Tag Archives: obesity

Food Addiction: Is it Real?

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Are some people more susceptible to food addiction than others? Are some foods more addictive than others? After all, increased availability of high-fat and high-sugar foods only partly explains the high incidence of obesity around the world. Why are some people obese, while others remain at healthy weights? The answer appears to have something to do with at what age we consume the “addictive” food. Food addiction, it seems, appears to be tied to critical periods in youth.

Are some people more susceptible to food addiction than others? Are some foods addictive? Does gender play a role in food addiction? Learn the answers here.

One study examined babies at 1 month old and again at 6 months old. The infants were fed breast milk, consumed less than 8 ounces of formula a week, and had no solid foods, according to their mothers. At each examination, researchers took breast milk samples from each mother and scanned them for sugars such as lactose, glucose, and fructose. They also measured each baby’s fat, muscle, and bone mass.

The researchers found that just 10 milligrams (about the weight of a grain of rice) of fructose from breast milk caused adverse changes in the baby’s body composition during growth. Babies exposed to fructose had a 5 to 10 percent increase in body weight and body fat at six months of age. Ingestion of fructose predisposes a child for obesity, triggering pre-fat storage cells to become fat cells, raising the baby’s risk of one day becoming overweight or obese (Goran, Martin, Alderete, Fujiwara & Fields, 2017).

Interestingly, bioscience studies show this effect is amplified when mothers eat junk food later in their pregnancy. Eating high-fat, high sugar, processed foods early in the pregnancy does not have the same detrimental effect (Gugusheff, Ong & Muhlhausler, 2015). This means that women have time to adjust their diet when they discover their pregnancy.

Fructose is not a natural component of breast milk. Exposing infants and children to high amounts of sugar during development can produce problems with cognitive development and learning. It can also create a lifelong risk for obesity, diabetes, fatty liver disease, and heart disease. Unfortunately, fructose is found in many processed foods and drinks – including cappuccinos, energy drinks, and juice cocktails (Goran et al., 2017).

Another study found a critical developmental challenge in adolescence.

Adolescence is a time when the brain and its reward centers grow the fastest. If the child’s reward system has become desensitized due to an overexposure to high-fat and high-sugar foods in utero, when the child hits adolescence they need more sugar and more fat to feel as good as they did when younger.

Bioscience research shows that the central reward pathways, particularly the opioid and dopamine systems, set up an increased preference for junk foods (food addiction?). The developmental window in adolescence is gender related. Their study shows that males can reverse the unhealthy effects of junk food in adolescence by eating a healthy diet. Females, however, do not show this effect (Gugusheff, Ong & Muhlhausler, 2015).

This article is an excerpt from the online continuing education (CE) course:

Childhood Obesity: The Clinician’s Toolbox is a 3-hour online continuing education (CE/CEU) course that explores the epidemic of childhood obesity and how clinicians can help combat it.

This course will start by examining the ways in which certain foods alter a child’s metabolism, setting them on a course of weight gain, metabolic inefficiency, and obesity. We will also review how obesity affects children’s self-perception and sense of identity in ways that predispose them for a lifelong battle with weight.

We will then see what can be done to shift the balance in children’s favor. We will first explore how changing a child’s physical weight begins with changing their image of that weight – more specifically, their self-image. We will consider ways to combat food marketers and interrupt the cycle that hooks children on unhealthy foods. We will also examine metabolic strategies and exercise that will not only effectively “prime the metabolic pump,” but also strengthen children’s sense of self, self-control, and confidence – factors associated with healthy weight.

The Clinician’s Toolbox will provide strategies to address and prevent childhood obesity, including evidence-based recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the World Health Organization. Specific step-by-step activities for children and parents, as well as an overview of motivational interviewing, will give clinicians specific strategies to use in their practice. Book and website resources are provided at the end of the course for further study and use. Course 31-29 | 2021 | 58 pages | 20 posttest questions

Professional Development Resources is approved by the American Psychological Association (APA) to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Professional Development Resources maintains responsibility for this program and its content. Professional Development Resources is also approved by the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC ACEP #5590); the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB Provider #1046, ACE Program); the Continuing Education Board of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA Provider #AAUM); the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA Provider #3159); the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR Provider #PR001); the Alabama State Board of Occupational Therapy; the Arizona Board of Occupational Therapy Examiners; the Florida Boards of Social Work, Mental Health Counseling and Marriage and Family Therapy (#BAP346), Psychology & School Psychology (#50-1635), Dietetics & Nutrition (#50-1635), and Occupational Therapy Practice (#34); the Georgia State Board of Occupational Therapy; the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed mental health counselors (#MHC-0135); the Ohio Counselor, Social Worker & MFT Board (#RCST100501); the South Carolina Board of Professional Counselors & MFTs (#193); the Texas Board of Examiners of Marriage & Family Therapists (#114) and State Board of Social Worker Examiners (#5678); and is CE Broker compliant (all courses are reported within a few days of completion).

