ARCHIVED - Health Research - Investing in Canada's Future 2003-2004

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Obesity

The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) is the Government of Canada’s premier agency for health research.

Through CIHR, the Government of Canada is investing more than $32 million in research on obesity across Canada.

The Facts

• In 1998, 15% of Canadian adults were obese, with a BMI of more than 30, compared to just 6% in 1985.
• Deaths attributable to overweight and obesity nearly doubled between 1985 and 2000. By 2000, 9% of deaths among adults aged 20-64 could be attributed to overweight and obesity.
• In 1996, 14% of boys and 12% of girls aged 7-19 were obese, more than double the prevalence of obesity among children in 1981. During the same time period, 1981 to 1996, the prevalence of overweight increased by 92% in boys and 57% in girls, so that, in 1996, 29% of boys and 24% of girls were overweight.
• Obesity is a risk factor for heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, fatty liver and gallbladder disease. It has also been associated with hypertension (high blood pressure), reproductive problems and sleep disorders such as sleep apnea.
• Unhealthy eating, overweight and physical inactivity may be responsible for 30% of cancers in the developed world.
• The direct health costs of obesity, including hospital care, physician services, drugs, were estimated to be more than $1.8 million in 1997, or 2.4% of total health care expenditures for all diseases in that year.
• The World Health Organization has identified obesity as the major neglected public health issue.
• While the root cause of obesity is a mismatch of energy intake and energy expenditure, there is considerable new knowledge that needs to be generated before the epidemic can be effectively managed.

Research

Improving Health

• A receptor protein found on fat cells may play a role in obesity, according to research conducted with CIHR support by Dr. Katherine Cianflone of the McGill University Health Centre. She and her colleagues found that the protein, C5L2, binds ASP, a protein that is known to affect fat production. People who are obese have high levels of ASP. Dr. Cianflone says that, in the future, we may be able to slow down the fat producing process by identifying molecules that will block C5L2 activity, helping to treat obesity in some people.
• Data from the CIHR-funded Quebec Family Study indicates that people who consume less calcium have a greater tendency to be overweight or obese. While the mechanism isn’t clear, Dr. Angelo Tremblay of Laval University says calcium intake may bring about an increase in fat oxidation, in the amount of calories burned as fat.
• A study by Statistics Canada has found that a girl with an obese parent is six times more likely to be obese than one with parents of normal weight. Boys with an obese parent are three times more likely to be obese than those with parents of normal weight. The data suggest that poor lifestyle choices by the parents play a more important role than genetics. The findings come from the 2001 Canadian Community Health Survey, which surveyed nearly 10,000 boys and girls aged 12-19.
• One in 10 deaths among adults aged 20-64 is directly attributable to excess weight, according to a study led by CIHR-supported researcher Dr. Peter Katzmarzyk of Queen’s University. Obesity-related deaths among this age group doubled between 1985 and 2000, from 5.3% of all deaths to 9.3%. The risk of death for overweight adults rises by 16% compared to their counterparts who are at healthy weights and by 25% for people who are obese.
• Watching TV and playing video games increase a child’s likelihood of being overweight or obese by anywhere from 10-61% while sport and physical activity, whether organized or unorganized decrease the likelihood by 10-43%. Evidence of the link between physical inactivity and childhood obesity appears in a study of children aged 7-11 by CIHR-supported researchers Drs. Mark Tremblay of the University of Saskatchewan and J. Douglas Williams of the University of New Brunswick.

The Institute

CIHR's Institute of Nutrition, Metabolism and Diabetes (INMD), led by Scientific Director Dr. Diane Finegood, is mandated to support research to enhance health in relation to diet, digestion, excretion and metabolism. After extensive consultation with stakeholders, the Institute has declared its primary priority to be the growing problem of obesity and the maintenance of a healthy body weight, an issue that cuts across all areas of its mandate. In October of 2002, the Minister of Health announced $15 million in funding dedicated to research programs in the field of obesity and healthy body weight.

The Partners

CIHR recognizes the unique role of, and works closely with, all partners in the research process. In June 2003, INMD and the Canadian Institute of Health Information (CIHI) sponsored the "Obesity in Canada: Identifying Policy Priorities" Roundtable. The goals of the roundtable were to: a) identify key priorities for policy-relevant research, and b) develop policy to prevent obesity. The roundtable was also intended to promote the development of cross-sectoral linkages among groups on the issue of obesity. Currently, INMD is working in partnership with the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada to fund research teams examining the impact of our environments on obesity.

The People

He has always been a little bit overweight. But at age 12, Adrian Moores already knows he doesn't want to become an obese adult.

Dr. Glen Berall is helping him avoid that fate. Dr. Berall, the Chief of Pediatrics at North York General Hospital, is carrying out a CIHR-funded study to understand appetite control among obese children. He has enrolled Adrian in a series of classes to teach him how to assess fat content in foods; exercise to improve his sense of well-being and make the right choices when it comes to snacks.

So far, the classes seem to be working. Adrian has lost six pounds in three months and, at 5'6'', now weighs 165 pounds.

Adrian's mother, Annette Moores, is delighted. She has long been concerned about Adrian's weight because of a family history of heart disease. His grandfather had a quintuple bypass operation, while his father, Robert, only 40 years old, has already had a double bypass operation and suffers from Type 2 diabetes.

"He's starting to lose weight," says Annette. "He's definately learned how to choose the right foods by going to these classes."

Annette does her part by emphasizing the importance of physical activity with Adrian. She believes that Dr. Berall's classes help to keep children on the right dietary path.

As for Adrian, he says the classes serve everyone's best interest.

"As long as I'm taking part in something that's going to help others around Canada," he says, "that's great."

Getting Canada on the Move!

Canadians everywhere can walk, log on and “donate their steps” to health research in a unique project organized by the CIHR’s Institute of Nutrition, Metabolism and Diabetes. Working with Kellogg’s Canada, which inserted a step counter in 800,000 boxes of cereal, and other organizations including technology partners Sun Microsystems and BlueSpark, the Institute has launched this unique research platform. Canadians can use the pedometers to keep track of how many steps they take each day and enter the numbers onto a web site – or just log on to www.canadaonthemove.ca to report their daily physical activity. Health researchers will be able to use the data to identify strategies and factors that encourage pedometer use and support a sustained increase in physical activity. A growing body of evidence suggests that moderate exercise, such as brisk walking, has significant benefits for both physical and mental health. Pedometers offer a way to measure daily activity.

About the Canadian Institutes of Health Research

The Canadian Institutes of Health Research is the Government of Canada’s premier agency for health research. Its objective is to excel, according to internationally accepted standards of scientific excellence, in the creation of new knowledge and its translation into improved health for Canadians, more effective health services and products and a strengthened Canadian health care system.

For more information, visit: www.cihr-irsc.gc.ca.