Chester launches weighty course
The University of Chester is tackling the heavy issues with a new masters degree.
The university will offer the UK's first postgraduate degree in weight management as the obesity crisis, especially in children, worsens across the developed world.
Kevin Sykes, director of the university's centre for exercise and nutrition science and an expert on obesity, said: "The World Health Organisation reports that obesity is increasing worldwide, in both advanced and developing countries, and is contributing to the increasing levels of disorders such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, orthopaedic problems, obstructive sleep apnoea and certain cancers.
"The MSc in weight management is designed to provide postgraduate education and training for the increasing number of health professionals dealing with people, for whom being overweight contributes to their health problems and reduced life expectancy.
"It is also aimed at those aspiring to work in this field, whether as doctors and nurses, physiotherapists and dieticians or fitness centre instructors."
Students will study the obesity epidemic, especially among children. They will learn the options for reducing and managing weight, including diet, exercise, behaviour modification and pharmacotherapy, such as appetite suppressants, surgery and alternative therapies.
Prof Sykes said: "We have received widespread support for the introduction of the course from leading health professionals and interest is already high among potential students."
He said students will be taught by a team of "highly experienced" academics and practitioners from around the UK, including surgeons, cardiologists, psychologists, dieticians, nutritionists, physiologists, exercise scientists, biochemists, pharmacologists, statisticians, clinicians and public health specialists.
The chairman and medical director of the National Obesity Forum (NOF), Colin Waine and David Haslam, will be visiting lecturers.
Dr Haslam said: "The prevalence of obesity is rising inexorably. No guideline, or care pathway, will alter the situation without a motivated and informed body of healthcare professionals with the ability to implement them. This degree course will ensure that the appropriate expertise is available to those people dealing with the obesity epidemic at first hand."
The course, to start in the autumn, is expected to draw students from the UK and overseas and features a series of three-day, 25-hour taught modules, rather than many half-day sessions, to reduce travelling time and help students plan study time.