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Kids Are Eating Fewer Calories, Suggesting Future Drops in Obesity

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kid-eatingSome good, if preliminary, news for those trying to reduce childhood obesity: American kids, on average, are eating fewer calories now than they did roughly a decade ago.

That’s the major takeaway from a new report from the Centers for Disease Control out today that also looked at adult consumption of fast food (from which, by the way, adults are getting fewer of their calories). The surprising drop, while encouraging, is modest: boys’ caloric intake fell 7 percent overall, while girls’ energy intake dipped 4 percent. The decrease, researchers think, is likely in part because kids are eating fewer carbohydrates, but more protein.

While the data may foreshadow a future drop in obesity rates, that hasn’t happened just yet. “A harbinger of change is a good phrase,” R. Bethene Ervin, a CDC researcher and co-author of the report, told the New York Times. “But to see if it’s really a real trend we would obviously need more years of data.”

As for adult fast food consumption, researchers found that 11.3 percent of adults’ average daily caloric intake was from fast food in 2010, down from 12.8 percent in 2006. That percentage goes down sharply with age, according to the study. And while income status didn’t seem to make a difference when it comes to fast food consumption, the authors note that, perhaps unsurprisingly, obese adults on average eat more fast food.

Source: http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2013/02/21/children_s_calorie_consumption_cdc_study_finds_decrease_in_caloric_intake.html

America’s Hatred of Fat Hurts Obesity Fight

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America's hatred of fat hurts obesity fight

It may be the nation’s last, accepted form of prejudice. But the stigmatization of obesity has repercussions beyond the pain it inflicts on its targets: It threatens to impede efforts to fight the obesity epidemic.

Read more: www.msnbc.msn.com

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Should We Really Worry About Obesity’s Link to Autism?

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By Brian Fung

A new study this week linking motherhood obesity to childhood autism tells a seemingly horrible tale: pregnant women who are obese are 67 percent more likely to have a child who suffers from the disorder than her non-obese counterpart. It’s the kind of statistic that people latch on to, and dozens of stories in the media highlighted the stat.

But what can we actually make of such a figure? 67 percent sounds like a big deal. You’re well on your way to doubling your risk, it seems. But without context, it’s hard to gauge how much maternal obesity matters relative to the host of autism risk facts.

Should We Really Worry About Obesity's Link to Autism?While the 67 percent figure is “non-trivial,” according to Dr. William Eaton, a professor of mental health at Johns Hopkins University, maternal obesity isn’t exactly considered a leading risk factor. There are others that raise the risk for childhood autism by roughly the same amount, and still others that cause it to skyrocket.

For example, when a baby comes out of the womb feet-first, “a breech birth,” the child’s risk for autism increases about 63 percent. Babies with an Apgar score — an indicator, from one to ten, of a child’s relative health five minutes after birth — of less than seven are about 89 percent more likely to be autistic, Eaton said.

“There are some studies about autism which have much stronger risk factors,” Eaton added, “with hazard ratios like two or three or four,” that is to say, a 200 or 300 or even 400 percent increase in risk.

Some of these more serious risk factors are simply out of our control. A child born before 35 weeks carries two and a half times the risk for autism. Family mental history can also play a role. If someone in your family suffers from psychosis or a mood disorder, the risk for childhood autism increases two to three times.

So, maternal obesity may be a risk factor for autism, but it’s important to remember that it’s only one among many and not even the strongest link.

And, Eaton said, separating out obesity, itself, from other linked disorders is a challenge in itself. “Just to show you how complicated things are, obese women could have a higher rate of mood disorder,” he said. “And we wouldn’t know if it was the mood disorder doing the work or the obesity.”

Source: http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/04/should-we-really-worry-about-obesitys-link-to-autism/255675/

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Could Autism be Linked with Mothers’ Obesity During Pregnancy?

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By Associated Press

Obesity during pregnancy may increase chances for having a child with autism, provocative new research suggests.

It’s among the first studies linking the two, and though it doesn’t prove obesity causes autism, the authors say their results raise public health concerns because of the high level of obesity in this country.

Study women who were obese during pregnancy were about 67 percent more likely than normal-weight women to have autistic children. They also faced double the risk of having children with other developmental delays.

On average, women face a 1 in 88 chance of having a child with autism; the results suggest that obesity during pregnancy would increase that to a 1 in 53 chance, the authors said.

The study was released online Monday in Pediatrics.

Since more than one-third of U.S. women of child-bearing age are obese, the results are potentially worrisome and add yet another incentive for maintaining a normal weight, said researcher Paula Krakowiak, a study co-author and scientist at the University of California, Davis.

Previous research has linked obesity during pregnancy with stillbirths, preterm births and some birth defects.

