The Newcastle Study Aiming to Prove Fruit and Vegetables are Better than You Think

BY JESSICA ROUSE

Researchers at The University of Newcastle are hoping their study turns out to be more fruitful than they expect.

The joint university and Hunter Medical Research Institute study is examining how a diet rich in fruit-and-veg can contribute to weight loss, and how it relates to protecting the body from exercise-induced inflammation.

Researcher and PhD student Erin Clarke says as a dietician she advises everyone to eat more of the good stuff, but now there could be even more benefits.

Researcher Erin Clarke Image supplied.

"The main aim of this study is to see how increasing fruit and vegetables affects weight and exercise-induced inflammation. We're providing more evidence to why people should be doing it, so many people want to lose weight and this could be an effective way to do it," said Erin.

Participants in the study will receive a week's worth of fruit-and-veg for free which includes bananas, oranges, frozen berries, fresh and tinned tomatoes, pumpkin, carrots, sweet potatoes, lettuce, zucchini, cucumber and frozen peas and corn.

In addition, you'll have to visit Callaghan campus for two exercise sessions involving a VO2 Max test of aerobic capacity on a treadmill plus other tests on subsequent visits.

It's a common thought buying fresh food can be more expensive so the study also wants to prove that really it isn't and it's quite easy to slip it into your weekly budget.

"So we wanted to give them assistance in showing them how they can increase it and its not going to put a big hole in their budget. I've got some tips that I'll give them for increasing their intake on a budget. Everyone knows they should be eating fruit and veg, but they don't know how to incorporate it so much into their diet," said Erin.

The study is looking for males and females aged 18-45 years with a Body Mass Index of 25-35 (overweight or obese) and no health issues which could affect doing high-intensity exercise.

For details contact Erin on 4985 4316 or Erin.Clarke@uon.edu.au

Ladies you can't eat for two!

BY JESSICA ROUSE

A new study at the University of Newcastle is aiming to prove simply knowing the right sized servings of food can hugely impact your health, particularly if you're pregnant.

The study is helping women understand, and lift the confusion, on how big a serving size of carbohydrates is because having too much can be bad for both mother and baby's health. When too much carbohydrate is converted to blood sugar, high levels can adversely affect their health.

PhD candidate and dietician Hannah Brown says knowing about portion size plays a vital role in protecting the health of both mother and baby.

"We're focusing on carbohydrate knowledge, food label use and food intake to develop new ways to support women and help improve nutrition in pregnancy," said Hannah.

The study will test an app which visually shows the right portion size of food you should be eating, because despite popular belief, you can't use the excuse of eating for two while you're pregnant!

"The app uses augmented reality and what it does is it overlays one standard serve of a carbohydrate food onto a plate so the participate can actually see what one standard serve looks like and then they can put this into the context of their overall diets for the day," said Hannah.

Women who participate in the study can either come to the labs at the University to get access the app to take home on their phones, or alternatively there's an online survey women can complete at home.

The study is open to women over 18 years of age and from 12 to 22 weeks' gestation, with no previous diagnosis of type 1 or type 2 diabetes. If you'd like to participate contact Hannah on 4985 4255 or hannah.m.brown@uon.edu.au . The survey is available at http://tinyurl.com/uonpregnancy 

Image HMRI Twitter