News Round-up

Patients and Healthcare Professionals Join Forces to Drive up Standards of IBD Care across Wales

Crohn’s and Colitis UK, working with the Welsh Association for Gastroenterology and Endoscopy (WAGE), are excited to launch IBD Cymru. IBD Cymru – made-up of healthcare professionals and patients – will champion improvements to Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) services across Wales. The Group’s membership consists of leading adult and paediatric gastroenterologists, colorectal surgeons, clinical nurse specialists, GPs, dietitians and patients.

Informed by patient and clinical experience and working with both local and national policy makers, the Group will focus its energy in a number of areas over the next 12 months, including:

• Improving the early identification, referral and management of IBD in primary care
• Improving paediatric services
• Redefining and refocusing the role of specialist IBD nurses
• Improving patient education & support and ability to self-manage
• Improving access to elective surgery.

Professor Jared Torkington, President of WAGE, said: “Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease have the right to timely access to the services and support to help them manage what is often a chronic illness with significant flare-ups. The newly formed IBD Wales will act as an enabler to ensure this across Wales.”

If you are a clinician working in Wales and would like to kept up to date about the work of the IBD Cymru please email: ppr@crohnsandcolitis.org.uk

 

International Nutrition Award Presented to UK Dietitian

Dr Yvonne Jeanes (Dietitian & Principal Lecturer, Roehampton University) receives award at Sheffield Dietetic Gastroenterology Symposium.

The winner of the 2016 Dr Schär Institute Nutrition Project Award was formally announced in front of over 300 dietitians attending the Inaugural Sheffield Dietetic Gastroenterology Symposium, held on 12th May 2017.

Dr Yvonne Jeanes, Dietitian and Principal Lecturer at Roehampton University, gratefully received her award during the main conference programme, before briefly outlining the project which won her the prize. The event, organised by Sheffield Teaching Hospitals gastroenterology team, attracted record attendance and provided a fitting gathering to hear more about Yvonne's proposed research plans. Working in collaboration with Dr Humayun Muhammad (Consultant Gastroenterologist and PhD Research Student), Yvonne plans to utilise the £8000 prize fund to conduct an intervention research study, involving a novel telephonic clinic to improve adherence to a gluten-free diet amongst people with coeliac disease. Ethics approval and recruitment for this study is already underway.

Speaking after the presentation, Yvonne said: "We're delighted to have won the Dr Schär Institute Nutrition Project Award and hope that the funding we have secured in doing so will allow us to make a real difference to the lives of coeliac patients who are struggling to adhere to a gluten-free diet."

Judging panel member, Marianne Williams (Allergy Specialist Dietitian, Somerset), added: "This award has the potential to make a real difference to dietitians who are striving to improve the services they offer to patients with gastro conditions. We were delighted with the standard of applications received and encouraged by the passion and innovation that these project proposals demonstrated."

Katie Kennedy (Company Dietitian, Dr Schär UK) explained the rationale for initiating the DSI Award, now in its second year: "The Dr Schär Institute Nutrition Project Award seeks to inspire practicing healthcare professionals to consider ways in which they can evaluate and improve the services they currently offer to patients, offering small scale project funding to help take ideas forward. This year's award was judged across 5 countries, welcoming submissions from the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain and North America. Yvonne's success is an appropriate reflection of the excellent standard of nutrition and dietetic care we provide in the UK."

 

Vitamin D in Pregnancy may Help Prevent Childhood Asthma

A new study published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology has found that taking vitamin D supplements in pregnancy can positively modify the immune system of the newborn baby, which could help to protect against asthma and respiratory infections, a known risk factor for developing asthma in childhood.

The team of researchers from King’s College London looked at the effect that taking a supplement of 4,400 IU vitamin D3 per day during the second and third trimesters of pregnancy versus the recommended daily intake (RDI) of 400 IU/day, had on the immune system of the newborn.

