Publications by authors named "Jason Halford"

Background: Bariatric and metabolic surgery tourism (BMT) is becoming an increasingly popular route to treatment for patients living with obesity. Recent reports have highlighted that some patients travelling abroad for bariatric surgery have received inadequate care, fraudulent care, and, tragically, some cases have resulted in death. This study aimed to define consensus in Europe regarding safe practices concerning BMT.

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Article Synopsis
  • Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is linked to excessive sugar intake, particularly from sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB), which raises the risk of developing cardiometabolic diseases.
  • A study analyzed data from over 59,000 participants and found that each additional serving of SSB increased the risk of MetS by 6%, while moderate intake of fruit juices showed a potential protective effect.
  • Results for low/no caloric beverages (LNCB) were inconsistent, indicating that replacing SSB with LNCB or fruit juice did not significantly impact MetS incidence, suggesting further research is needed in this area.
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The lack of standardization in patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) has made measurement and comparison of quality of life (QoL) outcomes in research focused on obesity treatment challenging. This study reports on the results of the second and third global multidisciplinary Standardizing Quality of life measures in Obesity Treatment (S.Q.

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Article Synopsis
  • The global food system is under stress due to factors like population growth, climate change, and ecosystem damage, leading to fragmented interests among stakeholders which hinders effective solutions.
  • There is a growing recognition of the need for transformative change within the food system, yet this urgency is not translating into decisive action or strategy.
  • The UK national food strategy serves as a case study to highlight the need for a comprehensive approach that includes creating a digital model, establishing a citizens' forum for collaborative development, and improving governance integration to drive meaningful change.
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Objectives: The Awareness, Care and Treatment In Obesity maNagement (ACTION) Teens study explored attitudes, behaviours, perceptions and barriers regarding effective obesity care among adolescents living with obesity (ALwO), caregivers and healthcare professionals (HCPs).

Design: Cross-sectional online survey study.

Setting: Study across 10 countries; here, we report data from UK respondents.

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Purpose: The focus of measuring success in obesity treatment is shifting from weight loss to patients' health and quality of life. The objective of this study was to select a core set of patient-reported outcomes and patient-reported outcome measures to be used in clinical obesity care.

Materials And Methods: The Standardizing Quality of Life in Obesity Treatment III, face-to-face hybrid consensus meeting, including people living with obesity as well as healthcare providers, was held in Maastricht, the Netherlands, in 2022.

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Background: The basis for a high-performing and resilient healthcare system is having a common, precise, and scientifically accurate language used across all stakeholder groups. However, such a common language is lacking for obesity. Therefore, the European Association for the Study of Obesity undertook a taxonomy initiative to provide standardised language for obesity as commonly used from policy to practice for other major policy-prioritised non-communicable diseases (NCDs).

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  • - The study explored how different sweeteners (like Stevia and Neotame) in biscuits affect appetite and hormone responses compared to regular sugar (sucrose) in adults with overweight or obesity.
  • - Participants consumed biscuits with varying sweeteners over two-week periods; results showed that all formulations similarly reduced appetite, but Neotame and Stevia led to lower insulin levels after eating compared to sugar.
  • - Overall, replacing sugar with these sweeteners had no significant impact on appetite or hormonal responses over time, although they did help in lowering post-meal insulin and glucose levels.
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Background: Studies investigating associations between sweeteners and health yield inconsistent results, possibly due to subjective self-report dietary assessment methods.

Objectives: We compared the performance of a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ), multiple 24-h dietary recalls (24hRs), and urinary biomarkers to estimate intake of sugars and low/no-calorie sweeteners (LNCSs).

Methods: Participants (n = 848, age 54 ± 12 y) from a 2-y observational study completed 1 semiquantitative FFQ and ≥ 3 nonconsecutive 24hRs.

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Background/objective: Sugar-sweetened beverages are a substantial source of dietary sugar that can contribute to weight gain and the risk of type 2 diabetes. Dietary guidelines recommend non-nutritive sweetened (NNS) beverages to reduce sugar consumption, however, there is a need for long-term randomised controlled trials on their use. We aimed to compare the effects of NNS beverages and water on body weight during weight loss and maintenance in a behavioural weight management programme.

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Aim: This study assessed the impact of dapagliflozin on food intake, eating behaviour, energy expenditure, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-determined brain response to food cues and body composition in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D).

Materials And Methods: Patients were given dapagliflozin 10 mg once daily in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial with short-term (1 week) and long-term (12 weeks) cross-over periods. The primary outcome was the difference in test meal food intake between long-term dapagliflozin and placebo treatment.

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Objective: The aim of this study was to compare non-nutritive sweetened (NNS) beverages versus water for weight loss after a 12-week behavioral weight-management program.

