5^thAsian Obesity Specialists and Endocrinologists Annual Meeting July 11-12, 2016 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Biography:

Sondos Harfil is a Lecturer at the College of Health Sciences and instructed several courses. She is serving as a member in several community associations and comittees. She has completed her MSc and higher diploma in Biology from University of Jordan and currently enrolled in PhD program at University Sains Malaysia, Biomedicine department. Her research interest is in the field of gut micorbiota and obesity.

Abstract:

Obesity is a growing epidemic in many countries. There’s a remarkable development in the investigation of obesity-induced insulin resistance. Low- grade inflammation is involved in the molecular mechanism of insulin resistance. Recently, the influence of changing gut microbiota has been investigated as contributing factor for obesity and metabolic aberrations. Obesity is associated with an altered gut microbiota in humans. The composition of the gut microbiota has been shown to differ in lean and obese humans and animals, and to change rapidly in response to dietary intervention. The gut microbiota may influence the development of obesity and type 2 diabetes which are characterized by low grade inflammation. These results support the emerging views that the gut microbiota contributes to metabolic disease by modulating host metabolism. Lipopolysaccharides (LPS) are released from the dead Gram-negative bacteria in the gut, and under conditions of gut damage can translocate into the circulation where it trigger an inflammatory response. LPS-binding protein (LBP) is another reactive biomarker formed in response to microbial translocation. LPS and LBP serum levels have been associated with obesity and with other cardiovascular and metabolic morbidities. There are growing evidences that the altered composition of the gut microbiota and the resulted endotoxemia are responsible for the rapid increase in obesity. The aim of the current review is to discuss the recent research findings that have focused on the involvement of gut microbiota and metabolic endotoxemia in human obesity, and the potential role of dietary intervention to restore the normal gut microbiota. The studies indicated that the normal composition of the gut microbiota is altered with high fat diet. There are many studies that correlated the high levels of endotoxicity to low grade inflammation and the emergence of metabolic disorders and obesity.

Biography:

Ying Li has completed her Nutrition and Food Hygiene PhD at the age of 36 years from Harbin Medical University and postdoctoral studies from department of pharmacology of Harbin Medical University. She is the principal investigator of seven research grants now . She has published more than 99 papers in reputed journals and has been serving as an editorial board member of repute

Abstract:

It is unclear why the prevalence prediabetes between diagnosed by oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) and hemoglobin (A1c) criteria is substantially discordant. We aimed to evaluate the effects of obesity on the agreement between A1c and OGTT for diagnosing diabetes and prediabetes and identify the optimal A1c cut-off values in different BMI classifications. In a population-based cross-sectional study in Harbin, China, 4325 individuals aged 20-74 years without a prior diagnosed diabetes were involved in this study. The performance and optimal cut-off points of A1c were assessed by receiver operating characteristic curve. The contribution of body mass index (BMI) to A1c was analyzed by structural equational model (SEM).The agreement between A1c criteria and OGTT decreased with BMI gain (=0.359, 0.312, and 0.275 in normal weight, overweight, and obese population, respectively). The SEM results showed that BMI was significantly associated with A1c in normal glucose tolerance and prediabetes subjects, but not in diabetes subjects. At a specificity of 80% for prediabetes and 97.5% for diabetes, the optimal A1c cut-off points for prediabetes and diabetes were 5.6% and 6.4% in normal weight, 5.7% and 6.5% in overweight, and 6.0% and 6.5% in obese population. When the new A1c cut-off values were used, the agreement in obese subjects increased almost to the level in normal weight subjects.The poor agreement between A1c and OGTT criteria in obese population can be significantly improved through increasing A1c threshold for prediabetes.

Biography:

Samuel Chng studied psychology at James Cook University and is currently a final year PhD researcher in applied psychology to health at the University of Exeter Medical School. His research interests revolves around understanding the role of parental and environmental influences in behaviour development. His recent works include the evaluation the use of social-psychological actions theories for explaining health preventive behaviours.

