Study Question: Does altering the intake of dietary sugars influence body weight in free living people consuming ad libitum (that is, with no strict control of food intake)? Summary Answer: Altering intake of sugars or sugar sweetened beverages is associated with changes in bodyweight, which seem to be mediated via changes in energy intake… Read More
Research Paper: Effect of reducing total fat intake on body weight: systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials and cohort studies.
Study Question: Does lower total fat intake lead to lower body weight in adults and children? Summary Answer: High quality, consistent evidence shows that a reduction in total fat intake leads to a small but statistically significant and clin…ically meaningful reductions in body weight in adults, with supporting evidence for a simialr effect in children… Read More
Science Souring on Sugar
Accumulating evidence points towards a role for sugar and other refined carbohydrates in the development of overweight. Research suggests that sugar increases bodyweight mainly by promoting overconsumption of energy (although the effects of sugar on body fatness independent of changes in weight could not be assessed). This, and other evidence, suggests that sugar intake should… Read More
2000s and UK Boot Camps
Boot camps were brought to the UK by Robin Cope, a retired British Army officer, in 1999 “as an alternative form of group training to gyms” (BMF, 2012). However, Wikipedia suggests that the fitness boot camp concept did not reach our shores until 2005 (Wikipedia, 2012). The idea of British Military Fitness (BMF) was to… Read More
2000s and Celebrity Boot Camps
Celebrity Fit Club was a reality television series that followed eight overweight celebrities as they tried to lose weight for charity. Celebrity Fit Club aired in the UK from 2002 to 2006 and in the US from 2005 to 2010; the US version was called Celebrity Fit Club: Boot Camp from 2008. Split into two… Read More
1980s and 90s, and US Shock Incarceration Programmes
Such was the hope for shock incarceration programmes in US prisons that young, non-violent offenders could be diverted from a life outside the law using the same tactics successfully employed by the military to turn civilians into soldiers. This reliance on a military atmosphere still provokes controversy over boot camp programmes, with proponents arguing that… Read More
1960s and 70s, and the US Army Correctional Training Facility (CTF)
In 1968, the US Army Correctional Training Facility (CTF) was established at Fort Riley, Kansas, in response to public demands during the mid-1960s that society should attempt to rehabilitate criminals in confinement rather than just confine them. Its mission was to return military inmates to duty with improved attributes and motivation through intensive training, supervision… Read More
Boot Camp & Military Fitness Institute 