Can losing Z’s lead to more lbs?

This post is from DiSH Lab intern Nick:

“I’ll sleep when I’m dead” is a common motto for the workaholics and late-sleepers of today’s society, but lack of sleep may be more detrimental than originally thought. In a sleep restriction study, researchers from the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania investigated implications of lack of sleep. The study comprised of 225 healthy adults randomly assigned to either a sleep-restricted group or a control group. Each subject was restricted from exercising and was only allowed to perform stationary activities such as reading and watching TV. After 18 days, results showed an overall increase in a subject’s caloric intake due to a rise in high-fat meals consumed during extended sleeplessness. Males gained more weight than females, and African Americans were more prone to weight gain than Caucasians. This research gives more support for the role of sleep in weight regulation, similar to Angela’s previous post “Shedding pounds in your sleep?

Chatting Away That Extra Weight!

This post is from DiSH Lab intern Rachel:

The Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP)’s group telephone sessions were originally for individuals wanting to lose weight to prevent diabetes. But a recent study at SUNY Upstate Medical University found that these sessions are effective with other groups as well, particularly obese patients suffering from metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome symptoms include central obesity, high blood fats, high blood pressure and abnormal blood sugar levels, putting patients at a high risk for cardiovascular disease and/or premature death. In the study, 257 obese patients with metabolic syndrome were randomly assigned to one of two groups. Over a period of two years, one group received periodic individual calls, and the other group received conference calls with up to eight patients. After one year, the weight loss results from both groups were equal, but after two years, the participants who had received the conference calls had lost more weight. This is just another example of how social support can be a huge factor in fighting illness and disease.

Turning virtual weight loss into reality

This post is from DiSH Lab intern Nick:

We often associate technology, especially video games, with unhealthy behavior and laziness, essentially leading to obesity. However, researchers at Temple University’s Center for Obesity Research and Education have found a way to use technology  to instill healthy eating behaviors and habits. In this recent study, the team of researchers used virtual reality simulators and avatars to replicate weight loss behaviors, such as portioning food and exercising daily. The study surveyed 128 overweight women based on usage of virtual reality simulations and weight loss activity in the past year. Eight overweight female participants then watched a DVD in which an avatar resembling them enacts weight loss habits. The trial lasted for four weeks. In the end, without any instructions to exercise or mimic the avatar, the women had lost an average of 3.5 pounds, which is about normal for typical weight loss plans. So, although society may pool video games and unhealthy and lazy behavior together, this new technology may be the answer to translate virtual weight loss to reality!

Research that Changed Research: Bottomless Soup Bowl

When do you stop eating? Most people would say that they’ll stop when they feel full. A classic experiment called the Bottomless Soup Bowl found that most people today are not very good at detecting when they feel full. Why is that? Well, people rely on different cues to help make certain judgments. With regards to food, people rely on visual cues of portion size to determine when they should stop eating. Ever heard of the phrase “Cleaning the plate?” As a result, people do not feel satiety until they see that their plate is cleared, even when food portion is increased. Wansink defined this behavior as mindless eating.

To test Wansink’s hypothesis that visual cues of portion size influence consumption, 54 participants (18 to 46 years of age) were recruited to either be in the re-refilling soup bowl condition or the control condition. The following passage is from the original article:

“Despite consuming 73% more, those participants eating from the self-refilling bowls did not believe themselves to have consumed any more soup than those in the control condition. Those eating from normal bowls believed they had eaten 32.3 calories fewer than they actually ate. In contrast, those eating from self-refilling bowls believed they had eaten 140.5 calories fewer than they actually ate.”

The size of food portion has been increasing for the past years (All-you-can-eat buffets, super-size McDonald combo meals, etc.), along with the country’s obesity rate. The Bottomless Soup Bowl experiment opened a link to how eating behaviors influence food intake and helped DiSH Lab further examine what small behavior changes can help people eat better and maintain a healthy weight.

New Series: Research that Changed Research!