Abstract:

Parents are one of the most salient sociocultural influence towards the development of disordered eating, such as restrained and affect-regulatory eating, and dieting behaviour. The active influence perspective suggests that this is due to the communication and interactions between parent and child. Findings from two studies that explored the role of parental influence on eating behaviours will be presented. The first study looked at how comments regarding body shape, weight, and eating behaviors by parents are related to the occurrence of body dissatisfaction and restrained and affect-regulatory eating in young adults in Singapore. Negative comments by mothers were found to consistently predict restrained and affect-regulatory eating for both sons and daughters. The second study explores the relationship between the appraisals of parental support and dieting attempts in adolescents in the UK. Postiive appraisals of parental support were not found to predict dieting attempts by girls but, interestingly, was found to predict a higher odds of dieting attempts by boys. Collectively, findings from both studies suggest that parents play an important role in the development of disordered eating but these relationships might vary cross-culturally. Future interventions of health and eating behaviours should consider the role parents can potentially play to improve the efficacy of treatment.

Biography:

Zahra Bahadoran is a senior researcher at the Nutrition and Endocrine Research Center, Research Institute for Endocrine Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences (Islamic Republic of Iran). She holds a Master degree in Nutrition sciences and Diet therapy from the Tabriz University of Medical Sciences. She is Ph.D by research in the field of nutrition and endocrine diseases at the Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences. She has published more than 60 papers in journals and conference proceedings, including more than 40 papers in journals indexed in the Web of Science and Medline such as Nutrition and Metabolism, Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice, Endocrinology and Metabolism, Nutrition, Journal of Diabetes and Metabolic Disorders, World Journal of Diabetes, Journal of Functional Foods, European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Nutrition and Cancer, Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention, Journal of Medicinal Foods, J of Human Nutrition and Dietetics, Archive of Iranian Medicine, Iranian Journal of Public Health. She had several oral presentations on her research works in international congress including The 3rd International Congress on Lipid Metabolism & Atherosclerosis in Korea 2014, 17th International Conference on Food Science and Nutrition to be held in United Kingdom, 2015, 7th International Conference and Exhibition on Nutraceuticals and Functional Foods in Turkey 2014, 5th World Congress on Controversies to Consensus in Diabetes, Obesity and Hypertension in Turkey 2015.

Abstract:

Polyphenols are natural phytochemical compounds in plant-based foods, such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, cereal, legumes, tea, coffee, wine and cocoa; more than 8000 polyphenolic compounds, including phenolic acids, flavonoids, stilbenes, lignans and polymeric lignans have been identified in whole plant foods. In recent years, there is growing evidence that polyphenols, due to their biological properties, may be unique nutraceuticals for prevention and treatment of obesity. Our aim here is to review the current evidences in relation to several potential efficacies of these bioactive components on various aspect of body weight control. Based on several in vitro, animal models and some human studies, dietary plant polyphenols and polyphenol-rich products modulate carbohydrate and lipid metabolism, glycemic and insulin response, improve adipose tissue metabolism, and alleviate oxidative stress and stress-sensitive signaling pathways and inflammatory processes, which are known as important underlying mechanisms in development of overweight and obesity. Moreover, dietary polyphenols have potential to reduce preadipocytes proliferation and differentiation and stimulate lypolysis and fatty acid β-oxidation. Some polyphenol could also modulate principle genes involved in adipocytes metabolism. In conclusion, plant polyphenols including phenolic acids, flavonoids, stilbenes and lignans have been proposed as effective supplements for management of overweight and obesity. Use of polyphenol-rich foods should also be considered as another important strategy in dietary planning of overweight and obese subjects.

Biography:

Yimin Zhu has completed his PhD in 2004 from Zhejiang University School of Medicine. He is the Professor and Vice-director of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Zhejiang Universty. His major scientific interest include envoronmental risk and genetic susceptiblity in complex diseases. He has published more than 120 scientific papers

Abstract:

Background: Both genetic and environmental factors are attributable to the incidence of obesity. Recent genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in European population have identified multiple single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) related with obesity. Little is known about the effects of these loci in non-Caucasian populations and gene-lifestyle interactions. This study aimed to examine the associations of 20 candidate SNPs with obesity, and related metabolic traits among Chinese Han children and adolescents, and assessed the interaction effects with dietary behaviors.

Materials & Methods: A population based case-control study was conducted among 853 obese school-age children and 2124 controls in China. All candidate SNPs were genotyped using Sequenom Mass ARRAY iPLEX platform.

