Factors Associated With Media Use Among Adolescents: A Multilevel Approach.

Factors associated with media use among adolescents: a multilevel approach.

Filed under: Eating Disorders

Eur J Public Health. 2013 Feb 8;
Garcia-Continente X, Pérez-Giménez A, Espelt A, Nebot Adell M

Background: During the last few years, several studies have reported a high screen time use among adolescents that can be related to negative health effects. The aims of this study were to describe screen time use among secondary school students and to identify individual- and school-level factors associated with media use. Methods: A cross-sectional study based on a self-reported questionnaire was performed among a representative sample of 2675 secondary school students (13-19 years old). Adolescents reported the amount of time spent viewing television, playing videogames and using the computer as well as other health-related behaviours and attitudes. Multilevel analysis was carried out and prevalence ratios were calculated to determine the association between media use and related factors. Results: Around 50% of the students reported watching television for ?2 h/day during weekdays. Boys reported playing videogames for ?2 h/weekday much more often than girls (14.6 and 1.5%, respectively). 68.2% of boys and 61.7% of girls reported using the computer for ?2 h/weekday. In the multilevel analysis, the main factors associated with screen-related sedentary behaviours were attending schools from a low socio-economic status neighbourhood, eating unhealthy food and not reading books frequently. Conclusion: The prevalence of adolescents reporting an excessive use of media devices is high, especially among students attending schools from deprived areas. Interventions to reduce screen time among adolescents may be necessary to reduce the risk of some metabolic and cardiovascular diseases such as being overweight and obesity in late adolescence or early adulthood.
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The ventral pallidum and orbitofrontal cortex support food pleasantness inferences.

Filed under: Eating Disorders

Brain Struct Funct. 2013 Feb 9;
Simmons WK, Rapuano KM, Ingeholm JE, Avery J, Kallman S, Hall KD, Martin A

Food advertisements often promote choices that are driven by inferences about the hedonic pleasures of eating a particular food. Given the individual and public health consequences of obesity, it is critical to address unanswered questions about the specific neural systems underlying these hedonic inferences. For example, although regions such as the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) are frequently observed to respond more to pleasant food images than less hedonically pleasing stimuli, one important hedonic brain region in particular has largely remained conspicuously absent among human studies of hedonic response to food images. Based on rodent research demonstrating that activity in the ventral pallidum underlies the hedonic pleasures experienced upon eating food rewards, one might expect that activity in this important ‘hedonic hotspot’ might also track inferred food pleasantness. To date, however, no human studies have assessed this question. We thus asked human subjects to undergo fMRI and make item-by-item ratings of how pleasant it would be to eat particular visually perceived foods. Activity in the ventral pallidum was strongly modulated with pleasantness inferences. Additionally, activity within a region of the orbitofrontal cortex that tracks the pleasantness of tastes was also modulated with inferred pleasantness. Importantly, the reliability of these findings is demonstrated by their replication when we repeated the experiment at a new site with new subjects. These two experiments demonstrate that the ventral pallidum, in addition to the OFC, plays a central role in the moment-to-moment hedonic inferences that influence food-related decision-making.
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Deep brain stimulation in the lateral orbitofrontal cortex impairs spatial reversal learning.

Filed under: Eating Disorders

Behav Brain Res. 2013 Feb 5;
Klanker M, Post G, Joosten R, Feenstra M, Denys D

Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) is a successful novel treatment for treatment-resistant obsessive-compulsive disorder and is currently under investigation for addiction and eating disorders. Clinical and preclinical studies have shown functional changes in the OFC following DBS in the ventral capsule/ventral striatum. These findings suggest that DBS can affect neural activity in distant regions that are connected to the site of electrode implantation. However, the behavioral consequences of direct OFC stimulation are not known. Here, we studied the effects of direct stimulation in the lateral OFC on spatial discrimination and reversal learning in rats. Rats were implanted with stimulating electrodes and were trained on a spatial discrimination and reversal learning task. DBS in the OFC did not affect acquisition of a spatial discrimination. Stimulated animals made more incorrect responses during the first reversal. Acquisition of the second reversal was not affected. These results suggest that DBS may inhibit activity in the OFC, or may disrupt output of the OFC to other cortical or subcortical areas, resulting in perseverative behavior or an inability to adapt behavior to altered response-reward contingencies.
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Eat fit – get big? How fitness cues influence food consumption volumes.

Filed under: Eating Disorders

Appetite. 2013 Feb 5;
Koenigstorfer J, Groeppel-Klein A, Kettenbaum M, Klicker K

Fitness cues on food packages are a common marketing practice in the food sector. This study aims to find out whether and how fitness cues influence food consumption. The results of two field studies show that, even though eating fitness-cued food does not help consumers become more fit, the claims on the packaging increase both serving size and actual food consumption. This effect is mediated by serving size inferences. Also, consumers feel less guilty and perceive themselves closer to desired fitness levels after having consumed the food. The findings show that packaging cues relating to energy expenditure can increase energy intake despite the fact that consumers are not engaged in any actual physical activity while eating the food.
HubMed – eating

 

 

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