While the DiSH Lab blog has been committed to bringing you the latest research in health psychology, we don’t want to ignore those awesome classic studies that set the stage for later findings. So we are introducing our new “Research that Changed Research” series where we will cover various studies that were the first of their kind and dust off and show off some awesome research from year and even decades ago:

Davis, C. M. (1928). Self selection of diet by newly weaned infants: an experimental study. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

In regards to your diet and health, who do you listen to? Whether you believe your mother, father, doctor, or the internet knows best, research shows that our bodies instinctively knows what we should consume to maintain a nutritional balance. An experimental study from 1928 by Clara M. Davis, M.D., showed positive health outcomes of allowing individual infants choose their own diets. In the study, three newly weaned infants were chosen to participant in the experiment for 6-12 months, in which they were given a wide range of food that satisfied the necessary nutrition for humans. The following passage is from the original article:

“The infants’ appetites were uniformly good. They often greeted the arrival of their trays by jumping up and down in their beds, showed impatience while their bibs were being put on, and, once placed at the table, having looked the tray over, devoted themselves steadily to eating for fifteen or twenty minutes. Then, their first hunger satisfied, they ate intermittently for another five or ten minutes, playing a little with the food, trying to use the spoon and offering bits to the nurse.”

While we want to let children choose what to eat themselves, the key is to provide a wide selection of healthy choices. Growing children do not need to follow a diet that is predominately milk-and-cereal. A variety of food containing supplements such as amino acids, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals found in both animal and vegetable origin is necessary. Although, food preference and satiety are determined by each individual infant’s body, food selection is determined in the hands of the parents. So, for your toddler’s next meal, try and bring out a selection of different fruits, poultry, and vegetable, and have your infant choose what they want and when they want to stop!

Davis’s research findings not only changed the world of child feeding, but also influenced new studies of eating behaviors. Therefore, we welcome Davis’s research as our first, but definitely not last, entry to our “Research that Changed Research” and that inspired DiSH lab’s interests in eating behaviors and our ultimate goal to promote health.

Strong bones start earlier than you would think!

Many people believe that kids should drink milk to help build strong bones, but in reality, mothers can help their children build strong bones even before they are born. A recent study shows that children born to mothers who get more vitamins from their diets during their first trimester of pregnancy continue to develop strong bones later in life. This study followed nearly 3,000 women during pregnancy and had them record their daily intake. Experimenters evaluated the meals to see whether diets were linked to the bone mass of children later on. The study found that the children whose mothers ate more protein, phosphorus and vitamin B12 while pregnant had the greatest bone mass, while the higher consumption of carbohydrates was linked to lower bone mass and bone mineral content. The results from this study further solidify the importance of prenatal care, as specific food intake can leave a lasting impact on a child’s development.

Stress and poor health behaviors don’t always go hand in hand…

We often assume that stress triggers poor health decisions and behavior… Snacking on more junk food than usual. Overeating. Not going to the gym as much. But according to Wendy Wood from USC, we are just as likely to fall back on healthy, good habits under stress as we are to “self-sabotage.” In other words, stress and fatigue can trigger good health decisions too!

In a study by Wood and her colleagues, they followed students for a semester and observed their habits and daily routines. The researchers found that during exam periods (times of stress and sleep-deprivation) students were likely to fall back on old habits. Students who ate unhealthy breakfasts (like doughnuts) throughout the semester ate more junk food during exams, whereas those who ate healthy breakfasts (like oatmeal) were more likely to continue eating oatmeal during testing periods. Even frequent gym-goers were more likely to exercise, even under stress and time limits!

So the next time you are under stress, pay closer attention to your behaviors…it may be saying something about your day-to-day habits rather than just a temporary case of indulgence!

When fast food gets too close to home… literally

Prior research has found higher rates of obesity among African Americans as compared with other ethnic groups. To expand upon this, Lorraine Reitzel and her research team studied more than 1,400 African Americans in this new study examining the relationships between body mass index (BMI) and proximity and density of fast food restaurants. Even after controlling for various factors that may influence BMI, results show that closer residential proximity to fast food restaurants is associated with a higher BMI among African Americans. In addition, researchers found a positive correlation between the number of fast food restaurants and BMI within a half-mile, one-mile, and two-miles of the homes of lower income participants (those making $40,000 or less each year). There are several possible explanations for these results, including the affordable prices and convenience of fast food, the limited access to transportation for people of lower income, and the location of fast food restaurants on main roads taken in and out of neighborhoods daily. These findings have many important implications for future policies and interventions in helping us understand community and social factors influencing obesity.

