Five obesity myths busted at the start of the JanUary campaign

 At the start of JanUary, Dr. James Brown of Aston University sets out five common misconceptions about obesity and healthy living. Formerly National Obesity Awareness Week, the JanUary campaign aims to encourage people to eat right, lose weight and work on their fitness.

Dr. James Brown, Lecturer in Biology and Biomedical Science in the School of Life and Health Sciences at Aston University, commented:

“With increased awareness among the general public regarding obesity, many people are looking to adopt healthier lifestyles. But, despite our best intentions, it’s all too easy to set about this in the wrong way. Initiatives like JanUary help to ensure our self-improvement drive doesn’t go to waste, bringing much-needed attention to reassessing our eating and exercising habits. First off, people should learn what works and what doesn’t.”

To mark the start of JanUary, Dr. James Brown busts five common myths surrounding our health:

1. Myth: In order to lose weight, I simply need to increase the amount of exercise that I do.

• Exercise on its own is unlikely to have a significant impact on weight loss. The most successful regime for losing weight should combine exercise and dieting. Dieting alone is the next best approach, followed by a focus on exercise to sustain weight loss.

2. Myth: Carbohydrates are bad and, in order to become healthier, I need to cut them out of my diet completely.

• Taken as part of a healthy diet, carbohydrates are not at all bad. In fact, many of the healthiest foods, such as fruits and vegetables, are rich in carbs. It is the processed and added sugars in some types of carbs – white bread, for example – that are most damaging and should be avoided.

3. Myth: Low fat foods are my best option for a healthy diet.

• This often isn’t the case because many processed low fat foods, such as yoghurt, are actually high in sugar to ensure they are palatable. If people opt for low fat foods, they should ensure they come without additives.

4. Myth: My child may be overweight now, but this is likely to be puppy fat and I am sure he or she will lose this extra weight in later life.

• Being overweight as a child is closely associated with obesity in later life. Parents should monitor their children’s weight, and ensure they have the right diet and exercise routine to prevent them from becoming obese.

5. Myth: The only way I can truly lose weight and avoid obesity is to invest in a gym membership and make sure I work out twice a week.

• There are alternative, potentially more effective ways to do this, such as ‘exercise snacking’. This involves multiple bouts of exercise for short periods during the day, such as 10 minutes after breakfast, lunch and dinner – a method that has be shown to control blood sugar better than a single, continuous workout.

Aston University launches ground-breaking project to replicate brain’s neural networks through 3D nanoprinting

Aston University has launched MESO-BRAIN, a major stem cell research project which it hopes will develop three-dimensional (3D) nanoprinting techniques that can be used to replicate the brain’s neural networks.

The cornerstone of the MESO-BRAIN project will be its use of pluripotent stem cells generated from adult human cells that have been turned into brain cells, which will form neural networks with specific biological architectures. Advance imaging and detection technologies developed in the project will be used to report on the activity of these networks in real time.

Such technology would mark a new era of medical and neuroscience research which would see screening and testing conducted using physiologically relevant 3D living human neural networks. In the future, this could potentially be used to generate networks capable of replacing damaged areas in the brains of those suffering from Parkinson’s disease, dementia or other brain trauma.

The MESO-BRAIN initiative, which will span three years, received €3.3million of funding from the European Commission as part of its prestigious Future and Emerging Technology (FET) scheme. Aston University is leading the project, with partners from industry and higher education across Europe: Axol Bioscience Ltd, Laser Zentrum Hannover, The Institute of Photonic Sciences, University of Barcelona and Kite Innovations. This unique partnership brings together stem cell biologists, neuroscientists, photonics experts and physicists.

Head of the MESO-BRAIN project, Professor Edik Rafailov, said: “What we’re hoping to achieve with this project has, until recently, been the stuff of science-fiction.

“If we can use 3D nanoprinting to improve the connection of neurons in an area of the brain which has been damaged, we will be in a position to develop much more effective ways to treat those with dementia or brain injuries.

“To date, attempts to replicate and reproduce cells in this way have only ever delivered 2D tissues or poorly defined 3D tissues that do not resemble structures found within the human body. The new form of printing we are aiming to develop promises to change this. The MESO-BRAIN project could improve hundreds of thousands of lives.”

Dr Eric Hill, Programme Director for MSc Stem cells and Regenerative Medicine at Aston University, commented: “This research carries the potential to enable us to recreate brain structures in a dish. This will allow us to understand how brain networks form during development and provide tools that will help us understand how these networks are affected in diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease.”