The innovative FoodSwitch smartphone application is now the number one downloaded food scanning app in the Australian Appstore, a huge achievement for its George Institute creators.

The free app helps consumers find out what is in the food they are eating and suggests simple, alternative healthier choices.

FoodSwitch also has several filters designed to allow consumers to focus on their specific dietary requirements, including SaltSwitch, SugarSwitch and GlutenSwitch.

Bloomberg Business featured the achievement, highlighting the importance of addressing diet when looking at an individual’s health.

“Australians are now more aware of the negative repercussions of unhealthy eating, such as food-related disease and health conditions, which could have otherwise been prevented by making informed food choices. According to the 2011-12 Australian Bureau of Statistics Australian Health Survey, 63% of Australian adults are now overweight. That's 2 out of every 3 people; with 25% of children also already considered obese.”

FoodSwitch is a free smartphone application launched by the Food Policy Group at The George Institute for Global Health, Australia, and developed in conjunction with Bupa and Buzinga App Development.

It is now available in Australia, the United Kingdom and New Zealand. India, China, South Africa and USA are all launching over the next couple of months, with many more countries in the pipeline.

Read the full Bloomberg article.

Find out more about FoodSwitch including how to download it.

As nominations open for this year’s 100 Women of Influence Awards, one of last year's winners Professor Rebecca Ivers shares her experiences as a woman in science and gives her advice to young women starting their research career.

Last year Professor Ivers, Director of Injury Division at The George Institute for Global Health and Professor of Public Health at the University of Sydney, won the prestigious ‘100 Women of Influence Award’ which celebrates women who are leading in all aspects of Australian life. 

What first drew you to a career in science?

I started as a clinician where I was working with patients one-on-one, but I moved to research because I was drawn to the idea of helping people on a much bigger scale. Working in public health research is incredibly rewarding because you can see change at the local level. What we do affects government and policy, but ultimately it helps real people’s lives. It’s rare for people in any workplace to see their work making a difference like that.

What unique challenges do women in science face?

Women make a huge contribution in science but there is still a struggle at the highest levels. It’s really important to have funding to help career disruptions. We don’t want to revert back to the time when only people who could work 100 hours a week could succeed. But if you look at the senior level today, the majority are people who haven’t had to divide their time between career and family, which means it’s mostly men. This needs to change.

What do you think of the recent #distractinglysexy hashtag on Twitter, which satirised and drew attention to issues of discrimination against women in science?

It didn’t surprise me in the slightest, because the reality is some people still think of women in a particular way and that’s unacceptable. This applies across industries too, as science is not unique when it comes to gender equity compared to other industries.

What can Australian workplaces do to help address the problem?

I’m a big supporter of quotas in the boardroom, but what will really make a difference is ending the stigma about men being primary carers. It won’t be until it’s seen as okay for men to take time off to care for children that gender equity will be a reality.

A flexible workplace that supports workers’ career and family commitments is also crucial. I have three kids myself and I’ve been lucky that The George Institute and especially Principal Director Professor Robyn Norton have supported me all the way through.

There is a critical need for sustained funding in medical research and science so we don’t lose our best scientists to other industries or countries. Maintaining funding schemes that specifically support women in science is essential to this.

Who are some of your own female role models?

To name a few: Professor Robyn Norton here at the George Institute, Professor Caroline Finch (Director of the Australian Centre for Research into Injury in Sport and its Prevention), Professor Belinda Gabbe at Monash University who leads ground breaking work in serious injury and its outcomes and Margie Peden who leads injury prevention efforts at the World Health Organisation are just some of the women who have inspired me throughout my career. They have all been valuable peers and mentors and are all women I really look up to and admire.

How do you feel about being a role model yourself?

It’s a critically important role to be a leader in the field, both for my peers, emerging scientists and for young women. Everyone needs to see women getting out there in science, making a difference and I am happy if I inspire young women to work in this field.

What would you say to young women just starting their careers in science?

