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Prevention and treatment of obesity - Appetite and Energy Metabolism

 

 

       Group Secretary  
       Geske Louise Rune

 

       Phone:   353 32502

       E-mail:                

 

 

       Group staff            

 

What research questions do we try to answer?
The research group undertakes basic science and clinical research to investigate how appetite and energy metabolism is regulated, with the ultimate goal to increase our knowledge to improve the prevention and treatment of obesity.

The aim is to improve our understanding of the following areas of interest:

• What are the effects of weight loss and the maintenance of a reduced body weight on diseases related to obesity, particularly cardiovascular disease and type2 diabetes?
• Which genetic and environmental factors gives rise to overweight and obesity, with particular focus on diet composition.
• What are the physiological determinants of appetite and energy metabolism?
• What is the importance various signal hormonal molecules for appetite and energy metabolism?
• How can we improve programmes of prevention and treatment of overweight and obesity by the use of changes in diet, sensory factors, dietary supplementation, functional foods, herbal remedies and pharmaceuticals?

The group also undertakes pre-clinical and clinical testing of various weight loss drugs.
 
Who are we?
Professor Arne Astrup is Head of Department of Human Nutrition. He is also a key member of this research group in the field of obesity, appetite and energy metabolism. The group, now headed by Professor Anne Raben is considered as one of the foremost groups in Europe within the area of obesity. As of September 2009 the group comprises 9 senior scientists and about 11 scientific staff (including Ph.D. students), and 21 technical support staff (Nurses, Dieticians, Laboratory Assistants, Kitchen Staff & Secretary).

 

Main Research Areas

 

Thomas Meinert Larsen, MSc. PhD, Associate Professor:

The influence of dietary composition, bioactive components and behavioural factors for management of long term weight regulation.

 

Arne Astrup, Dr. Med. Professor:

The influence of diet composition and bio-active food ingredients on energy balance and weight change in normal and overweight.

 

Physiology of appetite and energy metabolism, energy bioavailability and body composition, and relation to obesity and its complications.

 

Pharmacotherapy of obesity.

 

Gene-nutrient interaction in relation to obesity.

 

Anders Mikael Sjödin, Dr. Med, Associate professor:

Factors that influence/regulates energy balance, with special references to obesity and exercise.

 

Lesli Hingstrup Larsen, MSc. PhD, Assistant Professor:

Genetic determinants of obesity predisposition, and gene-diet and gene-host micro genome interactions in long-term weight management.

 

Anita Belza, MSc. PhD, Assistant Professor:

The influence of bioactive food ingredients and diet composition on energy balance and weight regulation.

 

Mette Kristensen, MSc. PhD, Assistant Professor:

My research field lies within the impact of fibres and whole grain products on obesity-related topics such as appetite regulation, energy utilisation, as well as risk of obesity-associated morbidities.

 

Anette Pia Due, MSc. PhD, Post doc:

The influence of dietary composition and behavioural factors for management of long term weight regulation.

 

Janne Kunchel Lorenzen, MSc. PhD, Assistant Professor:

The effect of bioactive dairy components on energy balance and lipid profile.

 

Nikolaj Ture Gregersen, MSc., PhD, Post doc:

The influence of bioactive food ingredients from tea, coffee and spices on energy balance.

 

Effects of obesity surgery (e.g. Roux-en-Y gastric bypass) on energy metabolism.

 

Effects of Gastrointestinal hormones on appetite regulation.

 

 

How do we work?
We work primarily with dietary intervention studies, where a group of participants complete one or more treatments over a short or long study period. The participants are monitored before, during and after the intervention periods, and we record a number of anthropometric measures (e.g. weight, height, percentage body fat). Blood and tissue samples are taken for analysis of various substances (e.g. glucose concentration, insulin and cholesterol in the blood) that can be related to risks of disorders such as cardiovascular diseases or type 2 diabetes.

The Department has a wide range of facilities, including respiration chambers and ventilated hood systems for measurement of energy expenditure, DEXA scanner for measurement of body composition, a fully equipped research kitchen, study supermarket and research laboratory. These resources allow us to make very detailed phenotypic characterization of the study participants, including sampling and analysis of various samples (blood, fat biopsy, urine, saliva and feces). Where necessary, the studies are carried out according to good clinical practice (GCP).
 
With whom do we collaborate?
The group collaborates with many Danish and international research centres, universities and private companies. Among the most important are: The Institute of Preventive Medicine, University Hospital of Copenhagen, Denmark; The Department of Food Science, Faculty of Life Sciences, Denmark; The Department of Medical Physiology, The Panum Institute, University of Copenhagen, Denmark; The Steno Diabetes Centre, Gentofte, Denmark; The University of Maastricht, The Netherlands; Karolinska Institute, Huddinge University Hospital, Sweden; University of Nottingham, United Kingdom; Charles University, Prague, The Czech Republic; University of Navarra, Spain. The most important private companies include: Arla Foods; Danish Meat Association; Kelloggs Ltd.; Neurosearch A/S; Novo Nordisk A/S; Schulstad; NutriPharma A/S; Abbott A/S; Roche A/S; Aventis; Alizyme; Johnson & Johnson; ST & T, San Francisco, U.S.A.; MN Pharma A/S; Pharma Vinci A/S; Fertin A/S.

