbidities, and vulnerability to Covid-19 infection”, he added.

Obesity is out-of-control in many Middle Eastern countries, and unfortunately, as in many Western countries, healthcare professionals locally have been inadequately trained to deal with the problem. This course, newly available in Arabic, Nutrition and Weight Management Essentials, provides a strong basis for healthcare professionals to gain the knowledge necessary to help rectify this deficiency.”

“UNAMEX has a long history of introducing advanced products and services from Western countries to the Middle East via our Cairo office”, said Dr. Khaled Sharaf, General Manager. “In recent years we have concluded that the continuing professional development (CPD) of our healthcare professionals would be an area of opportunity for us, and we decided that our initial venture into this area should be in the rapidly evolving field of obesity care where we learned that CCH, based in London, was a leader in the field. We were especially attracted to their strong capability in online learning as well, which affords busy doctors and other healthcare professionals the time and convenience needed to acquire new knowledge and skills. We have since worked closely together to bring this course to a new audience in Arabic and we are very proud to do this”, Dr. Sharaf added.

The College of Contemporary Health, is located in London and since its establishment in 2013 has been a  pioneer in the introduction of advanced online academic and continuing professional development short courses in obesity care and weight management, digital health and behavioural change therapies.

UNAMEX was established in Chicago, Illinois in 1981. In 1982, a new branch was established in Cairo, Egypt. Then, in 2006, another branch was established in Hong Kong. UNAMEX is a consultancy firm specialised in the pharmaceutical & healthcare sector focussing mainly on the Europe & Middle East regions. UNAMEX staff are top eminent professionals in the healthcare sector with extensive experience in consultancy & market research projects.

For further information please contact:

Nicholas Feenie at:
Email: nicholas.feenie@contemporaryhealth.co.uk
Phone: +44 (0)20 3773 4895

Dr Khaled Sharaf at:
Email: info@unamex.us
Phone: +201151288333

كلية الصحة المعاصرة (CCH) بلندن تطلق أول دورة في التغذية وإدارة الوزن باللغة العربية بالشراكة مع الشركة الأمريكية المتحدة للخبراء (UNAMEX)، القاهرة

وهذه هي المرة الأولى التي تقدم فيها كلية الصحة المعاصرة (CCH) إحدى دوراتها الرئيسية المتاحة للعاملين في مجال الرعاية الصحية في المنطقة، وتعتزم جعل جميع دوراتها في السمنة وإدارة الوزن متاحة باللغة العربية.

وقال جون فيني، المؤسس والرئيس التنفيذي لشركةCCH : “في عام 2020، تم الاتصال ب CCH من قبل فرع UNAMEX في القاهرة، وهي شركة راسخة منذ فترة طويلة في المنطقة بارزة في تقديم خدمات الأدوية والرعاية الصحية إلى الشرق الأوسط حيث توجد مشكلة رعاية صحية كبيرة مع السمنة والأمراض المرتبطة بها بما في ذلك مرض السكري من النوع 2، وارتفاع ضغط الدم، وأمراض القلب المزمنة، والعديد من أنواع السرطان، وهشاشة العظام.”

“.السمنة خارجة عن السيطرة في العديد من بلدان الشرق الأوسط، وللأسف، كما هو الحال في العديد من البلدان الغربية، لم يتم تدريب المتخصصين في الرعاية الصحية محليا بشكل كاف للتعامل مع المشكلة. توفر هذه الدورة، المتاحة حديثا باللغة العربية، أساسيات التغذية وإدارة الوزن، أساسا قويا للعاملين في مجال الرعاية الصحية لاكتساب المعرفة اللازمة للمساعدة في تصحيح هذا النقص. وقد أدى وصول وباء كوفيد-19 إلى تركيز هذا النقص في التدريب بشكل حاد حيث أن هناك أدلة واضحة على وجود صلة قوية بين السمنة وأمراضها المشتركة والتعرض للعدوى في كوفيد-19″.

