Defining Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) Exercise and Nutrition Needs: Concerns Communicated in an Online Cancer Support Community.
Defining adolescent and young adult (AYA) exercise and nutrition needs: Concerns communicated in an online cancer support community.
Patient Educ Couns. 2013 Mar 9;
Love B, Moskowitz MC, Crook B, Thompson CM, Donovan-Kicken E, Stegenga K, Macpherson CF, Johnson RH
OBJECTIVE: To describe topics, needs, and concerns related to nutrition and exercise that adolescents and young adults affected by a serious illness (cancer) discuss online. METHODS: Investigators conducted a qualitative content analysis of messages related to nutrition and exercise posted on an online young adult cancer forum. RESULTS: AYAs described several functions achieved through nutrition and exercise, such as fighting cancer, losing weight, obtaining nutrients despite side effects of treatment, promoting general health, enjoyment, and promoting mental/emotional health. AYAs also discussed several problems that interfere with nutrition and exercise goals, such as side effects of steroids, physiological problems with eating, safety concerns or physical limitations due to treatment, poor follow through with behavioral change, stress, and low energy. CONCLUSION: AYAs discuss specific ways nutrition and exercise help achieve a variety of functions that may be physical or psychological, cancer-specific or general. AYAs describe several concerns and barriers that impede their nutrition and exercise goals. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Clinicians should also consider relevant medical and personal variables that partly determine nutrition and exercise concerns. Clinicians can anticipate barriers to desired nutrition/exercise change and develop interventions that address these barriers in appropriately tailored ways, including using digital media. HubMed – eating
Food Choice and Overconsumption: Effect of a Premium Sports Celebrity Endorser.
J Pediatr. 2013 Mar 9;
Boyland EJ, Harrold JA, Dovey TM, Allison M, Dobson S, Jacobs MC, Halford JC
OBJECTIVE: To determine whether exposure to celebrity endorsement in television (TV) food advertising and a nonfood context would affect ad libitum intake of the endorsed product and a perceived alternative brand. STUDY DESIGN: A total of 181 children from the UK aged 8-11 years viewed 1 of the following embedded within a cartoon: (1) a commercial for Walker’s Crisps (potato chips), featuring a long-standing celebrity endorser; (2) a commercial for a savory food; (3) TV footage of the same endorser in his well-known role as a TV presenter; or (4) a commercial for a nonfood item. Children’s ad libitum intake of potato chips labeled “Walker’s” and “supermarket brand” was measured using ANOVA. RESULTS: Children who viewed the endorsed commercial or the TV footage of the endorser outside of a food context consumed significantly more of the Walker’s chips compared with children in other groups. These children did not reduce their intake of the supermarket brand product to compensate; thus, the endorser effect contributed to overconsumption. CONCLUSION: The influence of a celebrity endorser on food intake in children extends beyond his or her role in the specific endorsed food commercial, prompting increased consumption of the endorsed brand even when the endorser has been viewed in a nonfood context. Our data suggest that the ubiquitous nature of celebrity media presence may reinforce unhealthy eating practices in children, although research with other endorsers is needed. HubMed – eating
Relationships between residual feed intake, average daily gain, and feeding behavior in growing dairy heifers.
J Dairy Sci. 2013 Mar 8;
Green TC, Jago JG, Macdonald KA, Waghorn GC
Residual feed intake (RFI) is a measure of an individual’s efficiency in utilizing feed for maintenance and production during growth or lactation, and is defined as the difference between the actual and predicted feed intake of that individual. The objective of this study was to relate RFI to feeding behavior and to identify behavioral differences between animals with divergent RFI. The intakes and body weight (BW) of 1,049 growing dairy heifers (aged 5-9 mo; 195 ± 25.8 kg of BW) in 5 cohorts were measured for 42 to 49 d to ascertain individual RFI. Animals were housed in an outdoor feeding facility comprising 28 pens, each with 8 animals and 1 feeder per pen, and were fed a dried, cubed alfalfa diet. This forage diet was chosen because most dairy cows in New Zealand are grazed on ryegrass-dominant pastures, without grain or concentrates. An electronic feed monitoring system measured the intake and feeding behavior of individuals. Feeding behavior was summarized as daily intake, daily feeding duration, meal frequency, feeding rate, meal size, meal duration, and temporal feeding patterns. The RFI was moderately to strongly correlated with intake in all cohorts (r = 0.54-0.74), indicating that efficient animals ate less than inefficient animals, but relationships with feeding behavior traits (meal frequency, feeding duration, and feeding rate) were weak (r = 0.14-0.26), indicating that feeding behavior cannot reliably predict RFI in growing dairy heifers. Comparison of the extremes of RFI (10% most and 10% least efficient) demonstrated similar BW and average daily gain for both groups, but efficient animals ate less; had fewer, longer meals; shorter daily feeding duration; and ate more slowly than the least-efficient animals. These groups also differed in their feeding patterns over 24 h, with the most efficient animals eating less and having fewer meals during daylight (0600 to 2100 h), especially during the afternoon (1200 to 1800 h), but ate for a longer time during the night (0000-0600 h) than the least-efficient animals. In summary, correlations between RFI and feeding behavior were weak. Small differences in feeding behavior were observed between the most- and least-efficient animals but adverse behavioral effects associated with such selection in growing dairy heifers are unlikely. HubMed – eating