Family Support Is Associated With Behavioral Strategies for Healthy Eating Among Latinas.

Family Support Is Associated With Behavioral Strategies for Healthy Eating Among Latinas.

Health Educ Behav. 2013 May 27;
Schmied EA, Parada H, Horton LA, Madanat H, Ayala GX

Background. Healthy eating is important for obesity control. Dietary interventions target the adoption of behavioral strategies to increase fiber and decrease fat consumption. However, little is known about the contributions of psychosocial factors to the use of these strategies. Purpose. This study examined psychosocial correlates of behavioral strategies for healthy eating among Latinas. Method. Participants included 361 Latino mothers living along the U.S.-Mexico border in California. Data included measures of sociodemographics, acculturation, and psychosocial determinants of healthy eating. A 30-item dietary behavioral strategies scale assessed strategies to increase fiber and decrease fat consumption. Results. Family interactions regarding dietary habits (? = .224, p < .001) and financial status (? = .148, p = .029) were associated with the use of strategies to decrease fat consumption. Positive family interactions regarding dietary habits (? = .226, p < .001), fewer barriers to obtaining fruits and vegetables (? = -.207, p < .001), and more family support for vegetable purchasing (? = .070, p = .047) were associated with use of strategies to increase fiber consumption. Conclusions. Future interventions would benefit from improving family systems associated with healthy eating. HubMed – eating

Eating for the better: a social marketing review (2000-2012).

Public Health Nutr. 2013 May 28; 1-12
Carins JE, Rundle-Thiele SR

OBJECTIVE: The present study sought to identify both the ingredients for success and the potential impediments to social marketing effectiveness for healthy eating behaviour, focusing on studies conducted over the last 10 years. DESIGN: A comprehensive literature review was undertaken examining seventeen databases to identify studies reporting the use of social marketing to address healthy eating. Thirty-four empirical studies were analysed to examine the effectiveness of social marketing interventions to improve healthy eating behaviour using Andreasen’s (2002) social marketing benchmark criteria. Statistical analysis was undertaken to quantitatively evaluate whether effectiveness varied between study categories (subsets). SETTING: Healthy eating empirical studies published from 2000 onwards. SUBJECTS: Empirical studies that self-identified as social marketing. RESULTS: Sixteen social marketing studies (subset 1) were identified in the review. These were systematic studies which sought to change behaviour through tailored solutions (e.g. use of marketing tools beyond communication was clearly evident) that delivered value to the target audience. For these sixteen studies, the mean number of criteria identified was five. Six studies met all six criteria. Positive change to healthy eating behaviour was found in fourteen of sixteen studies. The sixteen studies that met the definition of social marketing used significantly more of Andreasen’s (2002) criteria and were more effective in achieving behavioural change than the eighteen studies in subset 2. CONCLUSIONS: Social marketing is an involved process and it is important that studies identifying as social marketing adopt social marketing benchmark criteria. Social marketing when employed to its full extent offers the potential to change healthy eating. HubMed – eating

No effect of weight cycling on the post-career BMI of weight class elite athletes.

BMC Public Health. 2013 May 27; 13(1): 510
Marquet LA, Brown M, Tafflet M, Nassif H, Mouraby R, Bourhaleb S, Toussaint JF, Desgorces FD

BACKGROUND: Repetitions of pre-competition weight-loss diets done by athletes participating in weight class sports can be regarded as periods of weight cycling. The aim of the present study is to identify the long term post-career (22 years) evolutionary profile of athletes’ BMI after such weight cycling. METHODS: One hundred and thirty-six retired French athletes who participated in major international competitions in weight class sports (rowers, wrestlers, boxers, and judokas) were included. Former and current body mass, height, dietary characteristics during the career (annual frequency, amount of weight lost), current physical activity, and answers on the eating-attitude test were collected by phone interview (consistency was tested by comparison with measured weight). We performed ANOVA tests for comparison between groups (sport, dieting), post-hoc tests (Bonferroni test) to identify differences within groups. BMI’s changes were treated using a mixed model. RESULTS: The recorded weight changes did not depend upon time since retirement. Between 18 y and 50 y, athletes’ BMI increased by 3.2 kg/m2 compared to the 4.2 kg/m2 increase in the general population. This increase was independent of the number of diets during the career. Retired athletes declared a mean weekly physical activity of 4.8 h +/- 4.3. The eating-attitude test showed low scores for all sports without any correlation to diet characteristics. CONCLUSION: Weight cycling during an athletic career does not induce a massive weight gain after retirement, probably due to the high level of physical activity still practiced after retirement by these athletes. HubMed – eating

Strong genetic influences on measures of behavioral-regulation among inbred rat strains.

Genes Brain Behav. 2013 May 25;
Richards JB, Lloyd DR, Kuehlewind B, Militello L, Paredez M, Solberg-Woods L, Palmer AA

A fundamental challenge for any complex nervous system is to regulate behavior in response to environmental challenges. Three measures of behavioral regulation were tested in a panel of 8 inbred rat strains. These measures were; 1) sensation seeking as assessed by locomotor response to novelty and the sensory reinforcing effects of light onset, 2) attention and impulsivity, as measured by a choice reaction time task, and 3) impulsivity as measured by a delay discounting task. Deficient behavioral regulation has been linked to a number of psychopathologies, including ADHD, Schizophrenia, Autism, drug abuse and eating disorders. Eight inbred rat strains (August Copenhagen Irish, Brown Norway, Buffalo, Fischer 344, Wistar Kyoto, Spontaneous Hypertensive Rat, Lewis, Dahl Salt Sensitive) were tested. With n?=?9 for each strain, we observed robust strain differences for all tasks; heritability was estimated between 0.43 and 0.66. Performance of the 8 inbred rat strains on the choice reaction time task was compared to the performance of out bred Sprague Dawley (n?=?28) and Heterogeneous strain rats (n?=?48). The results indicate a strong genetic influence on complex tasks related to behavioral regulation and indicate that some of measures tap common genetically-driven processes. Furthermore, our results establish the potential for future studies aimed at identifying specific alleles that influence variability for these traits. Identification of such alleles could contribute to our understanding of the molecular genetic basis of behavioral regulation, which is of fundamental importance and likely contributes to multiple psychiatric disorders. HubMed – eating