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Date: October 3, 2006 (Tuesday)
Time: 12:30 - 14:00 (sandwich lunch from 12:30 - 12:45; seminar
begins at 12:45)
Venue: Seminar Room 5, LG/F, Laboratory Block, Faculty of Medicine
Building,
21 Sassoon Road, Pokfulam, Hong Kong
Abstract:
Overweight and physical inactivity are major public health problems
worldwide. Approximately two thirds of Americans are overweight
or obese and the vast majority do not engage in regular physical
activity. Persuasive evidence indicates that both obesity and
physical inactivity are risk factors for the development of
major chronic diseases and premature death. However, the optimal
weight and levels of physical activity for longevity continue
to be debated, and few epidemiologic studies have examined
adiposity and physical activity simultaneously in relation
to mortality. It has been suggested that higher levels of physical
fitness can eliminate the effect of excess weight and obesity
on morbidity and mortality and that, thus, obesity may be a
less important determinant of mortality than is fitness. However,
evidence in support of this hypothesis has been limited and
inconsistent. In an analysis of a large cohort study of middle-aged
women, body fatness and level of physical activity significantly
and independently predicted mortality (N Engl J Med. 2004 Dec
23;351(26):2694-703). A high level of physical activity did
not eliminate excess mortality associated with obesity. Also,
leanness did not counteract the increase in mortality conferred
by inactivity. The lowest mortality was among physically active,
lean women. We estimate that excess weight (BMI≥25) and
physical inactivity (less than 3.5 hours of exercise per week)
together could account for 31 percent of all premature deaths,
59 percent of deaths from cardiovascular disease, and 21 percent
of deaths from cancer among nonsmoking individuals.
Bio-sketch:
Dr Frank Hu obtained his MD from Tongji Medical University in China in 1988.
After obtaining his MPH and PhD in Epidemiology from University of Illinois
at Chicago in 1996, he completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University.
Currently Dr Hu is an Associate Professor of Nutrition and Epidemiology
at Harvard University School of Public Health and Associate Professor of
Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital. He
also serves as the Director of Boston Obesity Research Center Epidemiology/Biostatistics
Core. Dr Hu is a nationally and internationally recognized researcher in
nutritional and epidemiologic studies of obesity and type 2 diabetes. He
has published more than 250 articles in peer-reviewed journals, including
NEJM, JAMA, and Science. Dr Hu is the PI of several NIH-funded projects
in the area of diabetes and cardiovascular disease epidemiology. His research
has contributed importantly to current public health recommendations and
policies for prevention of obesity and chronic disease. Dr Hu has served
on grant review panels of NIH and American Diabetes Association and Editorial
Board of several peer-reviewed journals. He was the recipient of American
Heart Association Established Investigator Award and American Diabetes
Association Research Award, and he was also awarded the Yangtze Scholar
Professorship by Chinese Ministry of Education.
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