A ground-breaking pan-European research project to identify the key psychological and behavioural predictors of weight gain is making excellent progress thanks to the support of Slimming World.

So far more than 1400 Slimming World members have contributed to the five-year ‘Diet, Obesity and Genes’ project – otherwise known as ‘Diogenes’ – and final results are expected in 2010.

The programme involves a consortium of 34 partners across 14 countries in Europe, including world-class centres in diet and health studies, epidemiology, dietary genomics and food technology. 

Leading obesity researcher and Slimming World research specialist, Dr James Stubbs, who is co-ordinating the company’s involvement in the study, says: “The main objective of the Diogenes study is to assess the lifestyle and psycho-social aspects of food intake to develop software that will improve individual lifestyle solutions to weight management. This will ultimately make it easier to navigate to, and remain at, a healthy weight. 

“Participation in this project further strengthens Slimming World’s position at the cutting edge of weight management. The research will integrate studies of dietary, genetic, physiological and behavioural factors in weight management and aims to advance understanding into how obesity can be prevented and treated.”

For more information about Diogenes, visit their website at: www.diogenes-eu.org

Our Woman of the Year superstar, Penny Melly, who lost a fabulous 10st 7.5lbs to scoop the title, appeared on GMTV on Wednesday morning and looked amazing!  She then went to the Ritz in London for a photo call which resulted in her featuring in yesterday's The Sun, Daily Mirror, Daily Express and Daily Star! 

You can read all about her and watch a video online on the Daily Mail website, The Sun, Daily Mirror, The Scotsman, Channel 4 News, AOL, Virgin Media, Teletext, MSN, Pruhealth and Fenland Today! Penny’s also appeared on BBC Essex Breakfast radio and Essex FM. And you can watch our super slideshow - celebrating competition winners from all over the country - right here.

Saturday 8th November saw the gorgeous and the glamorous gather at the ICC in Birmingham for the highlight of our Slimming World calendar, our annual awards ceremony.  This year’s host, alongside Margaret, was the delicious John Barrowman, who wowed the crowds with his charm and his singing ability, giving an impromptu performance of his new single.  The event celebrated the amazing achievements of our title winners throughout the year and introduced the 10 national finalists for Slimming World’s Woman of the Year competition 2008.

This year we were thrilled to have Women of the Year from all 4 corners of the UK:

• Woman of the Year for England: Penny Melly from the Westcliff on Sea group, who lost a fantastic 10st 7½lb with the support of her Consultant Pat Blake

• Woman of the Year for Ireland: Sinead Carlin who is a super 5st 9lb lighter thanks to the help from the Derry group and Consultant Clare McDaid 

• Woman of the Year for Scotland: Nancy Allan from the Bo’ness group, with an amazing weight loss of 10st 13½lb, helped by Consultant Joan Paterson

• Woman of the Year for Wales: Eileen McConnell from the Colwyn Bay group, who's celebrating a fabulous 9st 7lb weight loss with Consultant Debbie Vaughan

However there can only be one overall winner and the title of Slimming World’s Woman of the Year and after a nail-biting wait, the £5000 prize went to...

Penny Melly!
You can read Penny's story right here.

Congratulations to all our Woman of the Year superstars, and we'll bring you more news about Penny's success over the next few days.

Lucy Elkins writes in today’s Daily Mail: “Avoid oily fish, cut out all dairy foods, use more supplements”: it's the kind of advice that flies in the face of conventional thinking on healthy eating. Yet, amazingly, this is what I was told to do to improve my health by so-called 'dietary experts' on the internet. 

Having typed 'dietary advice' into a popular search engine, Lucy received over 100,000 listings and writes about the concern she has – and we share – about the unqualified advice (what she describes as ‘often wrong and sometimes dangerous’) that is given on many nutrition websites.

The Daily Telegraph are today reporting that an ‘Obesity gene’ boosts appetite (see pg8).  It reports that scientists have discovered a gene linked to obesity works by increasing the appetite. A study of more than 3,000 children, published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism shows that those who had the gene – called FTO – were less likely to feel ‘full’ after eating than their classmates. People with two copies of the gene are on average 7lb heavier, and those with one gene are 3lb heavier than those without the gene.

Our research specialist, Dr James Stubbs, comments: “While your genes determine your biological makeup, it’s the environment that you live in and your lifestyle habits which determine the weight you gain. Only in a very minute number of cases can a genetic reason be found as the cause for weight gain. If you were found to have the gene variation, the advice would be to change your behaviour by eating healthily and doing regular exercise.

“As always Slimming World’s message is that the key to successful and long-term weight loss and maintenance is to make healthy habits a part of your everyday lifestyle. Research has also shown that the support that you receive at a Slimming World group plays a key role in boosting your confidence to make the changes”.

Shared eating and lifestyle habits which are passed down from parents to children have a much bigger effect on weight gain than biological make-up. There are the lucky few who don’t gain weight as easily, but the good news for those of us who do gain weight is that through Food Optimising, Image Therapy and Body Magic Slimming World offers all the support and techniques we need to help us to change our behaviour and lead a healthier lifestyle – whatever our genetic makeup!  And, of course, with Free Food - healthy, filling everyday foods - even the largest appetites can be satisfied without the worry of weight gain.

James joined Slimming World after 13 years at the Rowett Research Institute where he was Principle Scientific Officer. While there he conducted large-scale human trials into weight control and obesity.  Read James’ biography here.

Sunday 13th July saw our biggest ever Man of the Year semi-finals! 86 amazing men, representing our 5,500 groups and 300,000 members, joined together in a massive celebration of their success.

On top of their fabulous weight losses, our 86 men have added years to their lives, some have probably saved their lives, and all of them are looking forward to a healthier, more active future with their friends and families.