Methods: This is an ongoing, 2-year, parallel-group, open-label, controlled equivalence trial; week-12 data are reported. Adults with BMI of 27 to 35 kg/m who regularly drank cold beverages were randomized 1:1 to intention-to-treat water or NNS beverages while undergoing a weekly 12-week group behavioral weight-management program.

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Purpose: Results of prospective studies investigating associations between low/no-calorie sweeteners (LNCS) and body weight-related outcomes are inconclusive. We conducted dose-response and theoretical replacement individual patient data meta-analyses using harmonised prospective data to evaluate associations between sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption, low/no-calorie sweetened beverage (LNCB) consumption, and changes in body weight and waist circumference.

Methods: Individual participant data were obtained from five European studies, i.

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Dietary temptations and lapses challenge control over eating and act as barriers toward successful weight loss. These are difficult to assess in laboratory settings or with retrospective measures as they occur momentarily and driven by the current environment. A better understanding of how these experiences unfold within real-world dieting attempts could help inform strategies to increase the capacity to cope with the changes in appetitive and affective factors that surround these experiences.

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Objective: This study (1) investigated the effect of weight loss on whole-body and tissue-specific insulin sensitivity and on intrahepatic lipid (IHL) content and composition and (2) investigated the association between weight-loss-induced changes in insulin sensitivity and IHL content in individuals with overweight or obesity.

Methods: In this secondary analysis of the European SWEET project, 50 adults (age 18-65 years) with overweight or obesity (BMI ≥ 25 kg/m ) followed a low-energy diet (LED) for 2 months. At baseline and after the LED, body composition (dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry), IHL content and composition (proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy), whole-body insulin sensitivity (Matsuda index), muscle insulin sensitivity index (MISI), and hepatic insulin resistance index (HIRI) were determined (7-point oral glucose tolerance test).

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Background: Sweetened beverage intake may play a role in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) development, but scientific evidence on their role is limited. This study examined associations between sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB), low/no-calorie beverages (LNCB) and fruit juice (FJ) intakes and NAFLD in four European studies.

Methods: Data for 42,024 participants of Lifelines Cohort, NQPlus, PREDIMED-Plus and Alpha Omega Cohort were cross-sectionally analysed.

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Project SWEET examined the barriers and facilitators to the use of non-nutritive sweeteners and sweetness enhancers (hereafter "S&SE") alongside potential risks/benefits for health and sustainability. The Beverages trial was a double-blind multi-centre, randomised crossover trial within SWEET evaluating the acute impact of three S&SE blends (plant-based and alternatives) vs. a sucrose control on glycaemic response, food intake, appetite sensations and safety after a carbohydrate-rich breakfast meal.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The study investigates the effects of consuming non-nutritive sweeteners and sweetness enhancers (S&SEs) on appetite and related health outcomes, particularly focusing on how acute versus repeated intake influences these factors in food consumption.
  • - Conducted as part of the SWEET Project, the research includes five double-blind trials with 213 participants across Europe, comparing traditional sugar-sweetened products to those reformulated with S&SEs in various food forms.
  • - Ethical approvals have been obtained, and findings will be shared in open-access journals and an online research data archive, ensuring transparency and accessibility of the results.
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Introduction: Obesity affects nearly 1 in 4 European adults increasing their risk for mortality and physical and psychological morbidity. Obesity is a chronic relapsing disease characterized by abnormal or excessive adiposity with risks to health. Medical nutrition therapy based on the latest scientific evidence should be offered to all Europeans living with obesity as part of obesity treatment interventions.

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Introduction: Weight loss through behavioural weight management interventions can have important health benefits for people with obesity. However, to maximise the health benefits, weight loss must be maintained. Evidence suggests that behavioural weight loss interventions do not exacerbate inequalities in the short term.

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Purpose: Examined associations between sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB), low/no-calorie beverages (LNCB), and fruit juice (FJ) consumption and all-cause mortality in Dutch adults.

Methods: Data of 118,707 adults participating (mean age = 45 years; 60% was women) the Lifelines Cohort Study were prospectively analyzed. Dietary intake was assessed using a validated food-frequency questionnaire.

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What Is This Summary About?: This is a summary of a research survey called ACTION Teens. In our survey, 12,987 people from 10 countries answered questions about obesity. They were: 5275 teenagers with obesity, 5389 caregivers of teenagers with obesity, and 2323 doctors who provide medical care for teenagers with obesity.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study aims to evaluate the effects of consuming sweeteners and sweetness enhancers (S&SEs) within a healthy diet on weight loss maintenance and obesity-related health factors compared to sugar.
  • It involves over 330 adults and 40 children, starting with a low-energy diet for adults to achieve weight loss, followed by a 10-month phase where participants are randomly assigned to diets with or without S&SEs.
  • The trial is ethically approved and will assess various health outcomes, including body weight, gut microbiota, and risk markers for type-2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases through clinical investigations at multiple time points. *
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