Eating Disorders: How Feasible Is Baby-Led Weaning as an Approach to Infant Feeding? a Review of the Evidence.

How feasible is baby-led weaning as an approach to infant feeding? A review of the evidence.

Filed under: Eating Disorders

Nutrients. 2012; 4(11): 1575-609
Cameron SL, Heath AL, Taylor RW

Baby-Led Weaning (BLW) is an alternative method for introducing complementary foods to infants in which the infant feeds themselves hand-held foods instead of being spoon-fed by an adult. The BLW infant also shares family food and mealtimes and is offered milk (ideally breast milk) on demand until they self-wean. Anecdotal evidence suggests that many parents are choosing this method instead of conventional spoon-feeding of purées. Observational studies suggest that BLW may encourage improved eating patterns and lead to a healthier body weight, although it is not yet clear whether these associations are causal. This review evaluates the literature with respect to the prerequisites for BLW, which we have defined as beginning complementary foods at six months (for safety reasons), and exclusive breastfeeding to six months (to align with WHO infant feeding guidelines); the gross and oral motor skills required for successful and safe self-feeding of whole foods from six months; and the practicalities of family meals and continued breastfeeding on demand. Baby-Led Weaning will not suit all infants and families, but it is probably achievable for most. However, ultimately, the feasibility of BLW as an approach to infant feeding can only be determined in a randomized controlled trial. Given the popularity of BLW amongst parents, such a study is urgently needed.
HubMed – eating

Caloric Deprivation Increases Responsivity of Attention and Reward Brain Regions to Intake, Anticipated Intake, and Images of Palatable Foods.

Filed under: Eating Disorders

Neuroimage. 2012 Nov 28;
Stice E, Burger K, Yokum S

Dietary restraint theoretically increases risk for binge eating, but prospective and experimental studies have produced contradictory findings, apparently because dietary restraint scales do not identify individuals who are reducing caloric intake. Yet, experimentally manipulated caloric deprivation increases responsivity of brain regions implicated in attention and reward to food images, which may contribute to binge eating. We tested whether self-imposed acute and longer-term caloric restriction increases responsivity of attention and reward regions to images, anticipated receipt, and receipt of palatable food using functional magnetic resonance imaging among female and male adolescents (Study 1N=34; Study 2N=51/81). Duration of acute caloric deprivation correlated positively with activation in regions implicated in attention, reward, and motivation in response to images, anticipated receipt, and receipt of palatable food (e.g., anterior cingulate cortex, orbitofrontal cortex, putamen, and precentral gyrus respectively). Youth in a longer-term negative energy balance likewise showed greater activation in attention (anterior cingulate cortex, ventral medial prefrontal cortex), visual processing (superior visual cortex), reward (caudate) and memory (hippocampus) regions in response to receipt and anticipated receipt of palatable food relative to those in neutral or positive energy balance. Results confirm that self-imposed caloric deprivation increases responsivity of attention, reward, and motivation regions to food, which may explain why caloric deprivation weight loss diets typically do not produce lasting weight loss.
HubMed – eating

When chefs adopt a school?: an evaluation of a cooking intervention in English primary schools.

Filed under: Eating Disorders

Appetite. 2012 Nov 29;
Caraher M, Seeley A, Wu M, Lloyd S

This article sets out the findings from research on the impact of a, UK based, chefs in schools teaching programme on food, provenance, health, nutrition and cookery. Professional chefs link with local schools, where they deliver up to three sessions to one class over a year. The research measured the impact of a standardised intervention package and changes in food preparation and consumption as well as measuring cooking confidence. The target group was 9 -11 year olds in four schools. The main data collection method was a questionnaire delivered two weeks before the intervention and two weeks afterwards. There was a group of four matched control schools. Those taking part in the intervention were enthused and engaged by the sessions and the impact measures indicated an intention to change. There were gains in skills and confidence to prepare and ask for the ingredients to be purchased for use in the home. Following the session with the chef, the average reported cooking confidence score increased from 3.09 to 3.35 (by 0.26 points) in the intervention group – a statistically significant improvement. In the control group this change was not statistically significant. Children’s average reported vegetable consumption increased after the session with the chef, with the consumption score increasing from 2.24 to 2.46 points (0.22 points) again, a statistically significant increase with no significant changes in the control group. The research highlights the need to incorporate evaluation into school cooking initiatives as the findings can provide valuable information necessary to fine-tune interventions and to ensure consistency of the healthy eating messages.
HubMed – eating

Littlest Pet Shop: Popular (Season 1 Finale Trailer #2) [Subtítulos en español] – Are you ready? THANKS AnnetteLPS for the Spanish subtitles! 🙂 www.youtube.com WARNING: The Popular series is rated PG. Although these videos are made with Littlest Pet Shop toys, the Popular series is not meant for very young children and is geared more towards preteens/older children. This story is set in a high school and thus explores themes that are more mature (but not too mature, don’t worry), the most prevalent theme being eating disorders. Although this theme is dominant in my story, this does not mean that I condone eating disorders in any way. Eating disorders are awful and I hope that my videos should not encourage anyone to adopt one; moreover, I wish to educate about them and their dangers. This series also encompasses romantic teenage relationships, so if you have problems with toys kissing each other, then you shouldn’t watch my videos. Please be aware of this! Viewer discretion is advised. ALL EPISODES OF LPS POPULAR: ?? www.youtube.com ? TWITTER: ??twitter.com ? FORMSPRING: ??formspring.me Royalty-free music titles: Kevin Macleod (incompetech.com): In a Heartbeat Music by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under Creative Commons “Attribution 3.0” creativecommons.org © Copyright 2012 sophiegtv

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