Results: After adjusting for age, sex and multiple testing, five SNPs (MC4R rs17782313, SEC16B rs543874, MAP2K5 rs2241423, KCTD15 rs11084753 and FTO rs9939609) were significantly associated with obesity (P: 1.91e-5, 0.009, 0.018, 0.012, 1.39e-4, respectively), with the odd ratios ranging from 1.22 to 2.40. Genetic risk score (GRS), calculated with the sum of the risk alleles among the associated five SNPs, showed a positive association with obesity (P value for trend: 8.50e-15). Moreover, the rs9939609 were found to be significantly associated with food preference (P: 0.005). The rs17782313 and rs11084753 were associated with salt preferences (all the P less than 0.05). Multiplicative interaction was found between rs543874 and salt preference on the risk of obesity, and additive interactions between rs17782313, rs11084753 and salt preference were exhibited.

Conclusions: Our findings indicate that genetic susceptibility plays an important role in obesity in Chinese Han children and adolescents.

Biography:

Yimin Zhu has completed his PhD in 2004 from Zhejiang University School of Medicine. He is the professor and vice director of Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Zhejiang Universty. His major scientific interest include envoronmental risk and genetic susceptiblity in complex diseases. He has published more than 120 scientific papers.

Abstract:

Background: Both genetic and environmental factors are attributable to the incidence of obesity. Recent genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in European population have identifie multiple single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) related with obesity. Little is known about the effects of these loci in non-Caucasian populations and gene-lifestyle interactions. This study aimed to examine the associations of twenty candidate SNPs with obesity, and related metabolic traits among Chinese Han children and adolescents, and assessed the interaction effects with dietary behaviors. Materials and Methods: A population based case-control study was conducted among 853 obese school-age children and 2124 controls in China. All candidate SNPs were genotyped using Sequenom MassARRAY iPLEX platform. Results: After adjusting for age, sex and multiple testing, five SNPs (MC4R rs17782313, SEC16B rs543874, MAP2K5 rs2241423, KCTD15 rs11084753 and FTO rs9939609) were significantly associated with obesity (P: 1.91e-5, 0.009, 0.018, 0.012, 1.39e-4, respectively), with the odd ratios ranging from 1.22 to 2.40. Genetic risk score (GRS), calculated with the sum of the risk alleles among the associated five SNPs, showed a positive association with obesity (P value for trend: 8.50e-15). Moreover, the rs9939609 were found to be significantly associated with food preference (P: 0.005). The rs17782313 and rs11084753 were associated with salt preferences (all the P less than 0.05). Multiplicative interaction was found between rs543874 and salt preference on the risk of obesity, and additive interactions between rs17782313, rs11084753 and salt preference were exhibited. Conclusions: Our findings indicate that genetic susceptibility plays an important role in obesity in Chinese Han children and adolescents.

Biography:

Associate Professor Dr Foong Ming Moy is from the Epidemiology & Biostatistics Unit, Department of Social & Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. She teaches Research Methodology, Clinical Epidemiology & Evidence-Based Medicine to both undergraduate and postgraduate candidates. Her research interest includes obesity and cardiometabolic risks, prevention of non-communicable diseases, workplace wellness and nutritional epidemiology. Dr Moy is active in research and has published extensively in both local and international journals. Dr Moy serves as an editorial board member of the Nutrition Journal of Malaysia.

Abstract:

Objectives: To determine the prevalence of normal weight obesity among multi-ethnic women in Peninsular Malaysia and examine its associations with cardiometabolic risks and lifestyle behaviours. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study involving women recruited via multi-stage sampling from six states in Malaysia. Anthropometric and body composition analysis were performed. Normal weight obese (NWO) was defined as normal body mass index for Asians and the highest tertile of % body fat (BF). Biochemical measurements included fasting lipid and blood glucose levels. Metabolic syndrome was diagnosed based on the Harmonization criteria. Participants completed self-reported questionnaires that included physical activity, smoking, alcohol consumption, fruit and vegetable intake and sleep duration. Main outcome measure: Body mass index, %BF, cardiometabolic risk factors, lifestyle behaviours. Results: A total of 6854 women were recruited and the prevalence of NWO was 19.8% (95% CI: 17.3–22.5). NWO was more prevalent among the Indians and older women. NWO women had higher odds for abdominal obesity (OR: 2.64, 95% CI: 1.73–4.04), hypertriglyceridemia (2.51, 1.47–4.29) and hypertension (1.63, 1.15–2.31) compared to women with lower % body fat after adjusted for age and ethnicity. The prevalence of metabolic syndrome among NWO women was 5.4% (95% CI: 3.0–9.8). None of the lifestyle behaviours were significantly associated with NWO. Conclusions: Women with NWO had cardiometabolic abnormalities including abdominal obesity, dyslipidaemia and increased blood pressure.

