News Release

OBESITY IN CHILDREN AND ADULTS TARGETTED AT INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

Winnipeg, June 1, 1999 - International experts in Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease will be looking at the high cost of poor eating habits among Canadians in a four-day health conference being held in Winnipeg this week. More than ten million Canadians are obese or have diabetes.

Canada has the third largest incidence of childhood obesity in the world. Obese children usually remain obese as adults. Obesity is a leading risk factor in Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease. The research work being conducted by Canadians in this area has attracted the attention of the international research community.

"People who are obese need to know they are at very high risk of developing diabetes, and/or cardiovascular disease, and yet abnormal blood cholesterol, the usual early warning sign for development of these diseases, is not always evident in the obese" says Dr. Jean-Pierre Després, a research scientist with the Lipid Research Centre in Sainte-Foy Quebec. "Patients and their doctors should know there are other tests besides blood cholesterol that need to be done to catch the onset of these diseases in obese patients."

Dr. Després will be presenting his research findings at the ICDCD on Sunday, June 6, 1999 at 8:00 a.m. at the Winnipeg Convention Centre.

The International Conference on Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease
is being chaired by Dr. Aubie Angel, President of the Diabetes Research and Treatment Centre in Winnipeg, and Dr. Narjanan S. Dhalla, Director of the Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences.

Approximately 300 doctors and scientists from Canada, the United States, Japan, Hong Kong, Europe and India are expected to attend.

For more information and to book interviews, please contact:

Barbara Steele, Heart and Stroke Foundation, (613) 569-4361 Ext. 318   cell (613) 859-6903
Sandi Krawchenko (204) 255-6700   cell (204) 291-4422

See also: Related Abstracts