Metabolic syndrome: the ticking time bomb

MEDIA INVITATION

Wednesday 1st December, London – Institute of Child Health

Both obesity and type 2 diabetes have become global epidemics over recent decades bringing, in their wake, a number of metabolic symptoms and cardiovascular disease risk factors. Both of these disorders, however, are just the tip of the iceberg, being just two manifestations of the metabolic syndrome (see notes) which has been suggested to affect 25% of the population in countries such as the UK and has severe consequences for both public health and the economy.

As with obesity, tackling the exploding prevalence of the metabolic syndrome will require a huge and integrated societal effort and, if not treated, the metabolic syndrome will remain a ticking health time bomb.

A one-day conference is being held to discuss what the metabolic syndrome is, the consequences of the metabolic syndrome (both for the individual and the economy) and ways in which it can be tackled in terms of the food we eat. The conference will focus on the Lipgene project: Diet, genomics and the metabolic syndrome: an integrated nutrition, agro-food, social and economic analysis. This is a 5-year research programme funded by the EU Commission which will explore the interactions of nutrients and genotype in the development and progression of the metabolic syndrome. Groundbreaking research is underway across Europe to investigate ways in which foods and diets can be manipulated to reduce the prevalence and burden of the metabolic syndrome, and the costs associated with this.

We invite you to register for a free place at the conference, to be among the first to hear about this exciting new research. If you would like to find out more please visit www.nutrition.org.uk/conferences.htm, where a registration form is available to download. Alternatively contact Helen Marriott at the British Nutrition Foundation on +44 (0)20 7404 6504 (e-mail: h.marriott@nutrition.org.uk).

For those journalists who can’t attend the conference but are interested in finding out more, you can still register for an embargoed press information pack which will be available shortly before the conference. Please register your details by e-mailing Dr. Hannah Theobald at h.theobald@nutrition.org.uk.