وقال الدكتور خالد شرف، المدير العام لشركة UNAMEX: “لدى UNAMEX تاريخ طويل في تقديم المنتجات والخدمات المتقدمة من الدول الغربية إلى الشرق الأوسط من خلال مكتبنا في القاهرة”. “لقد خلصنا في السنوات الأخيرة إلى أن التطوير المهني المستمر (CPD) للعاملين في مجال الرعاية الصحية لدينا سيكون مجالا للفرص بالنسبة لنا، وقررنا أن مشروعنا الأولي في هذا المجال يجب أن يكون في مجال رعاية السمنة المتطور بسرعة حيث علمنا أنCCH ، ومقرها في لندن، كانت رائدة في هذا المجال. وقد انجذبنا بشكل خاص إلى قدرتهم القوية في التعلم عبر الإنترنت أيضا، مما يوفر للأطباء المشغولين وغيرهم من المتخصصين في الرعاية الصحية الوقت والراحة اللازمين لاكتساب المعرفة والمهارات الجديدة. وقد عملنا منذ ذلك الحين معا بشكل وثيق لتقديم هذه الدورة إلى جمهور جديد باللغة العربية ونحن فخورون جدا بالقيام بذلك”.

تقع كلية الصحة المعاصرة في لندن، ومنذ إنشائها في عام 2013 كانت رائدة في إدخال دورات دراسية متقدمة على الإنترنت في مجال رعاية السمنة وإدارة الوزن والصحة الرقمية وعلاجات تغيير السلوك.

تأسست UNAMEX في شيكاغو، إلينوي في عام 1981. في عام 1982، تم تأسيس فرع جديد في القاهرة، مصر. ثم، في عام 2006، تم إنشاء فرع آخر في هونغ كونغ.

UNAMEX  هي شركة استشارية متخصصة في قطاع الأدوية والرعاية الصحية تركز بشكل رئيسي على مناطق أوروبا والشرق الأوسط. موظفو UNAMEX هم من كبار المهنيين البارزين في قطاع الرعاية الصحية مع خبرة واسعة في مجال الاستشارات ومشاريع أبحاث السوق.

لمزيد من المعلومات يرجى الاتصال

نيكولاس فيني في:

البريد الإلكتروني: nicholas.feenie@contemporaryhealth.co.uk

الهاتف: +44 (0)20 3773 4895

الدكتور خالد شرف في :41 شارع الفلكى ، القاهرة

البريد الإلكتروني: info@unamex.us

الهاتف   +201151288333:

Covid-19: One of the many Obesity related co-morbidities?

Thousands of academic articles have been published on Covid-19 over recent weeks, reflecting the amount of data being generated and the importance of finding ways to fight the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The more we learn about the disease, the more complex it appears to be, with as many questions as answers arising (1). However, one aspect of the disease is now quite well established – the major risk factors that make individuals more susceptible to severe Covid-19 illness. After advanced age and male sex, the major risk factors are obesity and other, related underlying health conditions such as hypertension, cardiovascular disease (CVD), type 2 diabetes (T2D) and respiratory diseases (2).

Obesity is a major risk factor for CVD, T2D, hypertension and many other serious conditions, including a number of cancers, and its role in the development of these diseases is the reason it is such a major public health concern. However, Covid-19 has cruelly exposed another health issue associated with obesity – increased susceptibility to infections, particularly respiratory infections. Individuals with obesity often have respiratory dysfunction due to the presence of large fat deposits around the chest and upper abdomen. This is characterised by altered respiratory mechanisms, increased airway resistance, impaired gas exchange and low lung volume and muscle strength (3). As a result, obesity increases the risk of contracting respiratory tract infections including influenza and pneumonia (4, 5).

In the 2009 Influenza A H1N1 pandemic, patients with obesity were disproportionately affected by the virus, with more than twice the mortality rate of people with normal weight (6). Although this was an influenza virus, not a coronavirus, this should nevertheless have been a warning sign that people with obesity are likely to be at greater risk during viral respiratory pandemics. This warning was enhanced by a later study which looked at the response to the H1N1 vaccine. People with obesity initially produced high levels of antibodies, but within 12 months their antibody titres had dropped significantly, and they had double the risk of contracting the virus (7). This suggests that obesity compromises the immune system and its ability to fight viral respiratory infections.

In the case of Covid-19, it is most likely that the impact of obesity on the severity of the disease is due primarily to immune system dysfunction. A range of functional abnormalities have been identified in obesity, but in viral infections the dysfunction of Natural Killer (NK) cells is particularly relevant as they are important in both the initial stage of infection and then clearing the virally infected cells (8). The low-grade, chronic inflammation caused by excess visceral adipose tissue surrounding vital organs in the abdominal cavity, which is implicated in cardiometabolic complications of obesity, has also been highlighted as a possible cause of the over-exaggerated immune response seen in many Covid-19 fatalities (9).

