A University of Sydney research team, and recent recipient of NHMRC funding for research into human eating patterns, has been tackling the obesity epidemic and will showcase their findings at a free public lecture as part of the Sydney Science Forum at the University of Sydney's Eastern Ave Auditorium, on Wednesday 14 March.
Professor Jennie-Brand Miller from the University's School of Molecular and Microbial Biosciences undertook a study to compare the effects of two diets, a low-GI diet (LGI) and moderate-to-high-GI (HGI) diet, on the weight of babies born to healthy women. Half of the subjects followed a low-GI diet during pregnancy, while the other half received dietary counselling which encouraged high-fibre, low sugar foods. Foetal size and birth weight were the primary measures of the outcomes of the study.
"The results were amazing," says Professor Brand-Miller. "Women in the HGI group gave birth to infants who were heavier at birth, had a higher amount of body fat, and were generally larger." The study concluded that because birth weight may predict chronic disease, such as obesity, in later life, a low-GI diet during pregnancy may help prevent the onset of childhood obesity.
Joining her will be Professor Ian Caterson, a world authority on obesity and director of the NSW Centre for Overweight and Obesity, and Professor Steve Simpson, a University of Sydney Federation Fellow who is undertaking research into how the eating habits of insects might help humans manage or prevent themselves from becoming obese.
Combining elements of both popular and technical science, the Sydney Science Forum aims to increase public awareness of the ground-breaking science and research that is being carried out by the talented scientists at the University. By presenting the forums in a free public lecture format, the audience is given a backstage pass into the world of science, and an exclusive look at the work of these world-class scientists.
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The number of Americans abusing prescription drugs nearly doubled from 7.8 million in 1992 to 15.1 million in 2003, and among their prescription drugs of choice are the painkillers oxycodone, sold under the trade name OxyContin, and hydrocodone, sold as Vicodin and used by 7.4 percent of college students in 2005.
The number of U.S. high school and college students abusing illicit drugs declined in 2006 for a fourth consecutive year, but the INCB says the high and increasing level of abuse of prescription drugs by both adolescents and adults is a serious cause for concern.
What is more counterfeiters are exploiting the intense demand for prescription drugs that can give a "high" comparable to cocaine, heroin or methamphetamine.
In Scandinavia the demand for flunitrazepam, a sedative sold as Rohypnol and widely known as a date rape drug, is increasingly being met by unauthorized production.
In North America, where widespread abuse of prescription drugs, including the narcotic fentanyl, which is 80 times as potent as heroin, has been blamed for a rise in related deaths.
Emafo says the very high potency of some of the synthetic narcotic drugs available as prescription drugs presents, in fact, a higher overdose risk than the abuse of illicit drugs.
Emafo says nations should pay closer attention and share data on counterfeit drug seizures.
Other findings in the annual report include the record high cultivation of opium poppy in Afghanistan, Iran's emergence as the world's No. 1 abuser of opiates, and the boards opposition to so-called "safe injection rooms," where addicts are given clean needles.
Emafo says this cannot be treatment and is not healthy.