Social and Emotional Processing as a Behavioural Endophenotype in Eating Disorders: A Pilot Investigation in Twins.

Social and Emotional Processing as a Behavioural Endophenotype in Eating Disorders: A Pilot Investigation in Twins.

Eur Eat Disord Rev. 2013 May 7;
Kanakam N, Krug I, Raoult C, Collier D, Treasure J

OBJECTIVES: Emotional processing difficulties are potential risk markers for eating disorders that are also present after recovery. The aim of this study was to examine these traits in twins with eating disorders. METHODS: The Reading the Mind in the Eyes test, Emotional Stroop task and the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale were administered to 112 twins with and without eating disorders (DSM IV-TR eating disorder criteria). Generalised estimating equations compared twins with eating disorders against unaffected co-twins and control twins, and within-pair correlations were calculated for clinical monozygotic (n?=?50) and dizygotic twins (n?=?20). RESULTS: Emotion recognition difficulties, attentional biases to social threat and difficulties in emotion regulation were greater in twins with eating disorders, and some were present in their unaffected twin siblings. Evidence for a possible genetic basis was highest for emotion recognition and attentional biases to social stimuli. CONCLUSION: Emotion recognition difficulties and sensitivity to social threat appear to be endophenotypes associated with eating disorders. However, the limited statistical power means that these findings are tentative and require further replication. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association. HubMed – eating

Predicting How Individuals Approach Enrichment: Regulatory Focus in Cotton-Top Tamarins (Sanguinus oedipus).

Zoo Biol. 2013 May 6;
Franks B, Reiss D, Cole P, Friedrich V, Thompson N, Higgins ET

Evidence is mounting that personality is associated with health and well-being in humans and other animals. In a step towards increasing our understanding of this link, we applied regulatory focus theory, a motivational perspective from social psychology, to the behavior of zoo-housed cotton top tamarins. We tested whether regulatory focus “personality,” that is stable differences in whether an individual is motivated by gains versus safety, would 1) produce individual differences in behavior and 2) predict how individuals interact with enrichment. First, we characterized individuals with respect to several key behaviors: eating in the open, hiding, and time spent near the front of the exhibit. The monkeys were consistent in their behavioral tendencies across the 6-month study, allowing regulatory focus classification. One monkey showed evidence of being a promotion-individual, that is, more motivated by gains than safety. One monkey showed evidence of being a prevention-individual, that is, more motivated by safety than gains. The other monkeys were stable in their behavior and showed evidence of being intermediate-individuals, that is, they favored neither gains nor safety. Using these characterizations, we predicted distinct patterns of individual-object interactions with enrichment. For example, we predicted that a promotion-individual (favoring gains over safety) would approach potential gains faster than a prevention-individual (favoring safety over gains). Counter-intuitively, however, we also predicted that a promotion-individual would approach non-gains slower than a prevention-individual concerned with safety. We found support for our predictions, which suggests that regulatory focus theory could be a useful tool for understanding how and why individuals interact with environmental enrichment. Zoo Biol. XX:XX-XX, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals Inc. HubMed – eating

Health Behaviors and All-Cause Mortality in African American Men.

Am J Mens Health. 2013 May 6;
Thorpe RJ, Wilson-Frederick SM, Bowie JV, Coa K, Clay OJ, Laveist TA, Whitfield KE

Because of the excess burden of preventable chronic diseases and premature death among African American men, identifying health behaviors to enhance longevity is needed. We used data from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1988-1994 (NHANES III) and the NHANES III Linked Mortality Public-use File to determine the association between health behaviors and all-cause mortality and if these behaviors varied by age in 2029 African American men. Health behaviors included smoking, drinking, physical inactivity, obesity, and a healthy eating index score. Age was categorized as 25-44 years (n = 1,045), 45-64 years (n = 544), and 65 years and older (n = 440). Cox regression analyses were used to estimate the relationship between health behaviors and mortality within each age-group. All models were adjusted for marital status, education, poverty-to-income ratio, insurance status, and number of health conditions. Being a current smoker was associated with an increased risk of mortality in the 25- to 44-year age-group, whereas being physically inactive was associated with an increased risk of mortality in the 45- to 64-year age-group. For the 65 years and older age-group, being overweight or obese was associated with decreased mortality risk. Efforts to improve longevity should focus on developing age-tailored health promoting strategies and interventions aimed at smoking cessation and increasing physical activity in young and middle-aged African American men. HubMed – eating

Relationship Between Food Preferences and PROP Taster Status of College Students.

Appetite. 2013 May 3;
Catanzaro D, Chesbro EC, Velkey AJ

How food tastes plays a key role in our food choices and eating behavior, with important implications for health and nutrition. The negative relationship of genetically predisposed sensitivity to 6-n-propylthiouracil (PROP) and food preferences for bitter, creamy, spicy, and sweet foods, and alcohol is often reported in both scholarly and popular literature. Our review of research indicates the empirical results are far from conclusive. We conducted a questionnaire-based study to examine enjoyment ratings for 12 foods and beverages often reported to be disliked by PROP supertasters. We measured PROP ratings on the modified gLMS scale and administered a questionnaire to assess food preferences of a sample of 139 college undergraduates. Analysis of variance showed no significant group differences between supertasters, medium tasters, and nontasters in ratings of how much they liked brussels sprouts, raw broccoli, cabbage, spinach, black coffee, dark chocolate, crushed red pepper, jalapenos, chili peppers, red wine, beer, creamy salad dressing, or mayonnaise. Preferences for only two foods out of twelve, dark chocolate and chili peppers, had a significant correlation with PROP sensitivity in the predicted negative direction. While statistically significant, these correlations were low and of little practical significance. The role of culture in shaping attitudes toward food is proposed as a more powerful influence than the genetic factors that relate to PROP sensitivity. HubMed – eating

Eating Disorders Coalition – Spring 2011 Briefing Part 5: Lisa Kantor – “Holding Insurance Companies Accountable” April 12, 2011 Eating Disorders Coalition Congressional Briefing Speaker: Lisa Kantor Kantor & Kantor LLP Full tran…