It has also been suggested that visceral adipose tissue may act as a ‘reservoir’ for Covid-19. Adipose tissue expresses the protein ACE2 which is the entry point for SARS-CoV-2 into cells, so it is feasible the virus could infect visceral adipose tissue which then becomes a reservoir for more extensive viral spread, increased viral shedding, immune activation, cytokine amplification and systemic tissue damage (10).

Research into this disease will be ongoing for many years, and it is important to elucidate the mechanisms by which obesity contributes to the severity of Covid-19 illness, in order to identify potential targets for treatment. Two relatively simple areas for investigation would be zinc deficiency and vitamin D deficiency. Both these nutrients are essential for effective regulation of the immune system, and obesity increases the risk of deficiency of both (11, 12). Testing patients for zinc and vitamin D status would therefore be warranted, so that deficiencies could be corrected. In addition to playing a vital role in immune function, zinc also acts intracellularly to inhibit the RNA polymerase enzyme which replicates viral RNA (13), so any deficiency in circulating zinc could hinder the body’s attempts to fight the virus.

While it is vital we understand as much as possible about this new virus and learn how we might be able to minimise the impact of similar future outbreaks, it is arguably even more important to renew and re-invigorate our efforts to tackle obesity. We need to reduce obesity rates, not just to help limit the impact of future pandemics, but also to reduce the devastating effects of CVD, T2D and other obesity-related illnesses on the health and well-being of the millions of people with obesity, and ease the burden these diseases place on our healthcare systems. Unfortunately, healthcare professionals are not generally well trained to manage patients with obesity. A 2015 analysis of the NHS workforce estimated that fewer than 0.1% had received any specialised obesity training (14), which may be due to the fact obesity is not considered a disease in the UK. In the US, where obesity is recognised a disease, obesity is higher on the agenda but a very recent study revealed that U.S. medical schools “are not adequately preparing their students to manage patients with obesity” (15). It is vital that the curricula of medical and nursing courses are reviewed in relation to obesity, and that specialised training is provided to existing health professionals, to ensure they have the knowledge and skills to support and treat patients with obesity.


References

1. Bernstein L and Cha AE (2020) Doctors keep discovering new ways the coronavirus attacks the body. Washington Post. Published 10 May 2020. https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/05/10/coronavirus-attacks-body-symptoms/?arc404=true

2. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (2020) Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/need-extra-precautions/groups-at-higher-risk.html

3. Murugan, A. T. & Sharma, G (2008) Obesity and respiratory diseases. Chron. Respir. Dis. 5: 233–242

4. Phung DT, Wang Z, Rutherford S, Huang C, Chu C (2013) Body mass index and risk of pneumonia: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Obes Rev. 14: 839e57.

5. Gounder AP, Boon ACM (2019) Influenza Pathogenesis: The Effect of Host Factors on Severity of Disease. J Immunol. 202: 341‐350.

6. Louie JK, Acosta M, Winter K, et al. (2009) Factors Associated With Death or Hospitalization Due to Pandemic 2009 Influenza A(H1N1) Infection in California. JAMA. 302: 1896–1902.

7. Green WD, Beck MA (2017) Obesity Impairs the Adaptive Immune Response to Influenza Virus. Ann Am Thorac Soc. 14: S406-S409

8. O’Shea D, Hogan AE (2019) Dysregulation of Natural Killer Cells in Obesity. Cancers (Basel). 11: 573. doi:10.3390/cancers11040573

9. Sattar N, McInnes IB, McMurray JJV (2020) Obesity a Risk Factor for Severe COVID-19 Infection: Multiple Potential Mechanisms. Circulation. https://doi.org/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.120.047659

10. Ryan PD and Caplice NM (2020) Is Adipose Tissue a Reservoir for Viral Spread, Immune Activation and Cytokine Amplification in COVID‐19. Obesity. doi:10.1002/oby.22843

11. Vimaleswaran KS, Berry DJ, Lu C, et al. (2013) Causal relationship between obesity and vitamin D status: bi-directional Mendelian randomization analysis of multiple cohorts. PLoS Med. 10: e1001383. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001383

12. Gu K, Xiang W, Zhang Y, Sun K, Jiang X (2019) The association between serum zinc level and overweight/obesity: a meta-analysis. Eur J Nutr. 58: 2971-2982