My key piece of advice is to work in an area you’re passionate about and surround yourself with people you trust. Success is sometimes a mix of being strategic and opportunistic, but just keep soldiering on and you’ll get there.

Do you have questions for Professor Ivers? Ask her on Twitter at @RebeccaIvers

Nominate a female leader you admire for the 100 Women of Influence Awards 2015.

The Daily Advertiser has featured the new Wagga branch of the George Institute’s Driving Change program. The program uses volunteer mentors to help young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people gain the 120 hours of supervised driving practice they need to get a driver licence. 

The program is being evaluated in a large scale trial running across NSW by the George Institute.

“Aboriginal people are less likely to hold a driver licence than others in the community and without a licence, many jobs are automatically out of reach.

George Institute research professor Rebecca Ivers said programs such as Wagga’s Driving Change were integral to giving Aboriginal people greater mobility and opportunities in the workplace.

Jojo Niki is a single mother of two young girls. Unlicenced, she relies on Wagga’s infrequent public transport system and friends to ensure she can take her children to school, pre-school and appointments.

She is currently learning to drive through the new program and has already racked up more than 20 hours in the last 10 months. She couldn’t be happier.

“Before I started this program, getting my licence felt like it was a lifetime away,” Ms. Niki said.

Like many other young people Ms. Niki said she had had difficulty finding a suitable supervising driver to help her clock the necessary hours.’”

To read the full article, please click here.

Patricia Parreira has been recognised by the Journal of Physiotherapy for her research evaluating a very popular treatment, Kinesio Taping, for musculoskeletal conditions.

The Journal of Physiotherapy’s People’s Choice Award is given to the paper that generates the most interest by readers of the journal, and based on the number of times that the paper is downloaded in the six months after its day of publication.

Professor Chris Maher of The George Institute for Global Health Australia and the University of Sydney, said that the award was an acknowledgment of the quality work coming from early career researchers at The George Institute.

“This is a great achievement by Patricia. This prize is open not only to PhD students, but all researchers, setting a high benchmark of quality work,” Prof Maher said.

“The Journal of Physiotherapy People's Choice Award to Patricia Parreira for her trial speaks to the quality of the PhD students at the Institute.”

Ms Parreira’s systemic review ‘Current evidence does not support the use of Kinesio Taping in clinical practice’, examined the twelve randomised trials that provided published data about the effect of Kinesio Taping on pain, disability, quality of life, return to work and global perceived recovery in people with musculoskeletal conditions.

“According to the creators of this technique, the benefits of Kinesio Taping is reduction of pain intensity, realignment of joints and change in the recruitment activity patterns of the treated muscles,” Ms Parreira

“My review found that Kinesio Taping had no benefit over sham taping or other active treatments to which it had been compared.

“The benefit was too small to be clinically worthwhile, or the trials were of low quality. In other words, Kinesio Taping is a placebo.”

The Sydney Morning Herald has featured George Institute for Global Health researcher Patricia Parreira’s research study PAIN. 

It interviewed 999 people about what they believed triggered their back pain to evaluate the accuracy of their perceptions of its cause.

“One man said he did it picking up his wife's underpants.

Another thinks he did it through a combination of sexual activity and putting on a sock.

They did it laughing, coughing, lifting crates of sponge cake and slipping on wet floor.

All of them visited their doctors with lower back pain, which is the leading cause of work absenteeism throughout much of the world.

Senior researcher Manuela Ferreira said people with lower back pain were most likely to nominate physical causes or those related to minor tasks, but they underestimated psychosocial causes of back pain, such as being tired or distracted.

Previous research demonstrates that people are 25 times more likely to injure their backs when they are distracted during heavy lifting activity.

"Patients have a very good insight into what's happening with their body," Associate Professor Ferreira said.

"This is helpful for clinicians. We do need to listen to patients.”

To read the full article please click here.

This week for International Men’s Health Week, The George Institute for Global Health is drawing attention to some of the leading causes of death for men around the world.

