News
News from 2010
Ed Welbeck has been awarded a prestigious EU-China Fellowship, following a competitive process with applicants from across the EU. Ed will work with staff in
Dr Xiaomei Wu joined the IHRP from
- Research and development of drug delivery systems with skin permeable medicines for treating skin diseases.
- Enzymatic catalyzed reaction in novel green reaction medium.
- Organic synthesis and enzyme-catalyzed synthesis of biomedical intermediates.
- The novel system of chemo-enzymatic reaction.
Dr Chris Palmer Senior Research Fellow and Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Life Sciences and member of the IHRP was awarded a BRSRC grant totalling £300,000 for three years to study cation homeostasis in yeast. Cationic toxicity is involved in a substantial number of biological phenomena, such as salt stress in crops and many human diseases. The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a versatile model system with a myriad of biotechnological applications. In yeast, maintenance of cation homeostasis is an essential process that affects parameters such as membrane potential, intracellular pH, cell volume and that directly influences nutrient uptake and growth. TRANSLUCENT-2 is composed of six partners plus an associate partner, assembling a powerful team of 9 independent laboratories.
Joaquin Ariño, Autonomous
Jost Ludwig,
Maik Kschischo,
José Ramos,
Paul van Heusden,
Christopher Palmer,
Prof David McCarthy appeared in the 6-part TV series ‘Fat Families’ shown on Sky 1. A follow-up on the participating families has been commissioned and there is to be a new 8-part series featuring new families later in the year. In this series Steve Millar, takes on a big challenge: getting whole families to shift the pounds. To understand what it feels like to eat so much you're endangering your health he'll move in with the plus sized households and eat like them for 24 hours.
Dr Dee Bhakta and Prof Chris Branford-White have been awarded a grant from the NHS to undertake a health intervention study on CVD in Islington totalling £20k over 9 months.
Prof Wang from SUTCM visited IHRP in his role as Super Professor earlier this month. During his time in
Dr Ken White, Prof Annie Bligh and Dr Chris Palmer received Emerald grants to develop the potential commercialization of projects which originated within the IHRP.
Professor Vadim Vasilyev of the Department of Molecular Genetics, Institute of Experimental Medicine, Saint-Petersburg, RUSSIA gave a seminar on the 15th of January entitled "Structural aspects of interactions between copper protein ceruloplasmin and selected iron proteins", hosted by Dr Kenneth White. The talk was well attended and was followed by discussions between Dr White, Prof Vasilyev and Professor Rob Evans of
Prof Chris Branford-White has been invited to coordinate the international meeting of the Soc for Biomedical Science and Engineering to be held in Chengu in July 2010.
Ursula James attended a reception in the House of Commons in March where she represented the University's postgraduate community.
Professor Annie Bligh has become the first Visiting Professor from
Prof David McCarthy attended the first world congress on abdominal obesity in
News from 2009
The Institute for Health Research and Policy Staff address major social, scientific, technological or health policy-related issues in a challenging and vibrant intellectual environment. We aim to:
- further enhance the University's reputation in health and nutrition research
- make a significant positive difference to the health of international and local communities by influencing public health policy
- work with industry and other partners to develop health-related products with commercial potential
- create opportunities for staff and postgraduate students to undertake research that will enhance public awareness and publication of results
For more information see /research-units/ihrp/
Or contact ihrp@londonmet.ac.uk
Visit from the Vice-Chancellor of the Universidad Nacional de Quilmes
Professor Daniel Gomez, Vice-Chancellor of the Universidad Nacional de Quilmes arrived at the Institute on 18 February 2009 on a visit to promote collaboration between London Met and Quilmes universities.
New Member of the Institute - Professor Michael Wang from Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine
IHRP welcomed our new senior professor appointment, Professor Zhengtao Michael Wang from SUTCM. Professor Wang joined the institute in March and will spend 0.3 of his time working with the Institute on new initiatives to promote the modernization of herbal products as medicine. Professor Wang is currently head of the joint IHRP/SUTCM laboratory in Shanghai. Professor Wang is currently holding a number of prestigious positions see /research-units/ihrp/staff for more details.
Public Health Nutrition Activities
Professor David McCarthy was part of the LondonMet delegation visiting New York at the beginning of April as part of the joint London/NY project to tackle childhood obesity in the two cities. He presented an overview of childhood obesity in London and other aspects of his research to faculty staff at City University New York and at a public meeting in the city. David was also a consultant to the recent Channel 4 documentary on obese teenagers featuring Gok Wan. David McCarthy has completed filming of a series on weight loss in families to be shown on Sky TV in 2010.