13. te Velthuis AJ, van den Worm SH, Sims AC, Baric RS, Snijder EJ, van Hemert MJ(2010) Zn(2+) inhibits coronavirus and arterivirus RNA polymerase activity invitro and zinc ionophores block the replication of these viruses in cell culture. PLoS Pathog. 6: e1001176. doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.1001176

14. Candesic (2015) College of Contemporary Health: Training Market for Obesity.

15. Butsch WS, Kushner RF, Alford S et al. (2020) Low priority of obesity education leads to lack of medical students’ preparedness to effectively treat patients with obesity: results from the U.S. medical school obesity education curriculum benchmark study. BMC Med Educ 20: 23. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-020-1925-z

Covid-19, Obesity, BAME… and Vitamin D

Covid-19 and ethnicity

Over recent weeks, as the coronavirus pandemic has progressed, we have been inundated with data and statistics about the impact of the virus in a range of different countries, communities and demographic groups, but perhaps the most shocking are the numbers of people from black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds who have died from Covid-19.

The numbers

In the UK, concern was first aired when it was reported that the first ten doctors to die from the virus were all from BAME groups (1), and that more than 60% of all healthcare workers to die from the coronavirus were BAME individuals (2). Early data on the ethnic breakdown of Covid-19 patients entering hospital revealed that 34% were of BAME heritage, compared to 14% of the population as a whole (3). A recent report from the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) revealed that people of British Black African heritage are 3.5 times more likely to die from Covid-19 compared with the white population; people of Black Caribbean heritage 1.7 times more likely and British Pakistanis 2.7 times more likely (2).

On the other side of the Atlantic, a similar picture has emerged with regard to African-Americans, who have accounted for 27% of Covid-19 deaths (a mortality rate 2.6 times that of white Americans) according to a recent report (4). These disparities in death rates between ethnic groups are likely to be due to a complex interplay of a multitude of factors which influence health behaviours, immune profiles, infection risk and health outcomes (5).

Social, economic and health issues

In the US, attention has focused on the fact that African Americans are often socioeconomically disadvantaged, live in more densely populated areas and more crowded conditions. This potentially increases transmission of the virus. They are also more likely to be employed in key worker roles, and less likely to be able to work from home, so have greater risk of infection (6). In addition, African-Americans have higher incidence of obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and hypertension than their white counterparts (7, 8) – these have been identified as the three biggest risk factors for severe Covid-19 illness after age (9).

These socioeconomic and health issues are similar for BAME communities in the UK. They often live in densely populated areas and sometimes live in extended, multi-generational cohabiting families, which could increase infection of vulnerable members of the community. People from BAME backgrounds also represent a disproportionate number of medical and support staff in the NHS, so may be more exposed to the SARS-CoV-2 virus (2). The Black African / Caribbean population has the highest rate of obesity of all ethnic groups in the UK (10), but the most significant health issue affecting BAME groups is T2DM, which is of course a significant risk factor for Covid-19 morbidity and mortality. Black and South Asian populations in the UK have 3-5 times the prevalence of T2DM compared to the white population, and are diagnosed on average 10-12 years younger (11). Clearly there are a number of social, economic and health factors which may be contributing to increased risk of infection and increased severity of Covid-19 in BAME populations, but there is one
further factor that should be considered – the possible role of vitamin D deficiency in vulnerability to Covid-19.

Vitamin D

Vitamin D is essential for regulation of immune function, and has been shown to reduce the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines that are associated with lung damage caused by acute viral respiratory infections such as influenza and Covid-19 (12). In fact, supplementation with vitamin D reduces the risk of respiratory infection, particularly in people with low vitamin D status (13). Vitamin D is synthesised under the skin following exposure to UVB radiation from sunlight, so individuals who get insufficient sunlight are at risk of vitamin D deficiency. This is a particular issue during winter in countries further from the equator, when sunlight has insufficient UVB for vitamin D synthesis. People with darker skin colour who live in these countries, which includes many BAME communities, are at even greater risk, as are those who rarely go outside or expose very little skin to the sun (14).

It is therefore very interesting to note that the current coronavirus pandemic took hold at the end of winter in the northern hemisphere (the time of year when vitamin D status is at its lowest) and the countries most affected by the virus are in the northern hemisphere, above 35 degrees latitude (15). At the same time, countries at the end of summer in the southern hemisphere, such as Australia and New Zealand, have fared very well. Furthermore, a cross-sectional analysis of countries in Europe has shown a statistically significant correlation between population vitamin D levels and Covid-19 cases and deaths (16).

