Obesity research funded

An Auckland nutrition expert has been awarded thousands of dollars to continue her fight against lifestyle diseases.

Dr Jennifer Crowley, a tutor at the University of Auckland, was awarded the inaugural Campbell Fellowship of up to $25,000 to pursue her studies overseas.

She will attend a summit in Cambridge in the United Kingdom and study nutritional training programmes that are showing good results in helping general practitioners achieve improved outcomes in the area.

Crowley hopes to bring proven successful practises back to Auckland.

‘‘We are seeing a big increase in lifestyle diseases connected to weight gain and diet is a vital part of addressing this challenge,’’ Crawley said.

‘‘We know that patients value GPS’ advice in this area, and if GPS recommend something, patients are much more likely to give it a go.’’

She said many GPS don’t have the knowledge or time to fully address this in clinics.

‘‘We are trying to find new ways to help GPS help their patients this area.

The Campbell Fellowship is an annual award to medical researchers at The University of Auckland’s Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences to support up to three months overseas study.