Professor Susan Jebb, University of Oxford

As part of our knowledge exchange program, COMPaRE-PHC hosted a visit by Professor Susan Jebb from 7 to 16 October 2015.

Professor Jebb is a a Professor of Diet and Population Health at the University of Oxford. Her research interests are focused on how what we eat affects the risk of gaining weight or becoming obese and the interventions that might be effective to help people lose weight or reduce the risk of obesity-related disease. She is also interested in how scientific evidence on diet is translated into policy and practice, by government, industry, the public health community and the media.

Professor Jebb  was the science advisor for the UK governments Foresight obesity report and subsequently chaired the cross-government Expert Advisory Group on obesity from 2007-11. She is now a member of the Public Health England Obesity Programme Board. Professor Jebb also Chairs the UK Department of Health’s Public Health Responsibility Deal Food Network, developing voluntary agreements with industry to improve the food environment. She is one of the Chairs of the NICE Public Health Advisory Committees. She is actively involved in a number of events and media projects to engage the public in issues relating to diet and health (e.g. Diet - A Horizon Guide and “What’s the Right Diet For You? A Horizon Special).  She is a Trustee and former Chair of the Association for the Study of Obesity. In 2008 Professor Jebb was awarded an OBE for services to public health.

Further information about Professor Jebb can be found here. 

Professor Jebb's visit included the public presentations described below. For some of these we are able to provide copies of the presentation.

7 Oct, George Institute: Working collaboratively with the food industry to change the food environment

Many national governments and international bodies such as WHO, advocate working collaboratively with the food industry, yet there remains much opposition to this from some public health groups. This presentation will give a personal reflection on the experience as Chair of the Responsibility Deal Food Network in England, a partnership between government, industry and public health groups. It will review the achievements and challenges in areas such as nutritional labeling, reformulation, portion control and the promotion of foods, to consider the role for collaborative working to change the food environment and improve the nations diet.

8 Oct, COMPaRE-PHC forum at UNSW: Weight management in primary care 

This keynote presentation for the COMPaRE-PHC forum summarised the evidence of the effectiveness of behavioural weight management programmes to treat obesity in adults, focusing on Professor Jebb's recent systematic reviews and data from new trials directly relevant to the primary care setting.  It included qualitative research drawing on the experience of practitioners and patients to consider how we can embed weight management as a routine part of primary care.

 Click here for slides. Click here for audio & slides.

13 Oct, BODEN Institute, University of Sydney: Portion size and weight control: insights from new research and implications for policy and practice

Supersizing of food and drink is often cited as a root cause of obesity in the popular press and indeed, our recent Cochrane review shows clearly that larger portions do lead to overconsumption.  But, there is a paucity of evidence of the effects of smaller portions and, given the asymmetry of appetite control, it is not possible to assume that smaller portions will inevitably constrain intake, especially in an environment where there is ad libitum access to food, with plentiful opportunities for compensation.

This presentation included new research findings of the impact of smaller portions on perceptions of appetite, eating behaviour, gut hormone responses and ultimately energy intake.  It considered how lean and obese people perceive personal and social norms and how information on portion size is communicated to consumers. It considered how the findings from experimental research can inform the implementation of  ‘downsizing’ interventions in policy and practice.

 Click here for slides

14 Oct, CPAN, Deakin University: Knowledge, nudge or nanny: what have we learnt from the recent UK efforts to change diets

The fundamental components of a healthy diet are well established - we need to consume less saturated fat, sugar and salt while instead eating more fibre, fruit and vegetables. But the simple concept of eating well belies the complexity of the change required to improve the nation’s health.

Reflecting on the experience in England suggests that actions to date have, at best, been well-intentioned, but at worst they have been patchy and inconsistent, not least in the healthcare system where vending machines with sugary drinks and chocolate abound in hospital concourses and patients with hyperlipidaemia in primary care are more likely to receive a drug than support to change their diet. 

At a population-level, actions have relied heavily on increasing knowledge, educating individuals to make better choices, while elsewhere condoning a food system that provides and promotes less healthy options.  New research shows that most of what we eat is not the result of a reasoned choice, but rather that the purchase and consumption of food often occurs below the level of conscious decision-making. This implies that nudges in the environment to change the default choice to a healthier alternative will be an important component to improving eating habits. There are modest examples of success, but can this approach ever be enough? The Government has largely shied away from stronger policy action but it may be time to look for a nanny to protect the nation from eating itself to an early grave. 

 Click here for slides or go to CPAN by clicking here

15 Oct ANZOS Meeting Keynote: Working with the food industry to improve health: lessons from the Responsibility Deal in England

The food environment is an important influence on individual food habits and the food industry has a powerful role to play in what we eat. Many national governments and international bodies such as WHO, advocate working collaboratively with the food industry, yet there remains much opposition to this from some public health groups.

This presentation gave a personal reflection on the experience as Chair of the Responsibility Deal Food Network in England, a form of partnership working between government, industry and public health groups. It reviewed the achievements and challenges in areas such as nutritional labeling, reformulation, portion control and the promotion of foods, to consider the extent to which working with the food industry can change the food environment and improve the nations health.

 Click here for slides

16 Oct ANZOS Meeting Intervening to tackle obesity in primary care

The high prevalence of obesity across the lifecourse demands a portfolio of strategies to achieve and maintain a healthy weight. Population strategies for early prevention are vital but in many countries there are clear barriers to the implementation of the interventions which research suggests may be most effective, such as controls on price or availability.  Moreover these preventative interventions may be insufficient for individuals who are already overweight. 

The scale and reach of primary care services makes this an obvious setting to deliver individual-level interventions to treat obesity. In the field of tobacco control, interventions by health professionals to support individuals to stop smoking have been an important component of the overall policy mix. However in order to fit within the resource constraints of the service there is a need to identify and implement effective interventions which can be delivered cheaply and at scale, in routine practice by non-specialist staff. The challenge this presents means that treating obesity is often not given the priority it deserves.

This presentation summarised evidence which demonstrates the clinical and cost effectiveness of behavioural weight management programmes to treat obesity in adults, focusing on our recent systematic reviews and data from new trials directly relevant to the primary care setting. It included emerging research to address the reticence of many family doctors to raise the issue of excess weight which is crucial to overcome in order to embed weight management interventions as an integral part of routine primary care.