The Institute of Public Health, through the Department of Physiology and Nutrition Monitoring, has been involved in a 4-year regional project funded by the International Atomic Energy Agency, which has built facilities for the use of nuclear techniques to assess the body composition of children. Estimating the health risk associated with obesity goes beyond an estimate of body mass index, obtained by measuring height and weight. Additional information is needed on body composition and the presence of adipose tissue to assess whether public health interventions are effective.
As prof. Dr Igor Spiroski, Head of the Department of Physiology and Nutrition Monitoring and lead researcher in the project: “Although childhood obesity is a growing problem, there is a lack of population-based interventions to combat it. Techniques for evaluating body composition through diluted deuterium can support public health assessment and contribute to planning policies to manage childhood obesity. ”
More project information at: https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/isotope-tool-to-help-fight-childhood-obesity-now-in-use-in-southern-and-eastern-europe
