Our health, our children, our world

Globally, nearly 1 billion people were living with obesity in 2020 [World Obesity Federation]. That is 1 in 7 people. By 2035, this number is expected to rise to 1.9 billion or 1 in 4 people. These worrying trends continue to present huge societal challenges for governments and healthcare professionals worldwide.

We are presently a partner in four European-funded research and innovation projects which focus on tackling challenges related to improving people’s health. With 61 partners, the projects have a collective value of 47.1 million Euros, and all include obesity as a key element.

Bump2Baby and Me

Bump2Baby and Me is a five-year project to develop and evaluate an innovative healthcare intervention to help prevent maternal and child diabetes, overweight and obesity and other associated non-communicable diseases.

LongITools

The LongITools project is studying the interactions between environmental, lifestyle and biological factors to determine people’s risks of developing cardiometabolic non-communicable diseases, such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart diseases and atherosclerosis.

Obelisk

Obelisk is a five-year research project, with the ambition of preventing childhood obesity and enhancing the health, quality of life, and life span of people of all ages living in Europe.

STAGE

STAGE is a new six-year project studying healthy ageing. The consortium’s research will use a life-course approach to explore how a person ages with multi-morbidity, which means having two or more long-term health conditions, and how it could be prevented.

Let’s talk about obesity and…

Obesity is a complex disease and is connected to so much of the world around us. On World Obesity Day, an annual awareness-raising campaign run by the World Obesity Federation, we are encouraged to talk about obesity, to challenge misconceptions and to influence policy.

Engaging with policymakers is a key focus for us in the projects we work on because the research undertaken must be translated into simple messages which ideally convey potential policy changes or interventions to improve public health.

How to get the message across

To support our projects, the Beta team has developed several tools to raise awareness of the challenges that society faces today. These include:

• Podcast which debates the urgency of addressing childhood obesity and explores potential solutions for a healthier and more informed approach.
• Video to explain the complex interaction of biological, social and environmental factors (the exposome) which can lead to the risk of developing diseases such as obesity.
• Language guide to ensure the use of positive and compassionate language around obesity to reduce stigma.

Delivering healthier futures

At Beta, we are passionate about communicating science and supporting projects which will deliver game-changing research and innovation that we need for a greener and healthier future. Our company goal fully aligns with World Obesity Day’s mission that “we can all work together to ensure happier, healthier, and longer lives for everybody”.