Visiting Scholar from China - Ms Liang Zhang
Ms Liang Zhang from the Institute of Pharmacology, Yunnan Medical College, Kunming, China won a scholarship from the Chinese Government and has chosen IHRP to spend a year (2009-2010) at IHRP to work on the characterization of herbal hepatoprotective agents with Dr Kenneth White. Liang has extensive experience screening compounds from natural products in the Yunnan Key Laboratory for Pharmacology for Natural Products at Kunming Medical University.
Visiting Fellow from Donghua University China - Dr Mary Jie Han
Dr Han arrived in London from the Donghua University in Shanghai in March and worked at the Institute for 3 months. She is an expert on electrospun fibres and is a member of the London Metropolitan University and Donghua University Joint Laboratory for Therapeutic Textiles in Shanghai.
Visiting Fellow and PhD students from Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine
IHRP welcomed a number of PhD students and a visiting fellow from Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine
Grants
Total grant income for 2009 exceeded £350,000
Professor Chris Branford-White, Dr Ken White, Professor Annie Bligh, Dr Nick Chatterton and Dr Chris Palmer received grant awards from the Emerald fund
Dr Chris Palmer received a grant from the BBRSC for three years. The grant is part of a European systems biology consortium to study cation ion homeostasis in yeast.
Conferences and presentations
Branford-White, C. J. and Bligh, A
Traditional Chinese Medicine Policy and New Applications
2009 Traditional Chinese Medicine International Conference (Shanghai)
26-27th November 2009
Branford-White C. J
Nanofiber Applications in the Delivery of
Kunming Medical University
30th November 2009
Fang Feng, Qian Sun, Li Yang, S W Annie Bligh, Christopher Branford-White, Kenneth N White
Zheng-Tao Wang
A Novel and sensitive assay for endogenous creatinine and urea simultaneously with ultra performance liquid chromatograpgy tandem mass spectroscopy (UPLC-MS/MS)
2009 International
Prof David McCarthy delivered a keynote lecture at the Association for the Study of Obesity in November 2009, entitled ‘Inequalities and obesity – ethnicity and obesity.
New IHRP members
IHRP acquired several new PhD members and we look forward to working with them in the future.
Mohammed Riyazudeen Ahamed Jalaludeen
Davoud Roostaei
Marta Kaleta
Mahjabeen Shah
Eva Amoako-Attah
LK Navti
PhD completed
NEWS 2009
Visit from the Vice-Chancellor of the Universidad Nacional de Quilmes
Professor Daniel Gomez, Vice-Chancellor of the Universidad Nacional de Quilmes arrived at the Institute on 18 February 2008 on a visit to promote collaboration between LondonMet and Quilmes universities. In the evening he was welcomed by the Vice Chancellor with Professor Chris Branford White, Professor Annie Bligh and Dr Chris Palmer. Professor Gomez has a distinguished career in cancer research and the next day he presented his work, and an overview of his university, to IHRP staff and guests. Other presentations included work from Chris Palmer, Ken White and Martin Stocks of PBL. In the evening Professor Gomez, IHRP staff and the Vice-Chancellor attended a special event at Canning House, "Opportunities in Argentina: Realising the Potential in Medical Research and Biotechnology" that attracted over 50 delegates. The event was chaired by the Vice-Chancellor and Professor Gomez gave a talk on medical research and biotechnology in Argentina. As an outcome of the visit an agreement was made between IHRP and Professor Gomez's laboratories.
New Member of the Institute - Professor Michael Wang from Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine
IHRP welcomed our new senior professor appointment, Professor Zhengtao Michael Wang from SUTCM. Professor Wang joined the institute in March and will spend 0.3 of his time working with the Institute on new initiatives to promote the modernisation of herbal products as medicine. Professor Wang is currently head of the joint IHRP/SUTCM laboratory in Shanghai. His presence in London will strengthen the working relationship on developing joint research activities that cover grant applications and publications. The Institute held presentations for Professor Wang at the University on 6th March to introduce him to its members and the projects they are currently involved in.
Presentation at the Chinese Medical Institute and Register (CMIR) 11th East-West Medicine Symposium in London
The 11th CMIR East-West Symposium was held at University College London on 7 March 2009 and Professor Branford White gave a presentation on the future of Chinese Medicine degrees. He was accompanied by Dr Mary Jie Han from Donghua University. Professors Annie Bligh and Michael Wang also contributed to the proceedings.
