Research update

By Shaun Clayton a certified nutritionist and Operations and Finance Director at the PHA UK

However, the body is much more complex than that. The number of calories we burn each day depends on many factors, including age, gender, weight, height, and level of physical activity.

For example, your average office worker (like me) will burn fewer calories each day than a typical tradesman who is on their feet for hours each day. So, the tradesman will find it harder to gain weight, but easier to lose it, because their daily activity will most likely be higher.

Additionally, our bodies are constantly working to maintain everything that goes on inside them, which means that our basic metabolism is very specific to the individual.

To achieve and maintain a healthy weight, it's important to be mindful of both the calories we consume and the calories we burn. This means making smart food choices and engaging in some sort of activity (if you can).

One effective way to manage caloric energy balance is to track our daily calorie intake and physical activity using a food diary or smartphone app. This can help us identify areas where we may be consuming more calories than we need and make adjustments accordingly.

Physical activity does play an important part in managing caloric energy balance, but if you’re limited in this area, this can be mitigated by consuming fewer calories.

Engaging in regular exercise can increase the number of calories we burn each day and help us achieve a negative energy balance. This can include activities such as walking, cycling, swimming, or even some form of strength training. Importantly though, it’s about whatever you can manage and whatever you enjoy!

To wrap up, energy balance is a key factor in maintaining a healthy weight. By being mindful of both the calories we consume and the calories we burn, we can achieve a healthy balance and improve our overall health and wellbeing.

We’d like to say a big thank you to everyone who has completed our survey to understand more about PH and nutrition.

Paper copies were included with the last issue of this magazine, and many of you completed the questionnaire online too. We’ve had over 600 completions, which shows that you care about this topic as much as we do.

This pioneering survey is the first ever to dig deeper into the eating habits of people with PH, and to uncover the areas where support is needed.

The insight it provides will help us produce the right resources and support systems to help improve quality of life through nutrition, and we’re hopeful of making a real difference thanks to your help.

We are in the process of analysing the findings and we’ll bring you a report in the next issue of Emphasis.

Early analysis is already helping to guide our work in this area. In fact, the expert columns you see in this feature are in direct response to the things you told us you wanted to know more about. There will be much more on this coming soon.