 

Relevant previous experience
In addition to a large number of smaller national studies, we are also involved in Danish collaborative studies or research clusters such as the Danish Research Consortium www.danorc.dk (2007-2011).
The group has a long international experience, particularly by its involvement in previous or ongoing multi center EU projects: CARMEN (4th FP 1996-1998), NUGENOB (5th FP 2001-2003), EUROSTARCH (5th FP 2002-2005); DIABESITY (6th FP 2002-2006), EMOB (2005-2006), DIOGENES (6th FP 2005-2009), and HEALTHGRAIN (6th FP 2005-2010).
The group also has a long track record in undertaking pre-clinical and clinical testing of various weight loss drugs for national and international pharmaceutical companies.

How do we make our research public?
The results of our research are always published in international, peer reviewed, scientific journals, and presented at Danish and international scientific conferences. Some results are also publicised in Danish national scientific literature, the press and other media. The group also disseminates research results in magazines and books meant for the general public.

 

Ph.D.'s graduated from the group

1. Cand. scient. Benjamin Buemann: "Energy expenditure and fat combustion in obesity. Etiology and pathophysiology", 1991.

 

2. Cand. odont. Berit Heitmann: "Impedance - a valid method in estimating body composition", 1993.

 

3. Cand. brom. Anne Raben: "Appetite and carbohydrate metabolism", 1995.

 

4. Cand. med. Annebeth Rosenvinge Skov: "Low-fat diets: high- vs. low-protein. The effect of a high-protein vs. low-protein diet on body weight, body composition, blood lipids, renal function and bone mineralisation in obese subjects", 1998.

 

5. Cand. med. Dorte Linqvist Hansen: "The Effect of Sibutramine on Energy Balance", 1999. 

 

6. Cand. scient. Anne Flint: "Appetite in humans, short-term studies focusing on methodology and gastro-entestinal hormones", 1999.

 

7. Cand. scient. Birgitte Klausen: "The effects of age and gender on energy balance and weight gain", 2000.

 

8. Camilla Verdich: "The role of gastric emptying rate, intestinal hormones and leptin in energy balance and in obesity", 2001.

 

9. Cand. brom. Tatjana Hejgaard Vasilaras: "Low-fat diets: Simple vs. complex carbohydrates", 2002.

 

10. Cand. scient. Hanne Bendixen: "Changes in prevalence of overweight, obesity, and slimming behaviour in Danish adults with emphasis on dietary fat quality", 2003.

 

11. Cand. scient. Martin Petersen: "Hypocaloric low or moderate-fat diets - The effect on body weight and on fasting plasma lipoproteins, with focus on NMR based partical least squares (PLS) regression models for the quantification of LDL and HDL subclasses", 2005.

 

12. Cand. scient. Susanne Wolff: "Impact of Dietary Factors and Calorie Restriction on Excessive Gestational Weight Gain in Obese Women", 2005.

 

13. Cand. scient. Thomas Meinert Larsen: "Aspects of molecular aetiology of obesity and comorbidities with a focus on impact of PPARI³ gene variants aned responses to dietary supplementation with conjugated linoleic fatty acids", 2006.

 

14. Cand. med. Eva Maria Lerche Black: "ADIGEN-recruitment and phenotype characterization of a cohort for studies of anthropometrics, epidemiology, pathophysiology and molecular pathogenesis of major phenotypes of obesity", 2006.

 

15. Cand. scient. Anita Belza: "Impact on energy balance and inflammation by low-energy-diet and bioactive food components", 2007.

 

16. Cand. scient. Birgitte Sloth: "Peptide YY in human appetite regulation", 2007.

 

17. Cand. scient. Anette Due: "The inverted Food Pyramide", 2008.

 

18. Cand. scient. Charlotte Brøns: “Low birth weight and high-fat overfeeding in the pathophysiology of T2D - metabolic, genetic transcriptional and epigenetic aspects”, 2009.

 

19. Cand. techn. al. Mette Kristensen: “Wholegrains and dietary fibres”, 2009.

 

20. Cand. scient. Nikolaj Ture Gregersen: ”Bioactive food ingredients affecting components of energy balance”, 2009.

 

21. Cand. scient. Janne Kunchel Lorenzen: "The effect of dietary calcium on energy balance and blood lipid profile", 2009.

 

22. Jo-Anne Gilbert: "Impact du lait et de ses composantes sur le contrôle de l'appétit, la perte pondérale et la capacité à l'effort", 2010.

 

23. Nathalie Tommerup Bendsen: "Trans fat intake and risk of lifestyle disease". December 2010.

 

24. Lone Graasbøl Rasmussen: "Metabolomics - Urinary biomarkers of complex dietary compositions as studied by 1H NMR spectroscopy", 2011.

 

25. Doctor Teodora Handjieva-Darlinska: Predictors of weight loss in dietary obesity management programs. May 2011.