Hi-tech solution to childhood obesity

A computer device is helping clinicians at a Bristol hospital tackle the problem of childhood obesity.

Obesity is a major issue in the UK which has the highest climbing rate of childhood obesity in Europe. Private health insurer Bupa estimates that currently up to 15 per cent of children in the UK are overweight or obese. By 2010, one million children in the UK are expected to be classed as obese.

There are various initiatives under way to tackle the problem. Now the Mandometer research being used at the Bristol Royal Hospital for Children has won the Bupa Foundation Clinical Excellence award worth £10,000.

The Mandometer, a treatment developed in the US, comprises a computer attached to scales. The attached plate is filled with food and the computer charts how much food the child eats. This then allows the researchers to see if a child is eating more than is healthy.

Dr Julian Hamilton-Shield, who leads the Care of Childhood Obesity Clinic at the Bristol Royal, said the clinic which was set up in 2003 is having great success; eight in 10 of the children attending have reduce their body mass index.

He said: "We have had great success at our clinic but there is so much more to be done if we are to prevent these obese children from becoming obese adults. "

Half of the award won by the hospital goes to the team personally; the other half is invested in further research.

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