on our way to the Final

last week has been a Good week, with some great news!

Nathaniel, Darragh and Rory are Finalists at B.T.Y.Scientist competition.

Qualified Projects 2019

The following projects have qualified for the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition at the RDS, Dublin, 9-12 January 2019 (not all projects are listed)

Source
 

Limerick

St Munchin’s    College

The impact of diet and excercise on BMI in secondary students in Ireland

Biological    and   Ecological

Group – 3 Students

Yes!
Yes!
Yes!

SciFest last April; third prize at their category!

We are all going to Dublin in January for the Finals!

Lads,  Best of Luck from the bottom of my heart :)

Ioannis

Ioannis Zabetakis

Department of Biological Sciences
University of Limerick
V94 T9PX, Limerick
Ireland
E: ioannis.zabetakis@ul.ie 

Obesity is a political problem

There is an increasing number of data that obesity is a social and political problem.
If you are educated and well paid, you would never buy this bread.
But, if your income is low, then your options are limited...
The only way round this is to Educate young people! Governments need to set up specific initiatives in schools. The younger the students we teach about healthy diet, the better for their future.

Ioannis

related reading

SciFest project of St Munchin's College year1 students

Our volunteers have low consumption of fruits and vegetables (61% consume < 2 portions of fruit per day whereas 50% consume <2 portions of vegetable per day). The monitoring of their body fat and BMI was conducted using a Tanita body analyser in the University of Limerick and we found that the boys who exercise regularly have a mean BMI of 20 whereas the boys who exercise less  have an average BMI of  27.

A clear correlation between lifestyle choices and BMI was found. These results highlight the value of adhering to dietary guidelines of Irish Food and the Mediterranean diet Pyramids.

People Need Education (not taxes)

I am very skeptical on the value and the effectiveness of the new tax on sugar drinks.
Once again, the legislators tend to ignore the real problem: lack of education on diet and lifestyle.
Last week, I had the pleasure to be part of this SciFest project on lifestyle and obesity; 
where, students have found that...the boys (13-14 years old) who exercise regularly have a mean BMI of 20 whereas the boys who exercise less  have an aver age BMI of  27.

The vital need today is to educate young people (the younger the better!) on the value of a healthy diet and exercise.
Once they learn to eat and drink healthily, they wont' even touch a soft drink!

But, when you see parents buying cola drinks to their kids, the thought that comes to my mind is that these kids are now "addicted" to this taste and smell and the new tax will not have any positive impact at all.

The obesity epidemic needs to be tackled with more vivid imagination at the primary and secondary schools around the country... Not by introducing taxes... 

I would like to see the schools to be more active by providing healthier options at vending machines and at the canteen.
The school inspectors have a vital role to play on this topic! 
Like they have done few days ago at the school of my eldest son! 😌


Ioannis Zabetakis

p.s. I would like to be able to design a new vending machine with only healthy options ranging from see weeds to yogurt drinks! I know I am asking a lot...

SciFest project of St Munchin's College year1 students

The question: how can we bring Science closer to young people?

The idea: what about designing a research project around nutrition and obesity?

It's a topical and fascinating issue. It should be fun!

Here is what we did: in collaboration with their teacher (Bairbre
Ni Fhlatharta), a project was devised with a view to compete in scientific events: 

So...

three Year 1 students of St Munchin's College (Rory Butler, Darragh Hanly and Nathaniel Zabetakis) started few months ago working on their project around diet, lifestyle and obesity. 

The idea was to investigate what triggers obesity at young boys. 

Questionnaires were used to screen dietary and lifestyle habits and also the boys have come to the labs here in the Dept of Biological Sciences at UL where we had a great research day measuring BMI and body fat content!

Here is their abstract of their project.

"The project is about looking at boys in the age bracket 13-14 yrs in St Munchin’s College. We are going to assess if boys follow the guidelines as presented in the Mediterranean and Irish food pyramids and also measure their BMI and fat content.  We want to show the impact on body fat levels and BMI that low adhere to food pyramid guidelines and participation in sport activities have.

Our project would create valuable data on what triggers obesity in Irish teenager boys."

One of their pie charts assessing diet and lifestyle.

And their conclusions (so far)

Our volunteers have low consumption of fruits and vegetables (61% consume < 2 portions of fruit per day whereas 50% consume <2 portions of vegetable per day). The monitoring of their body fat and BMI was conducted using a Tanita body analyser in the University of Limerick and we found that the boys who exercise regularly have a mean BMI of 20 whereas the boys who exercise less  have an average BMI of  27.

A clear correlation between lifestyle choices and BMI was found. These results highlight the value of adhering to dietary guidelines of Irish Food and the Mediterranean diet Pyramids.

= = =

Nathaniel, Darragh and Rory were in action yesterday @ LIT, presenting their project at SciFest on Mediterranean diet and obesity. 

They won 3rd prize in Life Sciences! 

Darragh, Rory and Nathaniel (Right to Left) - smiley "Scientists to be"

Well done to the lads and their teacher Bairbre Ni Fhlatharta 

at St Munchin's College ! 

Sky is the limit now!  

Ioannis Zabetakis (a proud Father and their research collaborator)

p.s. on the way home, yesterday I asked the boys 

-how are you feeling?

- Like Champions, Darragh replied!

Are you ready for expanding this further and compete for BT Young Scientist, I asked again

-Yes

-Yes

-Yes (they all replied)

 

Science Fest Project of St Munchin's Boys

Obesity can kill but there is a lot of things than we can pro-actively do in order to prevent it.
We can make people happier and healthier by using information and Education.
This is the spirit of the Science Project that Year 1 Boys in St Munchins College have devised.
They monitor diet habits, lifestyle and BMI and they are going to take part in SciFest 2018.

Yesterday, it was a great day.
The boys came to the Department of Biological Sciences in UL where they used a Tanita body composition analyser to measure body's fat content and BMI.

Rory, Nathaniel and Darragh (from L to R) in action

The boys are now analysing their results and getting ready to present their work in LIT 
on April 26th.

Yesterday, we had a good chat on obesity, BMI, diet and lifestyle choices and ...life expectancy.
We used this questionnaire to see the impact of diet, lifestyle but also.. of crisps and snacks (!) on our life expectancy!

the end result from the vitality questionnaire ; 3 bars showing current and potential life expectancy

It was a great pleasure to have the St Munchins Boys and their Teachers in UL!

The St Munchins boys with their Science Teacher, Bairbre Ni Fhlatharta (on the right) and Ioannis Zabetakis (on the left).

Looking forward to the next stage of their great project!

Ioannis 


p.s. here are some rather alarming facts