Vitamin D deficiency could therefore be contributing to the disproportionate number of BAME individuals who are succumbing to Covid-19. It is also interesting to note that vitamin D status tends to fall with age, particularly for older people in care homes, and with rising BMI (17). Obesity is strongly associated with vitamin D deficiency, although why this is the case is not clear. The leading theory is that dysfunctional adipose tissue in obesity sequesters vitamin D and impairs its release so it is no longer bio-available (18). Vitamin D plays an essential role in glucose homeostasis, insulin sensitivity and regulation of adipokines such as leptin, as well as inflammatory cytokines (19). Vitamin D insufficiency may therefore be involved in mediating insulin resistance and inflammation associated with obesity.

Vitamin D deficiency could therefore be a part of the Covid-19 pandemic jigsaw, contributing to the vulnerability of people with obesity as well as those of BAME heritage. Routine vitamin D screening could be introduced for hospitalised Covid-19 patients, and BAME health and social care workers, especially those with excess weight, to establish whether there is a link and to provide the opportunity to correct any deficiencies as part of treatment and prevention measures.

Conclusion

Vitamin D is just one of many factors, as discussed here, which might contribute to the vulnerability of BAME individuals to Covid-19, but it could be contributing to a toxic combination of factors, including obesity and other comorbidities, that is putting our BAME communities, particularly those individuals working on the frontline of health and social care, at very high risk of severe Covid-19 illness. Unfortunately, the risk to BAME health workers could have been predicted, and measures to protect them put in place, as the mortality rate for the BAME population for the 2009 influenza A (H1N1) epidemic in England was nearly twice that of the white population (20). It is vital that research is undertaken to determine the underlying causes of the unacceptably high price BAME communities are paying in the current pandemic. In the meantime, health and social care workers of BAME heritage, especially those with excess weight, should be afforded the protection they merit as key workers at higher risk from Covid-19, including ensuring healthy vitamin D status.


References

1. Siddique H (2020) UK government urged to investigate coronavirus deaths of BAME doctors. The Guardian. Published 10 April 2020. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/apr/10/uk-coronavirus-deaths-bame-doctors-bma
2. Boyd C (2020) Death rate among black and Asian Brits is more than 2.5 TIMES higher than that of the white population, reveals stark analysis by Institute of Fiscal Studies. Mail Online. Published 1 May 2020. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8276097/Clear-disparity-ethnic-groups-Covid-19-deaths-IFS-study.html
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Covid-19 and Obesity

From the early days of the coronavirus epidemic in China, we have been aware that older adults and people with underlying health conditions, such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease, are at greatest risk of severe illness and mortality caused by the virus, SARS-COV-2.

But when the epidemic spread to Europe, it quickly became apparent that overweight and obesity are also major risk factors for becoming critically ill with Covid-19. This was first noted in Italy (1), then in the UK, where 73% of the first 5,500 critically ill patients had overweight or obesity (2), and then the US. A recent publication in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed that, of 5,700 patients hospitalised with Covid-19 in the New York City area, 42% had obesity (3). Another study showed that, once hospitalised, patients aged below 60 with BMI > 30 are twice as likely to need critical care compared with patients with a BMI < 30 (4).

Given that hypertension and type 2 diabetes are two of the common comorbidities of obesity, this revelation was not surprising, but it also raised the question of whether obesity is an independent risk factor for critical illness or death from Covid-19, or if it is due just to the comorbidities. Data from Arthur Simonnet and colleagues in France showed that, of the Covid-19 patients in ICU, the need for ventilation rose with BMI, and this was independent of age, diabetes and hypertension – indicating that excess body fat itself increases an individual’s vulnerability to Covid-19 (5). Simonnet’s findings are supported by reports from the US that significant numbers of younger people with obesity, but otherwise healthy, are being hospitalised (6).

So how can obesity result in a worsening of symptoms and greater risk of death from Covid-19? One way is simply the physical presence of fat stores in the upper abdomen, which causes compression of the diaphragm and lungs, compromising respiratory function. However, probably the key factor is the effect that obesity has on the immune system.

In individuals with obesity, visceral adipose tissue in the abdominal cavity produces inflammatory cytokines that cause a chronic low-grade inflammatory state throughout the body. It is unclear how this affects the response to the viral infection in the lungs, but one theory is that inflammation caused by obesity occupies the immune system’s resources, reducing its ability to mount an effective response against the virus.

