Designed by Canadian chiropractor Denise Perron and launched in June, the knee-length ShaToBu (as in SHApe, TOne, BUrn) offers added resistance around the legs. The claim is this: By wearing one, women can not only achieve a sleeker silhouette but also expend more energy going about their day.

Veronica Jamnik, a professor and exercise physiologist in 91亚色鈥檚 , says it鈥檚 hard to assess the company鈥檚 calorie-busting claims, which are based on independent oxygen output tests, because there are so many variables that may not have been factored into the final results.

She notes that women would probably benefit as much, if not more, by incorporating more non-exercise physical activity 鈥� whether standing up while on the phone or gardening 鈥� into their day.

She reserves her greatest concern for wearing such a restrictive garment for any extended period of time. 鈥淲hat is the health impact of wearing it all day,鈥� she wonders. 鈥淎m I guarded about it? Absolutely.鈥�

She also points out that the perceived caloric expenditure may translate into people thinking they have licence to eat more.

The is available on the Globe's Website.

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Ritvo has pioneered a study, currently underway, that hopes to explore how mobile technologies such as BlackBerrys can be used as a way of reinforcing good health habits by facilitating ongoing feedback.

Harvey Skinner, the dean of 91亚色鈥檚 Faculty of Health and a colleague of Ritvo鈥檚, says 鈥渕otivational drift鈥� can make it difficult for people to continue with healthy behavioural changes. 鈥淲e start off with good intentions, maybe initiate a change, say an exercise program, and then days later, weeks later, months later, we start encountering some challenges in keeping to our goal and in keeping to the routine.鈥�

The key, Skinner suggests, is ongoing feedback, and mobile technologies are a tool with the capacity to provide that kind of around-the-clock communication between a patient and a health provider.

According to Ritvo, the goal of the 鈥渆ngaged health coaching program鈥� is to make the patients, who are part of a community that reports high rates of diabetes, to 鈥渞eally feel there鈥檚 somebody who is very concerned about your health, and is giving you the best information you can get at the times when you most need it.鈥�

In the long run, this kind of care has the potential to reduce the strain on the health-care system.

鈥淚 see this as the first step of trying to apply it to a whole range of health problems, including depression, for example, where there wouldn鈥檛 be a physical problem, but there would be ways where people could alter their lifestyles so as to support their moods,鈥� says Ritvo.

The complete article is available on the .

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