Obesity Summit 2015 London

In mid-April, CCH attended the Obesity Summit, at The 02 in London. This three day event brought together a wide range of health professionals including veterinarians and nurses to research scientists and bariatric physicians. The delegates attended from across the world, including Botswana, New Zealand, Denmark and the United States to discuss aspects of obesity development and treatment. The main discussions and presentations included prediction, prevention, diagnosis and management, gene-environment interactions, drug development, foetal programming, and lipidomics.

There were some interesting research presentations dealing with the mechanisms of the metabolic disturbances seen in obesity so as to develop new drugs that could be used in the treatment of those severely affected. However, an interesting presentation by Dr Onakpoya from Oxford University showed how people become desperate to lose weight and spend millions of pounds on dietary supplements for which there is little evidence of efficacy. As there is no “magic pill”, and some can be dangerous, he considers these supplements should be subject to the same regulatory approval as normal medications. A presentation by Dr Robert Pretlow from Seattle on the use of a smartphone App for treatment of obesity in adolescents was based on the addiction model is still controversial.

Apps will become increasingly important in monitoring individual health and is an area that CCH will continue to monitor closely for possible inclusion in its courses.