Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Tackling a weighty problem

Tackling a weighty problem

An award-winning Aberdeen-based private medical clinic has launched a new weight-loss programme aimed at the offshore industry in a bid to tackle the increasing levels of obesity.

Temple Medical, led by qualified GP Dr Sam Robson, has adapted a weight-management programme to help overweight offshore workers.

There has been a significant rise in obesity levels across the UK and Scotland, and figures show the average weight of oil workers has risen by three stone over the last 10 years, with many employees finding it difficult to eat a healthy diet offshore.

A number of energy companies are already targeting workers with a waist size of over 37 inches and offering them weight-loss programmes via occupational-health providers.

The diet service, Alizonne Offshore, has been designed to fit with the lifestyles of offshore workers, and is medically supervised to ensure patients can lose weight in a reliable and predictable manner, without the need for any surgery.

Dr Robson, medical director at Temple Medical, said: “In an offshore environment, being overweight or obese is not only a health issue, it is also a major safety issue for the individual and the employer. It can cause significant problems with helicopter transport, rescue handling issues, the ability to escape during an emergency and also the ability to perform some duties.

“We were seeing remarkable results with Alizonne with patients typically losing a stone a month, so we decided to trial it with offshore clients. We found that being predominantly male, the weight loss on average was much faster, with the current record loss of 40 pounds in 36 days.”