If you are aged 40 to 65, overweight and not currently exercising, a new University of Bath study may be for you, with personalised diets and special exercise programmes on offer.
Staying at a healthy body weight and doing enough exercise is challenging for many people, and though these things may sound simple, they are actually very complex.
Researchers know that weight loss and exercise have lots of health benefits, but they still don’t know exactly how and why they work.
The new study run by the University of Bath will help to find out more about how diet and exercise affect health through changes in metabolism and friendly bacteria in the gut.
In the study, researchers will use a personalised diet and exercise programme to reverse the effects of weight gain and a sedentary lifestyle.
They can then use this as a model to look at factors which may make some people more likely to develop type 2 diabetes.
To be eligible to take part, participants need to be:
- Male or post-menopausal female;
- Aged between 40 and 65 years;
- Have a Body Mass Index (BMI) of between 25 and 40 kg/m2 (calculate your BMI);
- Currently not exercising regularly;
- Have a waist size of more than 80 cm if you are female or more than 94 cm if you are male.
You will need to visit the University of Bath on several occasions over four weeks to take part.
On the first two visits, researchers will assess whether you are able to participate, complete a health screen, and collect some baseline measurements using state-of-the-art equipment.
These visits will be separated by one week during which you’ll be asked to wear a small device to monitor your physical activity and use a food diary to record your diet.
Participants will then be randomly assigned to either the control or the intervention group. The intervention group will receive a personalised diet and exercise plan created using their baseline measurements.
This group will be provided with an exercise programme based around using a treadmill five times a week for three weeks at a moderate intensity, tailored to each individual’s level of fitness.
One exercise session per week will be supervised by a member of the research team, and they will provide an activity monitor to record the remaining sessions.
The diet plan will keep the types of food and drink the same as your normal diet, but simply reduce the quantity of each item by a moderate amount to encourage weight loss.
Russell Davies of the Department for Health explained: “The aim of this study is to discover new markers of pre-diabetes in order to provide an early diagnostic tool for the prevention and treatment of type 2 diabetes and other associated conditions such as obesity, cardiovascular diseases, and high blood pressure.
“In addition to the personalised diet and exercise health plan, participants will receive a detailed report of their health, including results of the body composition analysis, blood tests and cardio-respiratory fitness tests.
“All participants will also be offered 3-months free gym membership and a £50 high street voucher on completion of the study.”
The study is being conducted by the Department for Health at the University of Bath and is funded by the Medical Research Council. To find out more or take part, email [email protected].
