Being part of a group has been called more effective than the NHS when it comes to losing weight.

That is the verdict of one leading UK nutritionist should argues that GPs would be better of referring obese patients to group-focused weight-loss schemes instead of the national health provider.

The Medical Research Council’s Dr Susan Jebb found in a new study that sufferers who joined the popular WeightWatchers programme lost on average twice as much weight compared to those with individual GP care. Although the study was partially funded by WeightWatchers, Dr Jebb stressed that all similar group programs were likely to be just as effective. The National Obesity Forum has also said that NHS patients could benefit from group help, while the NHS is trialling pilot schemes with WeightWatchers, the recognised leading weight loss company.

Jebb and her colleagues spent over a year studying test patients referred to WeightWatchers meetings by GPs in Northampton, while also running similar projects in both Germany and Australia. The GPs referred half of their patients to the group program, leaving the remainder as a comparative group where they were generally provided with information and appointments with healthcare professionals. At the end of the 12 months, the WeightWatchers patients came out best, losing on average close to 7kg (15lbs), whereas the GP-led group lost on average3kg (6lbs).

While 3kg may not seem like a significant amount, ask anyone who has ever tried to lose weight and they will tell you that the slightest change can make all the difference, especially to diabetics or those with weight-associated illnesses. Ultimately, it appears the weekly meetings and group accountability is the better motivator.

An Armenian cave has unearthed the world’s oldest leather shoe – believed to be 1000 years earlier than the Egyptian pyramids.

Found perfectly preserved, the laced shoe, which predates Stonehenge by more than 400 years, was made from a single cow-hide leather piece and had been shaped to the contours of the wearer’s foot.

The 5500-year-old footwear is 24.5cm in length, and 7.6cm to 10cm in width. It dates back to 3500BC, to an era referred to as the Chalcolithic period. A team of international archaeologists made the discovery.

The research team leader, University of Cork College’s Ron Pinhasi, said that it was unclear if the shoe was made for a man or woman. The shoe is equivalent to the modern European size 37 but may well have fitted a man from that period. Pinhasi also said that the dry, cool and stable conditions of the cave, located in Armenia’s Vayotz Dzor province near the Turkish and Iranian borders, had undoubtedly helped the shoe’s preservation. Also found in the cave were various ceramic containers that once held fruits, plants, barley and wheat.

However, the research team said the shoe could thank a more unusual preservation device for its longevity – sheep dung. The cave floor was covered in the droppings, which had created a thick layer of seal that had enabled the objects to last through the millennia. High street retailers are not expected to adopt the technique, although it would be no surprise to see a new version of the shoe itself – which looks remarkably comfortable even today.

A new survey has found that employees dress best on Monday mornings.

British women have been found to take up to four times as long on Mondays to prepare for work than on Fridays, while British men also make less effort as the week progresses.

The research was undertaken by leading UK retail chain Debenhams, which found it clear that as the working week wears on, so to do the wardrobes of the workers.

The survey revealed that on Monday mornings, women across the UK spend an average of one hour and 16 minutes on getting ready for work. Around one-third of this time was dedicated to achieving the perfect hairstyle, with an additional 18 minutes spent on applying make-up and a further 16 minutes on trying out different clothes combinations. The remaining time was predominantly spent in the shower or conducting morning chores.

On Tuesday mornings, this figure dropped significantly to just 40 minutes of total preparation time, with a steady decline seen on remaining days. By Friday, a mere 19 minutes were dedicated to appearance. Ed Watson, spokesman for Debenhams, said that workers should make the most of Monday mornings because that was as good as their colleagues were going to look all week.

Men too were found to let their standards slip as the week progressed, with the Debenhams survey – of around 100 customers who use the group’s personal shopper network – discovering that British males took 28 minutes to get ready for work on Mondays. This figure dropped to just 11 minutes on Friday mornings.

Are you sick of tuning in to the weather forecast before going out only to find the predictions almost always inaccurate?

According to Ebay, the best way to determine the course of the weather is not by closely watching the forecast, but by instead diverting your gaze to the nearest hemline.

Sales analysts at the online marketplace have, after studying the purchasing trends and meteorological conditions, claimed in all certainty that the demand for skirts of different lengths rises and falls at least three days prior to any major weather changes.

Though a bizarre claim, the EBay team are adamant that as the temperature rises so to do skirt lengths, and suggested that looking downward rather than to the skies is the best way to gauge conditions. As they air begins to cool, hemlines correspondingly fall.

The sales boffins have identified a number of cases when online shopping trends have been more accurate than weather forecasters, and in some cases the dress length insights seemed to predict weather patterns even before the Met Office had made its long-range forecasts.

The phenomenon, claim the analysts, was even able to correctly predict much of the temperamental weather which affected the UK last year, and the lead-up to the recent heat wave also saw skirts rise with temperatures. Demand for miniskirts rose by 200 per cent – a week out from the actual event. The trend has been dubbed Mini Skirt Meteorology by the EBay team.

The clothing industry will use 3-D scanners to enable customers to better pick the right outfit.

That was the message coming from Textile and Clothing Technology Corporation (TC2) product development manager Kerry King at a recent symposium on digital strategies in New Zealand.

The researcher, from the US-based industry-funded institute, said that the fall in price for 3-D scanners has meant that they were now within reach of individual retailers. In the US, menwear store Brooks Brothers and iconic label Victoria’s Secret have both shelled out for the body scanners of late.

Ms King said the advantage of the scanner was that a body scan could be used to obtain a person’s measurements which would make custom design a far simpler process. However, she did acknowledge that the most obvious drawcard would be in the size prediction area, where consumers could try on an outfit virtually to see if they like the way it looks without having to ask someone else if it makes their bum look big

The concept of a personal virtual shopper, via the generation of a 3-D avatar, represents a huge step forward for the fashion industry, with scanners also being able to record measurements into a database which could in turn be given back to a clothing manufacturer for them to have a more realistic understanding of the true measurements of shoppers who are buying their range.