CREST Awards in Collaboration with CEA Islington
IHRP held a 3-day Science School at the Science Centre in the university. Sixty students participated from 6 Islington Secondary Schools.
Due to the overwhelmingly positive feedback from students, CEA Islington and IHRP are now looking at ways to obtain the funding required for these students to do the Silver and Gold Awards at the university.
Bronze CREST Awards for the gifted pupils from Mulberry School for Girls
IHRP held a 3-day Science School at the Science Centre in the university for 40 exceptionally gifted students from Mulberry School for Girls. These students will be returning in April to complete their Silver Awards.
Big thanks are due to Michal Szelwicki and Shereece Jumah for running the programme successfully
Public Health Nutrition Activities
Professor David McCarthy will be part of the LondonMet delegation visiting New York at the beginning of April as part of the joint London/NY project to tackle childhood obesity in the two cities. He will be presenting an overview of childhood obesity in London and other aspects of his research to faculty staff at City University New York and at a public meeting in the city.
David will be delivering a keynote lecture at the 5th National Conference on Obesity and Health to be held in Birmingham in late April. The title of his talk is ‘Gauging obesity - current issues in assessment’. He will also be presenting a paper on his current project on worksite-based weight management programmes in the UK. A full paper is in the final stages of being written on the LondonMet weight loss clinic as a model for worksite-based weight management programmes. The weight loss programme is currently running on Thursday evenings.
David has been working with the London Teaching Public Health Network on the development and delivery of training for 2 levels of on obesity interventions for 4-7 year olds, and with Islington PCT on the costing and development of children’s and teenagers weight management programmes to be delivered at LondonMet.
David has also met with the British College of Osteopathic Medicine (who are now part of LondonMet) on research development activities between the two organizations.
David was a consultant to the recent Channel 4 documentary on obese teenagers featuring Gok Wan.
Visiting Scholar from China - Ms Liang Zhang
Ms Liang Zhang from the Institute of Pharmacology, Yunnan Medical College, Kunming, China who has won a scholarship from the Chinese Government has chosen IHRP to spend a year (2009-2010) at IHRP to work on the characterisation of herbal hepatoprotective agents with Dr Kenneth White. Liang has extensive experience screening compounds from natural products in the Yunnan Key Laboratory for Pharmacology for Natural Products at Kunming Medical University.
Visiting Fellow from Donghua University China - Dr Mary Jie Han
Dr Han arrived in London from the Donghua University in Shanghai in March and will be working at the Institute for 3 months. She is an expert on electrospun fibres and is a member of the London Metropolitan University and Donghua University Joint Laboratory for Therapeutic Textiles in Shanghai.
Dr Han delivered a seminar on her work entitled 'Functional Electrospun Nanofibrous Mats for Biomedical Applicants' on 27 March. She also presented a paper at a staff/student IHRP seminar on Chinese medicine. She accompanied Professor Branford White to the 11th East-West Medicine Symposium held at University College London on 7 March 2009.
New Research Students joining in 2008/9
Gaoyun Kevin Chen
Gaoyun Chen joined IHRP in October 2008 working on a research project entitled "Responsive Lanthanide Complexes as Molecular Sensors/Switches". He is registered for an MPhil/PhD degree. His Directors of Studies are Professor Annie Bligh (IHRP) and Dr Nick Chatterton in School of Health Sciences. His project is based on the design and synthesis of kinetically and thermodynamically stable lanthanide complexes of cyclen (1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane) derivatives. The design principles in developing responsive lanthanide complexes for the purpose of this project are based on the coordination chemistry of the lanthanides, photo-physical properties of the fluorophore attached to the cyclen, and perturbation factors which can enable them to be used as molecular sensors/switches.
Ravi Velaga
Ravi Velaga has recently started his PhD at IHRP under the supervision of Dr Kenneth White looking at the genetics of iron metabolism and the relationship between efficacy of iron metabolism and fetal growth. This is a collaborative project co-supervised by Dr Una Fairbrother in the School of Health Sciences.