Dr. Daniel Coury, chief of developmental and behavioral pediatrics at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, said the results “raise quite a concern.”

He noted that U.S. autism rates have increased along with obesity rates and said the research suggests that may be more than a coincidence.

More research is needed to confirm the results. But if mothers’ obesity is truly related to autism, it would be only one of many contributing factors, said Coury, who was not involved in the study.

Genetics has been linked to autism, and scientists are examining whether mothers’ illnesses and use of certain medicines during pregnancy might also play a role.

The study involved about 1,000 California children, ages 2 to 5. Nearly 700 had autism or other developmental delays, and 315 did not have those problems.

Mothers were asked about their health. Medical records were available for more than half the women and confirmed their conditions. It’s not clear how mothers’ obesity might affect fetal development, but the authors offer some theories.

Obesity, generally about 35 pounds overweight, is linked with inflammation and sometimes elevated levels of blood sugar. Excess blood sugar and inflammation-related substances in a mother’s blood may reach the fetus and damage the developing brain, Krakowiak said.

The study lacks information on blood tests during pregnancy. There’s also no information on women’s diets and other habits during pregnancy that might have influenced fetal development.

There were no racial, ethnic, education or health insurance differences among mothers of autistic kids and those with unaffected children that might have influenced the results, the researchers said.

The National Institutes of Health helped pay for the study.

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/could-autism-be-linked-with-mothers-obesity-during-pregnancy-study-says-it-could-be-a-factor/2012/04/08/gIQAxevS4S_story.html

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Sleep Less, Eat More, Gain Weight

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By Carrie Gann

Obesity linked to hormonal changes, lack of sleep

We’ve all heard about the importance of getting a good night’s sleep, and now scientists offer more evidence to back that up. A new study found that people who get less sleep may be inclined to eat more, move less and gain weight.

Scientists at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., studied a group of 17 healthy volunteers between the ages 18 and 40 for a week in their homes, monitoring how much each one typically slept and ate. Then, they brought the volunteers into the clinic’s research lab for eight days: Half of the volunteers were allowed to sleep according to their usual pattern, and the other half got only two-thirds of their usual shut-eye.

All the volunteers were allowed to eat as much food as they wanted from the hospital cafeteria or from outside the research center. The researchers also measured how much energy each volunteer expended each day.

The sleep-deprived participants wolfed down an average of 549 calories beyond their usual intake but burned no more calories than their well-rested peers.

“A lot of people have this idea that if they’re up late, working hard, they’re burning more energy. But we found no change in how much they moved when sleep deprived,” said Dr. Andrew Calvin, lead author of the study and an assistant professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic. “They’re consuming an additional 549 calories per day, but not burning any of them off.”

Those excess of unburned calories is a surefire way to gain weight, which numerous studies have connected to a variety of chronic health problems.

The volunteers who got less sleep also had higher levels of leptin, a hormone that suppresses appetite, and lower levels of ghrelin, a hormone that stimulates appetite, in their blood. The findings seem counterintuitive to what researchers would expect in people who are hungrier, but Calvin said the hormones were most likely an outcome, rather than a cause of people eating more.

Scientists have previously studied the physical downsides of getting too little sleep.

In 2011, Australian researchers found that adolescents and teenagers were more likely to be slimmer if they went to bed earlier, while those who stayed up late were more likely to engage in sedentary activities.

Previous studies have also found that workers covering late and overnight shifts were more likely to be obese and have type 2 diabetes, which may be associated with unhealthy eating habits, according to an editorial published in December.

The connection between sleep and weight may be important for the more than one-quarter of Americans who get six hours of sleep or less every night. Calvin said the future research on how sleep affects eating habits may give scientists useful insights into two of America’s biggest health problems: sleep deprivation and obesity.

“This study, while small, suggests that these two may indeed be linked, and if the findings are confirmed, they may suggest that sleep is a powerful factor in how much we eat and our chances of gaining weight,” he said.

Source: http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2012/03/14/sleep-less-eat-more-gain-weight/

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How ADHD Affects Obesity, Weight and Healthy Eating Habits

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Via Scoop.it – Healthcare Continuing Education

The link between ADHD and poor eating habits isn’t surprising when you consider that it is a disorder of executive function, a set of cognitive skills which act as our brain manager. Executive function impacts almost every aspect of living, encompassing our ability to self-regulate, organize, plan, prioritize, and anticipate the future. Eating is only one of many facets of ordinary life influenced by ADHD, yet typically flies under the radar.
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Overweight is the New Normal

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Via Scoop.it – Healthcare Continuing Education

Americans are living large. Extra large. As in XXXXL large. As in baby-powdered-thighs large. As in wheezing, heaving, bust-the-car-suspension large.

The average American is 23 pounds heavier than the ideal body weight. Experts blame the usual bugaboos: lack of exercise and side-splitting food consumption.
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