On the other hand, it has also been proposed that this constant activation of the immune system means that it over-reacts to the virus, causing excess inflammation and damage in the lungs (7).

There is also evidence that leptin may play an important role. Leptin is a hormone produced by adipose tissue, which is best known for its effects on reducing appetite by binding to receptors in the brain. In people with obesity, the CNS becomes resistant to leptin, so blood levels of leptin are high but it is ineffective at reducing appetite. However, T-lymphocytes, which are involved in the cell-mediated response to viral infections, also have leptin receptors and leptin deficiency or resistance can lead to dysregulation of cytokine production and increased susceptibility toward infectious diseases and inflammatory responses (8).

Research into the relationship between obesity and influenza viruses has been ongoing since the H1N1 ‘swine ‘flu’ influenza pandemic in 2009, and has shown that not only are individuals with obesity at increased risk of severe illness from the influenza virus, but they also respond less well to vaccines (9), and they are potentially more infectious because they shed virus for longer when infected (10).

When we add all this evidence up, it is clear that people with obesity are very vulnerable, not only to the current coronavirus, but also to influenza viruses and future viral pandemics.

Rising global obesity rates could be contributing to the spread of infection and are certainly putting added strain on already-stretched health services, highlighting the urgent need to tackle obesity and reverse this trend – something which governments and health systems around the world have so far failed to do.

Sources

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   metro.co.uk/2020/03/23/obese-people-higher-risk-coronavirus-12444395/
2. Intensive Care National Audit Research Centre (2020) ICNARC report on COVID-19 in critical care. Published 17 April 2020. https://www.icnarc.org/Our-Audit/Audits/Cmp/Reports
3. Richardson S, Hirsch JS, Narasimhan M, Crawford JM, McGinn T, Davidson KW, and the Northwell COVID-19 Research
   Consortium (2020) Presenting Characteristics, Comorbidities, and Outcomes Among 5700 Patients Hospitalized With
   COVID-19 in the New York City Area. JAMA. Published online 22 April 2020. doi:10.1001/jama.2020.6775.
4. Lighter J, Phillips M, Hochman S, Sterling S, Johnson D, Francois F, Stachel A (2020) Obesity in patients younger than 60
   years is a risk factor for Covid-19 hospital admission. Clinical Infectious Diseases. https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciaa415
5. Simonnet A, Chetboun M, Poissy J, Raverdy V, Noulette J, Duhamel A, Labreuche J, Mathieu D, Pattou F, Jourdain M,
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    (2018) Obesity Increases the Duration of Influenza A Virus Shedding in Adults. J Infect Dis. 218(9): 1378-1382.

How does birth weight affect adult obesity in a low resource context?

South Africa is experiencing rapid increases in weight gain across the entirety of its population. Obesity is rising in both males and females, across all ages and socioeconomic groups. Like many other low-middle-income countries, it is experiencing a double burden of malnutrition alongside these high obesity rates. Malnutrition is present in one quarter of children under the age of three, resulting in stunting.

This stunting has been reported to be associated with adulthood disease risk, including obesity. Researchers thus far have not been able to look at this relationship in a low-middle-income country in the same participants by following them from birth into early adulthood. The authors of this study were able to do this for the first time using the Birth to Twenty Cohort which is a longitudinal study of children born in 1990 in South Africa.

Authors found that relative weight gain from birth into adulthood was positively related to fat mass, including both visceral and subcutaneous fat in adulthood. Being stunted at age two was inversely associated with fat-free soft tissue mass (i.e. lean body mass) in adulthood. This finding is analogous to trends that have been shown across Brazil, Guatemala and India.

What is driving rates of obesity in Chinese boys?

Over recent decades, alongside economic development, China has undergone a rapid nutrition transition that has resulted in a dramatic acceleration of obesity. Unlike other countries across the world, like the USA and UK, where childhood obesity rates have stabilised, the prevalence in China continues to worsen.

This crisis in China is also unique in terms of how it presents between genders. Dissimilar to other countries, obesity is higher in boys than girls. Boys are almost twice as likely to have obesity. Up until now, there has been limited evidence explaining why these unique sex differences have emerged.

Using a cross-sectional national health survey, Wang and colleagues revealed, as would be expected, that adolescent boys were much more likely to have energy intakes exceeding expectations. Importantly however, it found significantly different self-perceptions by sex, with boys much more likely to underestimate their weight and be satisfied with their current health behaviours.