Recent Grant Awards
Emerald/LDA (two awards) Dr Ken White, Professors Chris Branford White and Annie Bligh
Industry (Venture Capital Organisation) Dr Ken White and Professor Chris Branford White
HEIF4 Initiative Award Professor Annie Bligh
STEM related Awards
CEA/CREST
EIT
Schools
BME/DIUS
STEM team (Jen Smyth, Sophie Dowden, Chris Branford White)
NEWS 2008
Nadir Chowdhury, Maria Neonaki (Mentor) and Negin Demali-Amiri
Two former Islington secondary school students have won top honours in the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BA) 'Creativity in Science and Technology' (CREST) national finals. Negin Demali-Amiri (former pupil at Mount Carmel Technology College) and Nadir Chowdhury (former pupil of Central Foundation Boys' School) won the BEST CREST Science Project at Gold Level (First prize) at a special ceremony on Monday 27 February 2006 at the Royal Society in London. This was a prize of £1,500 to go to the school science department plus an iPod for each of the students.
Negin and Nadir won the award for the scientific research they did as part of the CREST Gold project at the Institute for Health Research and Policy, London Metropolitan University, in 2005. The students spent three weeks at the university laboratories under the supervision of the Institute staff Ms Maria Neonaki and Dr Paul Matewele, doing a high level project on microbiology: Essential oils - the modern day ancient remedy. The aim of the project was to investigate the ability and efficiency of essential oils and herbs to act as antimicrobial against two commonly occurring micro-organisms, Staphylococcus epidermidis and Bacillus subtilis.
As a result of their outstanding work, both students were invited to represent London and compete nationally with other Gold projects from 13 regions throughout the UK, at the CREST national finals, where they had the opportunity to present their projects to the judges and listen to a speech from writer and broadcaster, Vivienne Parry who referred to the students as: "the scientists and engineers of tomorrow."
http://www.the-ba.net/the-ba/YPP/BACRESTScienceFair/London+Fair.htm
Name from left to right
Ms Bronte Zhang, Ms Beryl Chen, Mr. Zhengdong Li, Mr. Neil Floydand, Prof. Limin Zhu, Mr. Jiangzhong Tang, (Deputy Director, Institute of Biological Sciences & Biotechnology) and Ms. Jie Chen (International Cooperation Officer) of Donghua Universiity.
Lecture Tour in India (9-17 February 2006)
Dr Annie Bligh was invited to present a paper entitled "Electrospray Ionisation Mass Spectrometry - A Drug Discovery Tool" in the 2nd International Symposium on Drug Discovery and Process Research (10 -12 February 2006) in Belgaum. Over 800 delegates attended the symposium and the lecture was well received. Dr Bligh was also invited to give lectures in Karnatak University as part of the Prof. S. Siddappa's 60th birthday commemorative lecture series, followed by Pune University, and Agharkar Research Institute (ARI) as part of their Diamond Jubilee lecture series. A number of collaborative projects have been initiated with both Karnatak and Pune Universities. More importantly IHRP has further consolidated research projects and patent application with ARI.
Excellence in Cities Award
Maria Neonaki at the Institute for Health Research and Policy was awarded a Local Excellence in Cities (EiC) champion for her teaching commitment to Islington schools students by Cambridge Education Associates (CEA@Islington), Department for Education and Skills.
Over the past 5 years, the institute has provided a series of innovation courses
that have promoted the biosciences so that young people will find science exciting and consider studying it further at college/university.
Creativity in Science and Technology (CREST) is a scheme that is nationally coordinated by the British Association. CREST is an initiative that focuses on developing the science and technical skills of talented young people in schools. The initiative allows students to progress through a series of programmes that are externally assessed (bronze, silver and gold awards). Maria designed, prepared and delivered the curriculum for these programmes.
Maria Neonaki at the Institute for Health Research and Policy was awarded a Local Excellence in Cities (EiC) champion for her teaching commitment to Islington schools students by Cambridge Education Associates (CEA@Islington), Department for Education and Skills. Over the past 5 years, the institute has provided a series of innovation courses that have promoted the biosciences so that young people will find science exciting and consider studying it further at college/university. Creativity in Science and Technology (CREST) is a scheme that is nationally coordinated by the British Association. CREST is an initiative that focuses on developing the science and technical skills of talented young people in schools. The initiative allows students to progress through a series of programmes that are externally assessed (bronze, silver and gold awards). Maria designed, prepared and delivered the curriculum for these programmes.
Gap year placement experience
Benoit Ramsay joined us for three months (October 2005 to December 2005)working in the molecular biology and chemistry research labortaories. He shadowed a number of PhD students carrying out a number of experiments, from the use of a mass spectrometer to identify different chemicals through to western blotting techniques to analyze protein samples. He carried out a number of PCR reactions and much work involving plasmid DNA purification and modification.
"I really enjoyed my time at IHRP and learnt a huge amount. Thanks to everyone who helped me! " Benoit Ramsay.
