Nutrients for metabolic fitness
by Geraldine Hinter
Omega-3
in fish oil, phytoestrogens in soy and polyphenols in tea, wine and
chocolates are just some of the nutrients which, when combined with
exercise, may provide significantly greater benefits in the fight
against obesity than exercise or nutrients alone, according to a UniSA
research team.
Group leader of the Nutritional Physiology Research Group, Professor Peter Howe, explained that certain bioactive nutrients including omega-3 fatty acids can switch on enzymes that burn up fat but they need a driver like exercise to increase the metabolic rate in order to lower body fat content and counteract obesity. The researchers found that the combination of fish oil and regular exercise reduced abdominal fat in overweight volunteers, while fish oil or exercise alone were ineffective.
Professor Howe is director of the recently announced Australian Technology Network (ATN) Centre for Metabolic Fitness – the latest weapon in the battle of the bulge. Comprising researchers from all five ATN Universities (UniSA, Queensland University of Technology, Curtain University of Technology, RMIT University and University of Technology Sydney), this national consortium aims to develop a sustainable solution to the main health and socioeconomic burden of obesity facing Australians.
With a budget of more than $6 million for its first five years, the ATN Centre will work in partnership with the food industry, CSIRO and other public health agencies.
“The focus of the ATN Centre will be on metabolic mechanisms and outcomes aimed at achieving and maintaining good health rather than counteracting or treating disease, hence the term fitness,” Prof Howe said.
“We’re not just talking about physical fitness but also mental fitness. Optimising mental health is another very important aspect of the research because plenty of anecdotal evidence shows that if people are eating right and exercising right, they feel better. We need to establish a scientific basis for the ‘feel good’ effect.”
Prof Howe will coordinate the inputs of more than 30 senior researchers working across the nation in nutrition, exercise science, public health and behavioural research in a unique multidisciplinary collaboration. Drawing on proof of concept studies, the centre will adopt a “holistic approach” to evaluate combined diet and exercise strategies in demonstration trials involving whole communities. A major trial is planned for the Spencer Gulf by the Rural Health School based at UniSA’s Whyalla campus.
“Getting people to change their behaviour voluntarily when they are bombarded with a variety of lifestyle recommendations is difficult. They have to be convinced of the potential benefit.
“We need to do the research so that we have the right answers. We should develop the right kinds of foods that will deliver the benefits without causing people to take in excess energy or, alternatively, under eat and risk nutritional deficiencies, and we need behavioural modification that will encourage people to adopt healthy food choices along with the right amount of physical activity,” Prof Howe said.
“We have a very powerful collaboration with the potential to deliver research outcomes in this field on a scale that hasn’t been achieved in Australia.”