Enhanced Cognitive Behaviour Therapy for Adolescents With Anorexia Nervosa: An Alternative to Family Therapy?

Enhanced cognitive behaviour therapy for adolescents with anorexia nervosa: An alternative to family therapy?

Filed under: Eating Disorders

Behav Res Ther. 2012 Oct 4;
Dalle Grave R, Calugi S, Doll HA, Fairburn CG

A specific form of family therapy (family-based treatment) is the leading treatment for adolescents with anorexia nervosa. As this treatment has certain limitations, alternative approaches are needed. “Enhanced” cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT-E) is a potential candidate given its utility as a treatment for adults with eating disorder psychopathology. The aim of the present study was to establish, in a representative cohort of patients with marked anorexia nervosa, the immediate and longer term outcome following CBT-E. Forty-nine adolescent patients were recruited from consecutive referrals to a community-based eating disorder clinic. Each was offered 40 sessions of CBT-E over 40 weeks from a single therapist. Two-thirds completed the full treatment with no additional input. In these patients there was a substantial increase in weight together with a marked decrease in eating disorder psychopathology. Over the 60-week post-treatment follow-up period there was little change despite minimal subsequent treatment. These findings suggest that CBT-E may prove to be a cost-effective alternative to family-based treatment.
HubMed – eating

Decision-making and impulsivity in eating disorder patients.

Filed under: Eating Disorders

Psychiatry Res. 2012 Oct 30;
Garrido I, Subirá S

Impairment in decision-making can be related to some pathological behaviors in eating disorders. This ability was assessed in 71 eating disorder patients (27 restricting type patients and 44 binge/purging type patients) and compared with 38 healthy controls using the Iowa Gambling Task. This task simulates real-life decision-making by assessing the ability to sacrifice immediate rewards in favor of long term gains. Furthermore, some studies have demonstrated a relationship between impulsivity and decision-making, so in our study the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale was also used. Eating disorder patients, both the restricting and the binge/purging groups, performed poorly in the Iowa Gambling Task compared to controls, confirming a deficit in decision-making in these patients. The restricting group showed poorer IGT performance than the binge/purging group. Interestingly, impulsivity was negatively correlated with decision-making, but only in the binge/purging group. In conclusion, our results confirm a specific deficit in eating disorder patients which may be related to their pathological eating behavior, and suggest that this impairment might be explained by different mechanisms in restricting and binge/purging disorders.
HubMed – eating

Predictors of high-energy foods and beverages: a longitudinal study among socio-economically disadvantaged adolescents.

Filed under: Eating Disorders

Public Health Nutr. 2012 Nov 5; 1-14
Stephens LD, McNaughton SA, Crawford D, Ball K

OBJECTIVE: While socio-economically disadvantaged adolescents tend to have poor dietary intakes, some manage to eat healthily. Understanding how some disadvantaged adolescents restrict high-energy foods and beverages may inform initiatives promoting healthier diets among this population. The present investigation aimed to: (i) identify disadvantaged adolescents’ high-energy food and beverage intakes; and (ii) explore cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between intrapersonal, social and environmental factors and disadvantaged adolescents’ high-energy food intakes. DESIGN: Longitudinal online surveys were completed at baseline (2004-2005) and follow-up (2006-2007), each comprising a thirty-eight-item FFQ and questions examining intrapersonal, social and environmental factors. SETTING: Thirty-seven secondary schools in metropolitan and non-metropolitan Victoria, Australia. SUBJECTS: Of 1938 adolescents aged 12-15 years participating at both time points, 529 disadvantaged adolescents (whose mothers had low education levels) were included in the present investigation. RESULTS: At baseline and follow-up, respectively 32 % and 39 % of adolescents consumed high-energy foods less frequently (?2 high-energy food meals/week); 61 % and 65 % consumed high-energy beverages less frequently (?1 time/d). More girls than boys had less frequent high-energy food intakes, and baseline consumption frequency predicted consumption frequency at follow-up. Adolescents with less frequent consumption of high-energy foods and beverages seldom ate fast food for main meals, reported reduced availability of high-energy foods at home and were frequently served vegetables at dinner. CONCLUSIONS: Nutrition promotion initiatives could help improve disadvantaged adolescents’ eating behaviours by promoting adolescents and their families to replace high-energy meals with nutritious home-prepared meals and decrease home availability of high-energy foods in place of more nutritious foods.
HubMed – eating

Exposure to nickel by hair mineral analysis.

Filed under: Eating Disorders

Environ Toxicol Pharmacol. 2012 Oct 8;
Michalak I, Mikulewicz M, Chojnacka K, Wo?owiec P, Saeid A, Górecki H

The aim of the present work was to investigate the exposure to nickel from various sources by investigation of mineral composition of human scalp hair. The research was carried out on hair sampled from subjects, including 87 males and 178 females (22±2 years). The samples of hair were analyzed by ICP-OES. The effect of several factors on nickel content in hair was examined: lifestyle habits (e.g. hair coloring, hair spray, hair straighteners, hair drier, drugs); dietary factors (e.g. yoghurts, blue cheese, lettuce, lemon, mushroom, egg, butter); other (e.g. solarium, cigarette smoking, tap water pipes, tinned food, PVC foil, photocopier, amalgam filling). These outcomes were reached by linking the results of nickel level in hair with the results of questionnaire survey. Basing on the results it can be concluded that exposure to nickel ions can occur from different sources: lifestyle, eating habits and environmental exposure.
HubMed – eating

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