Benoit is going to read Natural Science at Cambridge University in October 2006. Before that he is going to spend three months in Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine to improve his Mandarin and learn more about culture in the east.
Chemical Technologies in Biomedical Sciences
The Institute hosted a one-day symposium, organised by Dr Annie Bligh, on Chemical Technologies in Biomedical Sciences on 23rd November. The event was sponsored by the Royal Society of Chemistry (Chilterns and Middlesex Section), and had support from instrumentation companies GE Healthcare and Waters. Speakers from industry, academia and medicine presented a selection of state-of-the art technologies that employ genomic or high-throughput approaches to assaying disease markers as well as biosensor applications for detection of single types of molecule. The latter was exemplified by Professor John Pickup, Professor of Diabetes and Metabolism at Guys, Kings and St Thomas' Hospitals Medical School in his discussion of the several approaches under development to create a sensor for blood glucose to help in the management of diabetes, a disease that is rapidly reaching epidemic proportions in the UK and all other developed countries. The event also included talks from graduate students, presentation of posters from labs around the country and finished with a drinks reception that encouraged lively networking among delegates that lasted well beyond the scheduled close.
School / Community Links
The Institute hosted a one-day symposium, organised by Dr Annie Bligh, on Chemical Technologies in Biomedical Sciences on 23rd November. The event was sponsored by the Royal Society of Chemistry (Chilterns and Middlesex Section), and had support from instrumentation companies GE Healthcare and Waters. Speakers from industry, academia and medicine presented a selection of state-of-the art technologies that employ genomic or high-throughput approaches to assaying disease markers as well as biosensor applications for detection of single types of molecule. The latter was exemplified by Professor John Pickup, Professor of Diabetes and Metabolism at Guys, Kings and St Thomas' Hospitals Medical School in his discussion of the several approaches under development to create a sensor for blood glucose to help in the management of diabetes, a disease that is rapidly reaching epidemic proportions in the UK and all other developed countries. The event also included talks from graduate students, presentation of posters from labs around the country and finished with a drinks reception that encouraged lively networking among delegates that lasted well beyond the scheduled close.
For the past 5 years IHRP staff have been involved in successfully running the Creativity in Engineering, Science and Technology (CREST) awards. The scheme is managed by City Challenge and students can study for bronze, silver and gold awards. Over 700 secondary pupils have attended CREST course from over 20 schools that covers seven boroughs located in North and East London. Support from CEA/Islington, London Gifted & Talented and SETNET/dti has enabled us to deliver the courses and also to establish continuing professional development (CPD) programme for school teachers, Science/Health Ambassador Scheme and student mentoring. Recently, our work in health promotions has been extended to primary schools through a combination of universities, teachers and pupil involvement. The next CREST enrolment will be in October 2005.
Staff Exchanges
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Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, SUTCM (China)
The joint lmu/ SUTCM Centre for Applied Medicine has been established in December 2003. Dr Peter Wu (postdoctoral fellow, IHRP and SUTCM) will be working at Jordell Laboratory, Royal Botanic Garden, Kew for three months (Augutst to Novemebr 2005). -
Dr Dattatraya Naik from Agharkar Research Institute, Pune, India was working with the institute on a number of collaborative herbal products projects in London (July to August 2005)
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Dr Joanne Lennon, University College Cork, spent three weeks (July 2005) in the institute laboratory working on DNA binding activities of platinum and palladium complexes
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Mr Garfield Simon from University of West Indies, Mona, spent about four weeks (July 2005) in the Institute laboratory on phyoestrogen analysis of food commonly consumed in the West Indies
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Cujae University (Cuba)
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CENSA (Cuba)
Herbal Medicine in the 21st Century: Lost in Translation?
The Institute hosted a one-day international symposium on the 20th April 2005, attended by over 80 delegates, to examine the current status of herbal medicine in the UK and identify obstacles to wider use, especially in the health professions. A range of speakers attended from the UK, Europe, China, USA and Cuba, representing different stakeholders in herbal, and mainstream, medicine.
The meeting started with experiences of clinical trials of herbal therapies, which are a rarity in the west. It was especially interesting to hear Dr Louise Langmead of University College Hospital, London tell a success story about the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease with aloe vera. However the trial was small and funding to test a larger cohort of patients was proving elusive; evidently funding bodies, in the UK, have yet to be persuaded of the potential of herbal therapies. Similarly the pharmaceutical industry seems to be sitting on the sidelines, with the exception of a handful of SMEs who are developing herb-based drugs for market. Two such were represented at the meeting and Dr Daryl Rees, Chief Operating Officer of Phytopharm gave an impressive view of his company's expanding portfolio, while Robert Miller, CEO of Phynova gave a more generic overview of his company's strategy.
