Wpg Free Press: Research on a roll

As the Winnipeg Free Press reports:

A souped-up school bus converted into a mobile laboratory will soon stop in communities across the province to gauge the health of at least 1,200 Manitobans. It’s all part of a $1.4-million cross-sectional study orchestrated by the Richardson Centre for Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals at the University of Manitoba. Research Manitoba contributed $1 million to the study and the Richardson Centre spent $400,000 customizing the unique mobile lab.

“You come in. We take a blood sample. We ask about diet, about sleep. We measure physical fitness using a bike and a monitor so we see how fit you are,” says Peter Jones, director of the Richardson Centre and lead investigator of the study.

“You have to poop in a pot. You have to pee in a bottle. We measure your bone density and your body fat and you go out the other end two hours later.”

The bus hit the road April 1, Jones says.