Biography:

Associate Professor Dr Foong Ming Moy is from the Epidemiology & Biostatistics Unit, Department of Social & Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. She teaches Research Methodology, Clinical Epidemiology & Evidence-Based Medicine to both undergraduate and postgraduate candidates. Her research interest includes obesity and cardiometabolic risks, prevention of non-communicable diseases, workplace wellness and nutritional epidemiology. Dr Moy is active in research and has published extensively in both local and international journals. Dr Moy serves as an editorial board member of the Nutrition Journal of Malaysia.

Abstract:

Objectives: To determine the prevalence of normal weight obesity among multi-ethnic women in Peninsular Malaysia and examine its associations with cardiometabolic risks and lifestyle behaviours. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study involving women recruited via multi-stage sampling from six states in Malaysia. Anthropometric and body composition analysis were performed. Normal weight obese (NWO) was defined as normal body mass index for Asians and the highest tertile of % body fat (BF). Biochemical measurements included fasting lipid and blood glucose levels. Metabolic syndrome was diagnosed based on the Harmonization criteria. Participants completed self-reported questionnaires that included physical activity, smoking, alcohol consumption, fruit and vegetable intake and sleep duration. Main outcome measure: Body mass index, %BF, cardiometabolic risk factors, lifestyle behaviours. Results: A total of 6854 women were recruited and the prevalence of NWO was 19.8% (95% CI: 17.3–22.5). NWO was more prevalent among the Indians and older women. NWO women had higher odds for abdominal obesity (OR: 2.64, 95% CI: 1.73–4.04), hypertriglyceridemia (2.51, 1.47–4.29) and hypertension (1.63, 1.15–2.31) compared to women with lower % body fat after adjusted for age and ethnicity. The prevalence of metabolic syndrome among NWO women was 5.4% (95% CI: 3.0–9.8). None of the lifestyle behaviours were significantly associated with NWO. Conclusions: Women with NWO had cardiometabolic abnormalities including abdominal obesity, dyslipidaemia and increased blood pressure.

Biography:

Mona Hashim has completed her M Sc in Nutrition and Dietetics from the American University of Beirut, Beirut Lebanon nad currently a PhD candidate at Universiti Sains Malysia, Malysia. She is a lecturer in Department of Clinical Nutrition & Dietetics, College of Health Sciences, University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. She has participated as a speaker in many local conferences in topics related to school children dietary patterns and childhood obesity, and published work of realted domain. Besides, she organised professional dietetics workshops. She is a member of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetic (AND) and “Association for Nutrition and Food Sciences (LANFS)”, Lebanon.

Abstract:

Human milk is a complex active fluid that provides the optimal balanced nutrition for infants. In addition, non-nutritional and critical bioactive components have been detected in human milk such as anti-inflammatory mediators, as well as appetite-regulating hormones and growth factors. Recent studies focused on the possible role of breast feeding in the prevention of obesity with subequent decrease risk of diabetes mellitus among adults. Breast adipose tissue was found to be a source of adipokines, such as adiponectin, leptin and gherlin that are transported via breast milk to infants. Adiponectin, which is known for its insulin-sensitizing, anti-atherogenic, fat-burning and anti-inflammatory properties was detected in the serum of lactating mothers and breast fed infants more than the formula fed. Other adipocyte-derived hormones; leptin and ghrelin are produced and secreted by mammary epithelial cells in milk fat globules. A positive correlation has also been reported between human milk leptin levels and infant plasma leptin. Leptin and ghrelin have been shown to regulate energy homeostasis by relaying information about the body’s energy and nutrient stores from the periphery to the brain, thus decreases food intake and reflects the amount of body fat. Consequently, a possible role of adipokines as a satiety signal with a long-term effect on energy balance and body weight can be suggested. Human milk continues to be recommended as the preferred choice of feeding for all infants by national and international health organizations. The promotion of breast feeding can be a potential component of the primary health care efforts considering its role in early life determinants of later-onset obesity, non-communicable diseases and for the timely preventive measures that will improve overall health status of population.