These weight perceptions were supported by mothers, who were more accurate in predicting their daughter’s weight vs those with a son. Clearly, weight-related beliefs in China have a role to play in the increasing – and widening – rates of obesity in children.

The lasting impact of where we live

The neighbourhoods we live in influence how we behave and ultimately shape our health outcomes. Regardless of how much money an individual earns, if they live in a less-affluent neighbourhood evidence would tell us that they will have poorer health outcomes than if they lived in a more affluent neighbourhood. This effect is particularly strong when looking at obesity and diabetes.

While this has been long understood, little is known about when risk factors emerge in childhood and adulthood in individuals living in socioeconomically different neighbourhoods, and the cumulative effect of disadvantage over childhood. Researchers from Finland set out to answer this question through a population cohort, where participants were measured at repeated intervals for adiposity and behavioural risk factors. By linking postal codes to neighbourhood deprivation scores, researchers assessed the impact of living conditions on diabetes outcomes.

They found that detrimental lifestyle factors by neighbourhood living conditions are present right from childhood and worsen into adulthood. These risk factors accumulate over time to accelerate increased rates of obesity, hypertension and fatty liver by middle age.

When do trends of inactivity begin?

Physical activity is important for both the current and future health of children. For a long time a belief has been held that children are adequately active with a dramatic decline in behaviour beginning from later adolescence into adulthood. This decline is much more significant in girls then in boys. Based on this understanding, for many years adolescent physical activity has been targeted by both national and international organisations. However, there has been a recent suggestion that declines in activity begin earlier than adolescence.

A group of researchers from Glasgow set out to determine when exactly changes in activity take place. They used a UK longitudinal cohort study from North-East England with data on participants across eight years. In physical activity research, questionnaires have shown to be highly unreliable and inaccurate, but they are often what is used in cohort studies as they are low cost. In this cohort, objective data using accelerometers (electronic monitors that record activity patterns across the day) were used at four separate years, making it a valuable resource to look at changes over time.

The researchers revealed that all trajectories of activity behaviour declined from seven years of age with no indication of a difference by gender. This analysis proves earlier understanding wrong and provides a strong case that policy and intervention efforts should begin well before adolescence.

Antibiotic consumption and childhood obesity

A growing base of evidence suggests antibiotic use results in microbial disturbances in the gut. These disturbances in the microbiome may contribute to weight gain. In comparisons between individuals, it has been shown that those with obesity have a lower diversity of microbes in their gut. This research is supported by studies in animal models. In infancy, a baby’s microbiome is rapidly developing. It is thus suggested by some researchers that any antibiotic exposure in infancy may impede the establishment of the healthy gut microbiome and have lifelong metabolic consequences.

In a systematic review and meta-analysis, Miller and colleagues showed that the antibiotic use in infancy is indeed related to overweight and obesity in childhood. There were notable differences however by gender with boys appearing to be more affected by antibiotic use than girls.

The authors looked at multiple drugs finding that macrolides were most strongly related to increased obesity risk while narrow-spectrum drugs were not significantly associated. These researchers suggest in the fight against childhood obesity we need to examine antibiotic prescriptions and use across populations.

Assessment of dietary patterns, physical activity and obesity among older US adults

Obesity in older adults results in premature declines in physical and mental health and cognitive functioning. Evidence shows that the incidence of obesity and chronic diseases are higher in rural areas than in urban areas. Furthermore, more older adults are concentrated in these rural areas. There is limited understanding of the behavioural factors driving increases in obesity in older adults in rural communities. Specifically, if differences in dietary behaviour between rural and urban settings contribute to elevated obesity rates. A study recently published in in PLOS One set out to firstly assess rural-urban differences in obesity rates in older adults, and secondly the relationship with dietary patterns.

Researchers used census data in a sample of respondents aged 65 years of age and above from the USA. Regression models were utilized to investigate if rural-urban disparities in obesity, and associations with risk factors of fruit consumption, green vegetable consumption and physical activity. The results revealed, consistent with earlier evidence, that obesity rates were highest in rural areas. In these rural areas, fruit consumption was the lowest. A negative association between obesity and fruit and green vegetable consumption was observed in urban but not rural settings. These findings illustrate the importance of considering urban-rural status when developing obesity prevention programs and strategies. Interventions need to address the unique barriers experienced between the two settings.