Long Term Consequences of the Female Athlete Triad.

Long term consequences of the female athlete triad.

Maturitas. 2013 Mar 28;
Thein-Nissenbaum J

In the past 40 years, female sports participation, particularly at the high school level, has significantly increased. Physical activity in females has numerous positive benefits, including improved body image and overall health. Unfortunately, a select population of exercising females may experience symptoms related to the female athlete triad, which refers to the interrelatedness of energy availability, menstrual function, and bone mineral density. Clinically, these conditions can manifest as disordered eating behaviors, menstrual irregularity, and stress fractures. Triad symptoms are distributed along a spectrum between optimal health and disease; all of the components of the triad may not be affected simultaneously. The female athlete triad was first identified in 1992. Since that time, a vast amount of research related to the identification, management and prevention of this condition has been published. More recently, research related to the long term effects of triad components has come into light. Women who were diagnosed with female athlete triad syndrome as adolescents and young adults in the 1990s are now in their 30s and 40s; negative long term effects of the female athlete triad, such as low bone mineral density, are now starting to manifest. Women of all ages should be assessed for triad components during routine annual physical examinations; appropriate measures to treat any current triad components should be implemented. In addition, women in their 30s, 40s and early 50s should be screened for a history of the female athlete triad. Multidisciplinary management of these conditions is strongly recommended. HubMed – eating

Do maternal body dissatisfaction and dietary restraint predict weight gain in young pre-school children? A one-year follow-up study.

Appetite. 2013 Mar 26;
Rodgers RF, Paxton SJ, McLean SA, Campbell KJ, Wertheim EH, Skouteris H, Gibbons K

BACKGROUND: The relationships between maternal body image and eating concerns and increases in body mass index (BMI) in early childhood are poorly understood. Our aim was to test a model in which mothers’ BMI, body dissatisfaction, dietary restraint and concerns about their child’s weight were related to restrictive feeding practices and child BMIz change. METHODS: Mothers of 2-year-old children (n = 202, aged between 1.5 and 2.5 years) reported concerns regarding their own and their child’s weight, their dietary restraint, and restrictive feeding practices. Height and weight were measured for children and reported by mothers at baseline and 1-year later. RESULTS: Thirty five percent of mothers and 29% of children were in overweight or obese categories at baseline. Using path analysis, after adding an additional pathway to the proposed model the final model provided a good fit to the data (?(2) (8) = 5.593, p =.693, CFI = 1.000, RMSEA = .000), with maternal dietary restraint directly predicting change in child BMIz over the year. Concern about child’s weight and, to a lesser extent, maternal dietary restraint mediated the relationship between maternal body dissatisfaction and the use of restrictive feeding practices. However, the pathway from restrictive feeding practices to change in child BMIz was not significant. CONCLUSIONS: Mothers’ BMI and body dissatisfaction may contribute indirectly to weight change in their young children. Interventions targeting maternal body dissatisfaction and informing about effective feeding strategies may help prevent increases in child BMIz. HubMed – eating

Ego-syntonicity and ego-dystonicity of eating-related intrusive thoughts in patients with eating disorders.

Psychiatry Res. 2013 Mar 26;
Roncero M, Belloch A, Perpiñá C, Treasure J

The main objective of the present study was to analyse the role of the ego-dystonicity and ego-syntonicity of eating disorder intrusive thoughts (EDITs) in the genesis and maintenance of eating disorders (EDs). Participants were 98 female patients with EDs, 56 Spanish and 42 English (27.19±9.59 years; body mass index (BMI): 18.72±2.87). All of them completed the eating attitudes test, eating intrusive thoughts inventory, Ego-Dystonicity Questionnaire-Reduced version and Ego-Syntonicity Questionnaire. Patients indicated that their EDITs were rational and also undesirable and immoral, suggesting that EDITs are not fully ego-syntonic or ego-dystonic. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) indicated no differences in ego-syntonicity and ego-dystonicity across ED subtypes. Path analyses were performed to investigate the mediating role of the EDITs’ ego-syntonicity and ego-dystonicity in their interference, dysfunctional appraisals and control strategies. They showed, first, that the more interference an EDIT caused, the more ego-syntonic and the less ego-dystonic it was and, second, that when the EDITs were assessed as ego-syntonic, patients tried to do what they indicated, whereas when they were assessed as ego-dystonic, patients made efforts to neutralise them. Clinical implications for the conceptualisation and treatment of ED are discussed. HubMed – eating