Heart disease, stroke and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) take too many lives and this is a great opportunity for people in the community to reflect on the state of men’s health and change their habits.

Here are some simple tips for men to help improve their health and reduce the risks.

1. COPD: Quit smoking

While there are many factors that cause COPD, the best course of treatment is prevention. Not taking up smoking and avoiding second hand smoke greatly reduces your chances of developing COPD.

2. Stroke: Reduce your salt

There are the obvious high salt foods like chips, soft drinks and fast foods, but salt has a way of sneaking into many of our staple foods too, with bread, cheese, breakfast cereals and soups and sauces, containing relatively high levels of salt. The World Health Organisation guidelines for adult salt intake is five grams per day, about one small teaspoon, so opt for low sodium options instead to reduce your risk of stroke.

3. Heart Disease: Regular exercise

Our heart is a muscle, and needs regular exercise to stay in form. Those who spend most of their working life sitting at a desk should take a walk on their lunch break, or do a lap of the office when they go to the bathroom.

A landmark study from The George Institute for Global Health for the treatment of stroke patients has resulted in key changes being made in US medical guidelines.

The Intensive Blood Pressure Reduction in Acute Cerebral Haemorrhage Trial (INTERACT 2) had a direct influence over these changes in guidelines that will now see a dramatic shift in treatment, resulting in doctors recommending a more intensive control of blood pressure in all types of patients with haemorrhagic stroke.

The research showed that intensive blood pressure lowering in patients, early after the onset of stroke due to rupture of blood vessels within the brain, reduced the risk of subsequent major disability and improved the chances of recovery by as much as 15 per cent.

Professor Craig Anderson of The George Institute and the University of Sydney, and neurologist at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney, said these changes in US guidelines speak to the high quality, high impact work of the institute.

“The US stroke guidelines mean a shift in the treatment of hypertension in patients with haemorrhagic stroke, so that they are provided with a safe and more efficient control of elevated blood pressure to improve the likelihood of recovery without serious disability.

“Before now, the main treatment options for this serious type of stroke were simply bed rest, brain surgery for a few, and rehabilitation, with much controversy over whether there were any benefits or harms of early intensive blood pressure lowering treatment to reduce bleeding in the brain.  So, our research is a very welcome advance in resolving uncertainty and developing treatment policy.”

“We hope to see hospital emergency departments and stroke services around the world implement the new treatment as soon as possible, with the US being the first to embrace the significance of this research.”

Intracerebral haemorrhage affects over 6000 Australians each year, accounting for 10 per cent of all strokes in Australia.  Of this number, one third die as a result and most survivors are left with disability.

The findings of INTERACT 2 were published in the prestigious New England Medical Journal of Australia in May, 2013.

Professor John Chalmers, Senior Director of The George Institute for Global Health, received the award from Sydney Research on behalf of the ADVANCE ON study, and in recognition of his dedication and commitment to mentoring early career researchers.

The ADVANCE ON study, the long term follow up to the landmark ADVANCE clinical trial, found that the protection against death observed with blood pressure lowering in people with diabetes was still evident on longer-term follow-up. No long term effects on serious heart disease or death were seen for intensive glucose control.

Professor Anushka Patel, Chief Scientist of The George Institute, who accepted the award on behalf of Professor Chalmers, said the award was confirmation of the high impact work of the Institute.

“The prestigious Sydney Research Awards recognise not only talent in research, but also the work of those who support, guide and mentor researchers.

“Professor Chalmers should be congratulated for his leadership in this field, as well as his commitment to developing the next generation of researchers.”

The landmark research paper “Follow-up of Blood-Pressure Lowering and Glucose Control in Type 2 Diabetes” was published in the New England Journal of Medicine 2014.

Minister for Medical Research and Assistant Health Minister Pru Goward officially launched the symposium’s inaugural Sydney Research Awards, which were presented by NSW Health Secretary Dr Mary Foley.