Herbs are much more complicated than chemically synthesised drugs and regulating the quality of herbal preparations is technically demanding. Prof Kelvin Chan from Hong Kong gave an overview of QC and how standards can be monitored to ISO level, requiring an indecent amount of hardware. Prof Michael Wang, of Shanghai University of Traditional Medicine, and an IHRP Visiting Professor, gave a magnificent overview of herbs used in China, with a particular emphasis on plants that can be both therapeutic and poisonous, giving further emphasis of the need for good QC.
Prof Ram Reifen of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem illustrated how the distinction between herbs and food becomes blurred in his discussion of phytoestrogens, which he showed can have both beneficial and harmful effects. Two presentations from Cuba provided ample evidence of the aphorism "necessity is the mother of invention", where an economy that is strapped for cash must use local resources, in this case plants and herbs, to develop alternatives to expensive western medicines.
Dr Ged Lee, of the MHRA (Medicines and Health Product Regulatory Agency), summarised the UK's position on regulation and quality control of herbal medicines, which is soon to change from the current lax state of affairs (anyone can be a herbal practitioner) to more licensing (of practitioners) and stricter regulation, with the introduction of new European laws in October 2005.
The meeting ended with a round table discussion with the speakers lead by IHRP's Director Professor Chris Branford White. The issues of QC are well rehearsed and are being addressed, but the question of making herbal medicines credible, in the eyes of NHS doctors, remains difficult. More basic research, more clinical trials are needed, and much, much more funding.
Invited Lecture
Dr Steve Butler is presenting a lecture on "Immunodepletion of hCGb reduces cancer cell growth in vitro" at the International Conference on Gonadotropins and Receptors at University of Georgia, USA, on April 13-17 2005.
http://www.bmb.uga.edu/icgr/program/
British children are fatter than health studies' worst fears
Telegraph 23 January 2005
Dr David McCarthy, a senior lecturer in human nutrition at London Metropolitan University and a co-author of the study, said that the new research suggested the "obesity time bomb" was ticking faster than previously thought.
"For a long time we have been worried about the increase in central fatness and its associated risks in adults but children have been ignored," he said.
"We are dealing with a severe problem with obesity in children and we need to address the causes of this and the potential consequences."
Obesity among children aged two to four almost doubled between 1989 and 1998, from five to nine per cent.
Last year, the Commons health select committee predicted that by 2020, half of all British children would be obese unless the trend was reversed.
Dr McCarthy said that the body mass index system could mask the risk of obesity, because it provided no information on body-fat distribution.
Children with large amounts of fat around their middle could be classed as "normal weight" whereas athletic children could have high ratings because muscle is heavier than fat.
For the new study, waist measurements were taken from 1,800 children in 1987, and about 1,000 children in 1998.
The researchers found that for all age groups, the proportional waist circumference since 1987 exceeded the proportional increase in body mass index over the same period.
The most striking results came from the youngest children. The waistline of a two-year-old girl expanded by an average 2.5cm between 1987 and 1998 - 5.2 per cent. However, the average body mass index for a two-yearold girl rose by just 1.7 per cent.
The waistline of a two-year-old boy expanded by an average 2cm - 4.1 per cent. The average body mass index rose by just 1.8 per cent.
For three-year-old girls, waistlines increased by 3.8 per cent, compared with a body mass index rise of 2.6 per cent. For boys, waistlines expanded by 1.5 per cent.
Other ages also showed increases, with four-year-old girls' waistlines going up by 2.6 per cent and the average waistline of five-year-old boys rising by 1.2 per cent.
On average, waistlines were 2.9 per cent bigger than in 1987 - more than twice the increase in the average body mass index, which rose by 1.4 per cent.
Dr McCarthy said: "When you remember that these are small children, the increases in waist circumference are dramatic.
"The most recent measurements available to us were from 1998. There is nothing to suggest that the results wouldn't be even more dramatic for children in 2005. It isn't as if we are seeing any downward trend."
During the past year, a succession of studies has indicated that children are at a greater risk than ever of developing obesity-associated health problems.
Last year, a survey of department-store dress sizes found that the average 11-year-old girl had a waistline two inches bigger than that of the typical adult woman 60 years ago.