You may have already seen our fabulous winner on yesterday’s Channel 5 news and in today’s Daily Star and Daily Mail.  He’s lost a sensational 15st 2lbs in two and a half years and reduced his 60” waist to a trim 34”!  Slimming World’s Man of the Year 2008 is Brian Semple who attended Linda Booker's group in Rochester, Kent!

Brian described his journey as ‘a 15st success story that saved my life’. He explained: ‘My weight loss has been down to the food that I eat and the people I’ve met. My GP thinks I’m a new man. In fact every aspect of my life has improved. I even enjoy the Can-Can – I can enjoy food, I can exercise every day, I can live life to the full. I can do anything!’

You’ll be able to find out just how Brian did it from Monday in our Real Success section

On last night’s F Word, Janet Street-Porter was on a mission – to turn the British public from a nation of smoothie-slurpers to fresh-fruit munchers! As Janet pointed out, we drink literally tons of the stuff in the belief that we’re being ‘healthy’, whereas in fact, these tempting little drinks can add a lot of extra calories - and sugar - to your diet (more than a can of fizzy pop in many cases!) without filling you up.

It’s something Slimming World members have known for years. With Food Optimising, Slimming World's healthy eating plan, whole fruit (including bananas, oranges and grapes) can be eaten in unlimited quantities, while juiced, cooked, pureed/mashed, stewed or blended fruit can be eaten in measured amounts as Syns. That’s because we know that altering the composition of fruit makes it very easy to over-consume in a short space of time.  It’s an all too easy way of adding a lot of extra energy, without adding the filling, bulky fibre needed to fill your stomach and satisfy your appetite. 

Think about the time it takes to eat an apple and compare it to the time it takes to drink an apple-worth of juice.  That’s why Food Optimisers reach for the fruit bowl first!

For more information about the fabulous freedom of Food Optimising visit our healthy eating section.

Many of today’s papers claim that the Australians are unexpectedly leading the way as the heavyweight champions of the world – with arguably a greater proportion of obese citizens than even the notoriously supersized Americans. A study released yesterday shows that Australia’s obesity epidemic has been considerably underestimated, with nine million adults – almost 60 per cent of the adult population – overweight.

And, although Slimming World groups haven’t made the journey to Oz yet, our international online membership – bodyOPTIMISE – has!  So if you have friends or family in Australia, or if you live in Australia and would love to eat big portions of delicious food, experience unique weekly slimming support and have unlimited online access to recipes, features and a huge array of motivational tools, join bodyOPTIMISE today and start your journey to weight loss success!

According to researchers in Venezuela a study of 100 obese women has shown that starting the day with a hearty breakfast helps to boost weight loss long-term.

The Daily Mail reported: At the end of the study researchers from the Hospital de Clinicas in Caracas found those eating big breakfasts had lost more than 21% of their body weight (compared with just 4.5% for the women eating a small breakfast) and reported feeling less hungry, especially before lunch, and having fewer cravings for carbohydrates.

And, if you fancy a big breakfast each morning, at Slimming World we say go for it!  Our generous healthy eating plan means that your breakfast can always be big!

Pile your plate with lean, grilled bacon, mountains of scrambled eggs, loads of grilled tomatoes, unlimited poached mushrooms and a couple of slices of wholemeal toast.  Add a squirt of tomato sauce on the side if you fancy, and finish off with a bowl of fresh fruit salad smothered in Müllerlight yogurt. 

Don’t believe you’ll lose weight eating all this?  Try our 7-day menu and see the results for yourself!

The British Dietetic Association today issued to the following press release:

A recent Foresight report predicted that without immediate action 25% of children will be clinically obese by 2050, but one successful project that has already helped more that 24,000 young people to lose and manage their weight will take centre stage at the British Dietetic Association’s Annual Conference today (17 June).

As the government calls for a whole society approach to tackling the obesity epidemic, Slimming World’s Family Affair programme, which launched in January 2006, is proving to be a hit with 11 to 15 year olds. It provides basic, everyday foods for the whole family and uniquely helps young people adopt healthier eating habits.

Young members wanting to lose weight can access free, non-judgemental or pressurised weekly groups meetings run by Slimming World as well as support from GPs or other health professionals. They work with members to establish appropriate weight management programmes based on making lifestyle changes to prevent weight gain rather than promote weight loss.

Amanda Avery, health partnerships co-ordinator and member of the British Dietetic Association, says: “The focus of our support for under-16s is on behaviour and lifestyle change rather than weight loss. Slimming World has created age-tailored ‘Free2Go’ literature that encourages small changes to eating and activity habits as well as successfully helping young people build self-esteem. Our guidance is specifically designed for health care professionals, our consultants and young members to monitor BMI, weight control targets and progress every three months.

Increasingly, Primary Care Trusts and GP surgeries are setting up Slimming World referral schemes and young people are attending them with their referred parent.

In two areas of the UK, Slimming World has set up specific referral schemes for young people. In collaboration with University Hospital, Walsgrave, a study is recording weight change outcomes of 50 young people referred into Slimming World groups over a 12 week period. In another scheme, set up with Heywood, Middleton & Rochdale PCT, 1500 adults and up to 200 young people are being referred to the Family Affair programme.

Amanda concludes: “Our research shows that the Free2Go lifestyle plan helps teenagers maintain the energy gap that will keep them on a path towards a healthy weight and away from adult obesity by growing into their weight rather than crash dieting or a diet based on calorie-counting.”

For more information about the British Dietetic Association’s Annual Conference click here to visit their website.  Or discover more about Slimming World's Family Affair programme for 11-15 year olds here.