The staff of the Edgar National Centre for Diabetes and Obesity Research.
Late last year, the University formally recognised 14 Research Centres. Designation as a Research Centre signals the excellence and coherence of the research group's endeavours. Continuing our Research Centre Series, the Bulletin takes a look at The Edgar National Centre for Diabetes and Obesity Research.
The Edgar National Centre for Diabetes and Obesity Research's focus is to contribute to effective solutions for two of the major national health problems that are also global health challenges: diabetes and obesity.
The Centre's research ranges from public health and epidemiology through to human nutrition, Māori health, biostatistics, paediatrics, endocrinology, gastroenterology, microbiology, biochemistry, health policy, social marketing, health services research and genetics. This allows investigation of a wide range of questions about the complex nature of obesity and diabetes and how best they might be managed.
Current research includes studies examining:
- How encouraging supervised risk in play impacts on activity and bullying in children
- The epidemiology of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and hyperuricaemia, two increasingly important conditions associated with obesity
- How best to inform parents of young children that their child is overweight
- How to implement weight management guidelines for Pacific peoples in a culturally-centred community-based setting
- How the gut microbiome might relate to childhood obesity
- The development of self-regulation of energy intake in infants
- The effects of sugars on health, and how sugar consumption and genes might interact, and
- The quality of glycaemic control among people with type 1 diabetes internationally
The Centre is comprised of researchers from many other departments around the University, with the core staff based in the Department of Medicine.
While original research is core to the Centre's business, the dissemination and translation of knowledge is a vital component of its work.
To learn more about the different areas of research at the Edgar National Centre for Diabetes and Obesity Research, visit their website to view a retrospective of their recent symposium NZ's Waistline – what will it take to fix it? or contact the Research Manager Cherie Stayner.