Participants were randomised at 10-18 weeks of pregnancy to high or low doses of vitamin D supplements. The team then took umbilical cord bloods from 51 pregnant women to test the responsiveness of the newborn’s innate immune system, which form the body’s first line of defence to infection, and T lymphocyte responses, which provide longer-lasting protection.

They found that blood samples from babies born to mothers supplemented with higher vitamin D3 responded to mimics of pathogen stimulation by greater innate cytokine responses and greater IL-17A production in response to T lymphocyte stimulation. Both types of response are predicted to improve neonatal defence to infection. Given the evidence for strong immune responses in early life being associated with decreased development of asthma, the team believe the effect will likely lead to improved respiratory health in childhood.

“The majority of all asthma cases are diagnosed in early childhood implying that the origin of the disease stems in foetal and early life,” said lead researcher, Professor Catherine Hawrylowicz from King’s College London.

“Studies to date that have investigated links between vitamin D and immunity in the baby have been observational. For the first time, we have shown that higher Vitamin D levels in pregnancy can effectively alter the immune response of the newborn baby, which could help to protect the child from developing asthma. Future studies should look at the long-term impact on the immunity of the infant.”

Dr Samantha Walker, Director of Research and Policy at Asthma UK, said: “Vitamin D is a promising area of research for asthma, however this study is just the first step of many needed to explore this topic. Although this study shows that vitamin D supplementation in pregnancy may improve immune responses, much more research is needed to prove whether this does in fact lead to reduced asthma rates later in life.

Asthma affects 1 in 11 people in the UK, yet years of underfunding in research mean that we still do not understand what causes asthma, or have the ability to predict which babies will go on to develop asthma. This is urgently needed if we are to develop strategies to treat, and ultimately prevent asthma in children.”

 

CN Awards 2017 – Shortlist revealed

The publishers of CN Magazines recently revealed the 2017 CN Awards Shortlist, and key figures that have close connections to BAPEN have been shortlisted.

The CN Awards provide the chance for all readers, advertisers and contributors of CN magazines to come together to recognise the achievements of those whose great work has made a significant difference within the nutrition industry – whether an individual, group or organisation.

The voting process for the 2017 CN Awards will run until 24th July 2017.

To view the 2017 CN Awards Shortlist and to cast your votes, click here.

^{* The CN Awards are run annually by the publishers of Complete Nutrition (CN) Magazines – the UK’s No.1 clinical, medical and health nutrition publications. Further details can be found at: www.nutrition2me.com/publications.}

 

'Healthy Obesity' is a Myth

A study by scientists at the University of Birmingham suggests that ‘healthy’ obese people are still at higher risk of heart failure or stroke than the general population.

The study, which was the largest of its kind to date, involving analysis of the GP records of 3.5 million people from across the UK from 1995 to 2015, was presented at the European Congress on Obesity in Porto, Portugal earlier this week.

The results raise questions around the concept of ‘healthy obesity’ – a condition characterised by having normal markers of metabolic health despite a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or more.

During the study, a team from the Institute of Applied Health Research at the University of Birmingham used electronic patient records to look for markers of being metabolically healthy, having normal blood pressure and cholesterol and no diabetes, while also being obese.

They then tracked how many people suffered one of four cardiovascular conditions: coronary heart disease (CHD), cerebrovascular disease (including stroke), heart failure and peripheral vascular disease (a disorder of blood circulation).

The results showed that, compared to healthy people of a normal weight, those regarded as healthy and obese had a 49% increased risk of coronary heart disease, a 7% higher risk of stroke, and a 96% increased risk of heart failure.

Lead author of the study, Dr Rishi Caleyachetty, said: “The idea of being healthily obese is a myth. Our work shows that so-called ‘metabolically healthy’ obese individuals are still at higher risk of coronary heart disease, cerebrovascular disease and heart failure than normal weight metabolically healthy individuals.

The priority of health professionals regarding these patients should be to promote and facilitate weight loss, as it is with any other obese patient.”

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