Free Webinar: Assessing Body Fat – Taking Obesity Phenotyping To The Next Level
As readers will be well aware, n terms of health risks, fat is not fat is not fat is not fat. Rather, whether or not body fat affects health depends very much on the type of body fat and its location. While there have been ample attempts at trying to describe body fat distribution with simple anthropometric tools like measuring tapes and callipers, these rather crude and antiquated approaches have never established themselves in clinical practice simply because they are cumbersome, inaccurate, and fail to reliably capture the exact anatomical location of body fat. Furthermore, they provide no insights into ectopic fat deposition – i.e. the amount of fat in organs like liver or muscle, a key determinant of metabolic disease. Recent advances in imaging technology together with sophisticated image recognition now offers a much more compelling insight into fat phenotype. In this regard, readers may be interested in a live webinar that will be hosted by the Canadian Obesity Network at 12.00 pm Eastern Standard Time on Thu, Nov 23, 2017. The webinar provides an overview of a new technology developed by the Swedish company AMRA, that may have both important research and clinical applications. The talk features Olof Dahlqvist Leinhard, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer & Co-Founder at AMRA and Ian Neeland, MD, a general cardiologist with special expertise in obesity and cardiovascular disease, as well as noninvasive imaging at the UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, US. Registration for this seminar is free but seats are limited. To join the live event register here. I have recently heard this talk and can only recommend it to anyone interested in obesity research or management. @DrSharma Edmonton, AB
Vote of Thanks From The Obesity Chair
10 years ago, I was enticed to take up an endowed “Chair” in obesity research and management at the University of Alberta with the task to develop and lead the fledgling bariatric program at the Royal Alexandra Hospital. The decision to move to the University of Alberta from a prestigious Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in obesity at McMaster University, where my research enterprise was moving along just fine, was largely prompted by the Ontario Government’s bumbling indecision (despite all of my considerable and enthusiastic advocacy efforts on behalf of my patients) about promoting much needed bariatric services in Ontario (as a side note, only six weeks after I had signed on with the University of Alberta, the Ontario government, after much to-and-froing, finally did announce substantial funding for a province-wide bariatric program, which continues to this date as the Ontario Bariatric Network). Despite my sadness at leaving my most wonderful and supportive colleagues at McMaster University, I have not for a moment regretted my move to Edmonton. Not only did I find another set of as supportive colleagues at the University of Alberta but also the committed and dedicated staff within Capital Health (now part of Alberta Health Services), all of which enthusiastically supported the creation of a now world-class academic bariatric program in Edmonton. With well over 100 peer-reviewed publications to show for (with a notable mention to the colleagues who helped develop the Edmonton Obesity Staging System and the 5As of Obesity Management), the academic work in obesity was only a rather small part of my activities as “Chair”. Together with my colleagues at Alberta Health Services, we supported a total of 5 bariatric clinics across the province, all of which are now up and serving Albertans living with severe obesity – each adapted to local resources and interests. Of these, the Edmonton Adult Bariatric Specialty Program at the Royal Alexandra Hospital of course continues as the flagship program, offering a full suite of behavioural, medical, and surgical treatments for Albertans with severe obesity. With my move to Edmonton, so did the national office of the Canadian Obesity Network (co-hosted by the University of Alberta and Alberta Health Services). As readers will be well aware, this pan-Canadian network of now well over 15,000 obesity researchers, health professionals, trainees, and now 1000s of public supporters, continues to grow and steadfastly pursue its important mission of promoting obesity research,… Read More »
European Collaborating Centres for Obesity Management (EASO-COMs)
This week, I am in Tønsberg, Norway, speaking at the annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Obesity (EASO) Collaborating Centres on Obesity Management (COMs). This is a pan-Euoropean network of over 75, that includes academic, public and private clinics where children and adults with obesity are managed by holistic teams of specialists delivering comprehensive state-of- the-art clinical care. The EASO-COMs also work closely to ensure quality control, data collection, and analysis as well as for education and research for the advancement of obesity care and obesity science. Current plans foresee establishing 100 new COMs by 2020. There are also plans to develop an international exchange and mentoring program to increase competencies and treatment knowledge across Europe. Other important EASO initiatives in this regard include a knowledge transfer series involving e-Learning modules for obesity management based on the Canadian Obesity Network’s initiative with mdBriefCase. I certainly look forward to networking with and learning from my European colleagues over the next couple of days. Further details on the criteria for becoming a EASO COM are available here. @DrSharma Tønsberg, Norway
New Course: Adult Obesity Management in Brazil
For my many colleagues in Brazil, there is now a free accredited online continuing professional development (CPD) program developed in a collaboration between ABESO and the Canadian Obesity Network. “Adult Obesity in Brazil” is a free, online continuing professional development (CPD) program that provides 1 hour of accredited learning on the following topics: The importance of managing obesity How to manage obesity to reduce disease burden Behaviourial and pharmaceutical management The program was developed in collaboration my Brazilian colleagues Cintia Cercato, Bruno Halpern, and Nelson Nardo Jr. You can access the “Adult Obesity in Brazil” program online at no charge to receive one hour of accredited learning. Registration is free. For more information click here @DrSharma Edmonton, AB
Weight Change (Not Weight!) Is A Vital Sign
Why do doctors weigh people? Because, very early in medical school, we are taught that body weight is an important indicator of health. While one may certainly argue about the value of a single weight measurement at any point in time (especially in adults), there is simply no denying that weight trajectories (changes in body weight – up or down) can provide important (often vital) clinical information. Let’s begin with the easiest (and least arguable) situations of all – unintentional weight loss. Among all clinical parameters one could possibly measure, perhaps non should be as alarming as someone losing weight without actively trying. In almost every single instance of “unintentional” weight loss, the underlying problem needs to be found, and more often than not, the diagnosis is probably serious (cancer is just one possibility). As with any serious condition, the earlier you detect it, the sooner you can do something about it, therefore, the more often you weight someone, the more likely you will detect early “non-intentional” weight loss. The contrary situation (un-intentional weight gain) is as important. When someone is gaining weight for no good reason, one needs to look for the underlying cause, which can include everything from an endocrine problem to heart failure. On the other hand, weight stability, is generally a sign that things are probably “under control”, as they should be when energy homeostasis works fine and people are in energy balance. Perhaps my own obsession with weighing people comes from my work in nephrology, where we obsess about people’s “dry weight” and use weight as a general means to monitor fluid status. The same is true for working with patients who have heart failure. Note for all of the above, that while a single (random) weight measurement tells you very little (almost nothing) about anybody’s health status, unexplained changes in body weight are one of the most useful and important clinical signs in all of medicine. Obviously, to plot a trajectory, one has to start somewhere, which means that every patient needs to have a “baseline” body weight recorded somewhere in their chart. While this value may not provide any valuable information, the next one may. This is why every single patient needs to be weighed at least once in a clinical setting. As you will imagine, both the context and interpretation of serial weight measurements becomes most challenging in the setting of obesity… Read More »
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