Combating Child Obesity: Impact of HENRY on Parenting and Family Lifestyle.

Combating child obesity: impact of HENRY on parenting and family lifestyle.

Pediatr Obes. 2013 Jul 2;
Willis TA, George J, Hunt C, Roberts KP, Evans CE, Brown RE, Rudolf MC

The rise in child obesity poses a serious public health challenge. It has been argued that efforts may be best targeted towards prevention, but there is a relative dearth of initiatives targeting infants. Earlier evaluation of the impact of HENRY (Health Exercise Nutrition for the Really Young) has shown an improvement in the way practitioners work with families and a positive impact upon their work setting and personal life.This study of the impact on families found that parents participating in HENRY groups report a healthier family lifestyle, which was sustained at follow-up. Participants reported increased parental self-efficacy around lifestyle change and parenting generally. They also reported increased consumption of fruit and vegetables; positive changes in mealtime behaviours and reduced screen time.One-quarter of children in England are overweight/obese at school entry. We investigated the impact of a programme designed to provide parents of infants and preschool children with the skills required for a healthier family lifestyle.A cohort of families was followed across the 8-week HENRY (Health Exercise Nutrition for the Really Young) parent course at nine locations in England. Seventy-seven parents enrolled on the course, of which 71 agreed to complete questionnaires addressing eating behaviours, dietary intake and parental self-efficacy. Pre- and post-course data was available from 60 (84.5%) parents (8-week follow-up data from 58 parents) and was analysed using repeated measures analyses.Significant changes were observed, with most sustained at follow-up. Parents reported increased self-efficacy and ability to encourage good behaviour (P?HubMed – eating

Stress and Paediatric Obesity: What We Know and Where To Go.

Stress Health. 2013 Jul 1;
Wilson SM, Sato AF

Childhood obesity is a public health epidemic and is associated with substantial negative physical and psychosocial health consequences. Stress is thought to be one contributor to the development and maintenance of obesity in children and adolescents, yet the linkage between stress and paediatric obesity is a poorly understood phenomenon. This paper furthers the understanding of stress in the context of paediatric obesity by firstly presenting a focused review of what is known about links between chronic and acute stress and paediatric obesity risk and then synthesizing important areas from the literature. These critical areas of focus include the following: (1) physiological stress reactivity; (2) stress-induced eating; (3) stress and physical activity; (4) parent and family influences; and (5) stress in at-risk populations. This review is geared toward facilitating future research on the stress-obesity connection in youth. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. HubMed – eating

Dietary resistant starch improves selected brain and behavioral functions in adult and aged rodents.

Mol Nutr Food Res. 2013 Jul 1;
Zhou J, Keenan MJ, Fernandez-Kim SO, Pistell PJ, Ingram DK, Li B, Raggio AM, Shen L, Zhang H, McCutcheon KL, Tulley RT, Blackman MR, Keller JN, Martin RJ

Resistant starch (RS) is a dietary fiber that exerts multiple beneficial effects. The current study explored the effects of dietary RS on selected brain and behavioral functions in adult and aged rodents. Because glucokinase (GK) expression in hypothalamic arcuate nucleus and area postrema of the brainstem is important for brain glucose sensing, GK mRNA was measured by brain nuclei microdissection and PCR. Adult RS-fed rats had a higher GK mRNA than controls in both brain nuclei, an indicator of improved brain glucose sensing. Next, we tested whether dietary RS improve selected behaviors in aged mice. RS-fed aged mice exhibited (i) an increased eating responses to fasting, a behavioral indicator of improvement in aged brain glucose sensing; (ii) a longer latency to fall from an accelerating rotarod, a behavioral indicator of improved motor coordination; and (iii) a higher serum active glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1). Then, GLP-1 receptor null (GLP-1RKO) mice were used to test the role of GLP-1 in brain glucose sensing, and they exhibited impaired eating responses to fasting. We conclude that in rodents (i) dietary RS improves two important indicators of brain function: glucose sensing and motor coordination, and (ii) GLP-1 is important in the optimal feeding response to a fast. HubMed – eating

Alterations in white matter microstructure in women recovered from anorexia nervosa.

Int J Eat Disord. 2013 Jul 1;
Yau WY, Bischoff-Grethe A, Theilmann RJ, Torres L, Wagner A, Kaye WH, Fennema-Notestine C

A recent study of ill individuals with anorexia nervosa (AN) reported microstructural alterations in white matter integrity including lower fractional anisotropy and higher mean diffusivity. This study was designed to determine whether such alterations exist in long-term recovered AN individuals and to examine potential associations with underlying AN traits.Twelve adult women recovered from restricting-type AN and 10 control women were studied using diffusion tensor imaging.Overall, there was no significant fractional anisotropy alteration in recovered AN, in contrast to a prior study reporting lower fractional anisotropy in ill AN. Further, recovered AN showed lower mean diffusivity in frontal, parietal and cingulum white matter relative to control women, contrary to elevated mean diffusivity previously reported in ill AN. Lower longitudinal diffusivity in recovered AN was associated with higher harm avoidance. However, more severe illness history was associated with worse white matter integrity after recovery in the same direction as reported in prior work.Our findings suggest that fractional anisotropy in recovered AN is not different from controls, however, a novel pattern of lower mean diffusivity was evidenced in recovered AN, and this alteration was associated with harm avoidance. Notably, severity of illness history may have long-term consequences, emphasizing the importance of aggressive treatment. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (Int J Eat Disord 2013). HubMed – eating

Is fat talking a causal risk factor for body dissatisfaction? A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Int J Eat Disord. 2013 Jul 1;
Sharpe H, Naumann U, Treasure J, Schmidt U

Fat talking has been assumed to be a causal risk factor for body dissatisfaction in a number of prevention programs and body confidence campaigns. The aim of this paper was to assess whether fat talking meets three criteria necessary for causal risk factors, namely whether fat talking is: (a) cross-sectionally associated with body dissatisfaction; (b) prospectively associated with changes in body dissatisfaction; and (c) associated with changes in body dissatisfaction in experimental studies.A systematic literature review was conducted using electronic databases and hand searching of relevant journals. Meta-analyses provided pooled effect size estimates, and meta-regressions were used to determine whether age, gender or risk of bias were effect modifiers of the relationship.Searches revealed 24 studies. There was a significant cross-sectional association (r = 0.297, 95% CI = 0.225-0.349), which differed in strength between age groups and genders. There was a prospective association between fat talking and changes in body dissatisfaction in long term (r = 0.144, 95% CI = 0.050-0.234), but not in short-term studies (r = 0.022, 95% CI = -0.131-0.174). One study showed that experimental exposure to fat talking was associated with increases in body dissatisfaction (d = 0.124).As such, there is good evidence that fat talking is a correlate of body dissatisfaction. The few prospective and experimental studies give an initial indication that fat talking is a causal risk factor for body dissatisfaction. Further work is needed to support this position.(Int J Eat Disord 2013). HubMed – eating

Elle: The Story of a Young Girl – Please help! : www.indiegogo.com/projectinterlochen My presentation for my ballet class about preventing eating disorders. All film credits go to David Kinse…