Do Health-Promoting Schools Improve Nutrition in China?

Do health-promoting schools improve nutrition in China?

Health Promot Int. 2013 Jul 4;
Wang D, Stewart D, Yuan Y, Chang C

To demonstrate the effectiveness of health-promoting school framework to promoting healthy eating behaviours and nutrition knowledge among Chinese middle school students, their parents and school staff. Three schools were randomly selected from 15 rural middle schools, then were randomly assigned to either (i) school using HPS framework (HPS school), (ii) school with improved health education only (HE school) or (iii) school received no intervention (control school). Nutrition knowledge and eating behaviours were measured at baseline and 3-month after interventions, using the same instrument. Students and parents in the HPS school had the largest improvement in nutrition knowledge, from 4.92 to 8.23 and 4.84 to 7.74, followed by those in the HE school, from 4.98 to 8.09 and 4.78 to 5.80. School staff in the HE school had the largest improvement in nutrition knowledge (from 4.40 to 8.45), followed by those in the HPS school (from 5.20 to 9.15). Students in the HPS school had the largest improvement in eating behaviours (from 3.16 to 4.13), followed by those in the HE school (from 2.78 to 3.54). There was a statistical difference in the improvement of nutrition knowledge of all target population and of eating behaviours of students after interventions across three schools (p < 0.05). Both HPS framework and health education can increase nutrition knowledge among Chinese middle school students, their parents and school staff. However, HPS framework was more effective than health education only. Noticeably, HPS framework had a positive impact on students' eating behaviours, which should be in the subject of further research. HubMed – eating

 

Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex Response to Concentrated Sucrose Reflects Liking Rather Than Sweet Quality Coding.

Chem Senses. 2013 Jul 4;
Rudenga KJ, Small DM

The perception of the pleasantness of sweet tastes varies widely across individuals. Here, we exploit these differences to isolate brain response to sweet-taste pleasantness while controlling for intensity, quality, and physiological significance. Thirty subjects participated in functional MRI scanning while consuming individually calibrated weak and strong sucrose solutions. All subjects found the weak sweet taste to be neutral in pleasantness, but half of the subjects found strong sweet taste pleasant (likers), whereas half found strong sweet taste unpleasant (dislikers). Greater response was observed in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) to the sucrose when it was rated pleasant versus neutral compared with unpleasant versus neutral. This suggests that response in the vmPFC underlies sweet-taste preference, this region is preferentially sensitive to affectively positive tastes, and it is the positive value rather than physiological significance, quality, or intensity that drives responses here. Likers versus dislikers did not differ in their diet, alcohol use, body weight, gender, or taq1A allele status, but likers were more likely to report emotional eating. None of these factors influenced response in the vmPFC. HubMed – eating

 

Neuropsychological functioning in adolescents with anorexia nervosa before and after cognitive remediation therapy: A feasibility trial.

Int J Eat Disord. 2013 Jul 5;
Dahlgren CL, Lask B, Landrø NI, Rø O

To investigate neuropsychological functioning in adolescents with anorexia nervosa (AN) before and after receiving cognitive remediation therapy (CRT).Twenty young females with AN participated in an individually-delivered CRT treatment program. Neuropsychological and psychiatric assessments were administered before and after treatment. Weight, depression, anxiety, duration of illness, and level of eating disorder psychopathology were considered as covariates in statistical analyses.Significant changes in weight, depression, visio-spatial memory, perceptual disembedding abilities, and verbal fluency were observed. Changes in weight had a significant effect on improvements in visuo-spatial memory and verbal fluency. Results also revealed a significant effect of depressive symptoms on perceptual disembedding abilities.The results suggest improvements on a number of neuropsychological functions during the course of CRT. Future studies should explore the use of additional assessment instruments, and include control groups to assess the effectiveness of the intervention. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (Int J Eat Disord 2013). HubMed – eating

 

Childhood and adolescent obesity: how many extra calories are responsible for excess of weight?

Rev Paul Pediatr. 2013 Jun; 31(2): 252-257
Pereira HR, Bobbio TG, Antonio MA, Barros Filho AD

To review the main articles on energy imbalance and obesity in order to quantify the daily energy surplus associated with weight gain in children and adolescents.Articles published in the last ten years, indexed in electronic databases Medline (Pubmed) and SciELO-Br. In the Medline database, the descriptor “energy gap” was used and describes the energy values ??associated with changes in body weight in individuals or populations. In SciELO-Br database, the descriptors “obesity”, “energy metabolism”, “energy balance”, and “energy imbalance” were used, once it was not possible to find national articles discussing the energy gap.In the pediatric population, four studies were performed and indicate that children and adolescents are gradually gaining weight due to a small, but persistent, daily positive energy balance of 70 to 160kcal above the total energy suitable for growth. The results suggest that small changes in daily eating behavior as well as physical activity would be enough to prevent future weight gain in this population.gradual weight gain can be explained by small daily average of positive energy balance, from 70 to 160kcal above the total energy suitable for growth. The incentive to small changes in eating behavior and physical activities that promotes daily reduction of 160kcal can be an accessible practice in order to block weight gain in this population. HubMed – eating

 

Effects of psychological, morphological and sociodemographic variables on adolescents’ eating behavior.

Rev Paul Pediatr. 2013 Jun; 31(2): 182-188
Fortes LD, Amaral AC, Almeida SD, Ferreira ME

To investigate the association of body dissatisfaction (BD), degree of psychological commitment to exercise (DPCE), usual level of physical activity (LPA), body mass index (BMI), fat percentage (%F) and ethnicity with inappropriate eating behavior (IEB) in adolescents.Cross sectional study with 362 adolescents aged between ten and 19 years old, of both genders, selected by stratified sampling. The Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26) was used to assess the IEB. In addition, Body Shape Questionnaire, Commitment Exercise Scale and the International Physical Activity Questionnaire were applied in order to assess BD, DPCE and LPA, respectively. Statistical treatment included multivariate analysis and multiple regression.BD, DPCE, BMI and %F were significantly associated with EAT-26 subscales scores for both genders. The statistical values were different between genders.body dessatisfaction and BMI seemed to be strongly associated with the different constructs of eating behavior in both sexes. HubMed – eating

 

 

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