Dr T says: “If shaming reduced obesity, there would be no fat people”

Back in December, Daniel Callahan published his piece “Obesity: Chasing an Elusive Epidemic” where he made the controversial suggestion that stigmatization of the overweight/obesity will ease the “obesity epidemic”. As you may know, the DiSH Lab strongly promotes weight acceptance, and much of our current research investigates the detrimental physical and psychological effects of exposure to weight stigma. So Dr. T and Traci Mann (from the University of Minnesota) put together a strong rebuttal to Callahan’s claims in their piece “If shaming reduced obesity, there would be no fat people.” You can read each piece on our publications page, but here are some highlights:

Callahan Says:

“Those who are overweight hardly notice anymore:

it is just the way ordinary people look. We need them to notice.”

Dr. T replies:

“The same survey [that Callahan uses to make this claim] found that

67 percent of the sample described themselves as weighing over

their ideal weight… they are aware of their weight.” Maybe this discrepancy

arises from “people being reluctant to describe themselves as overweight…

consistent with the view that obesity is stigmatized.”

Callahan identifies his solution:

“The most promising strategies, I believe, fall into three categories:

strong and somewhat coercive public health measures, childhood

prevention programs, and social pressure on the overweight.”

Dr. T says:

“If stigmatizing fat people worked, it would have done so by now.

Obese people are already the most openly stigmatized individuals in

our society, with published data showing that weight stigma

is more pervasive and intense than racism, sexism, and other forms of bias.

Weight-based discrimination is one of the few legal forms of

discrimination that remain in America.”

Callahan suggests:

“I would couch the social pressure in the following terms, finding ways

to induce people who are overweight or obese to put some uncomfortable

questions to themselves.” These include questions like: “If you are overweight

or obese, are you pleased with the way you look?” and “Fair or not, do you know

that many people look down upon those excessively overweight or obese,

often in fact discriminating against them and making fun of them…”

Dr. T refutes this suggestion:

DiSH Lab research asked Callahan’s questions to a sample of

overweight and obese individuals and found that 91% said yes to

whether they knew that “many people look down upon those

excessively overweight or obese…” and 88% said they were not

pleased with the way they looked.

Callahan’s justifies these questions:

These questions aim “to make people acutely aware of pervasive

stigmatization, but then to invoke it as a danger to be avoided:

don’t let this happen to you! If you don’t do something about yourself,

that’s what you are in for.”

Dr. T’s Response:

DiSH Lab research asked a randomized sample of 372 individuals

either Callahan’s six questions or a set of neutral questions.

They then saw an array of food and chose any and all foods they

would like to eat in that moment. “Those who answered Callahan’s

questions selected items amounting to a statistically significantly

higher amount of sugar foods… as well as more calories.

This does not bode well for his strategy.”

Callahan claims:

“It will be necessary to make just about everyone strongly

want to avoid being overweight and obese.”

Dr. T cites:

“People already want to avoid being obese more than they want

practically any other thing. In a survey of patients who had lost

one hundred pounds after having gastric bypass surgery,

nearly every patient agreed that he or she would rather be

deaf, blind, have heart disease,or lose a leg than gain

back the weight… They all said they would give up being a

multimillionaire to be normal weight.”

Callahan says:

People who are overweight or obese are “beyond help”.

Dr. T concludes:

“It would be unconscionable for the medical community

to give up on over 200 millions Americans including

2.4 million children. Using the word ‘edgy’ does not disguise

what his cynical and unscientific strategy truly is:

mean-spirited.”

Do our personalities change along with our weight?

When a person gains weight, it is pretty clear that their body goes through a physical change, but what other changes might accompany this process? Angelina Sutin of the Florida State University College of Medicine, sought the answer in this recent study of residents of Baltimore (over 1,900 participants). As expected, participants who had at least a 10% increase in body weight also demonstrating a substantial increase in their likelihood to give in to temptation; though the results did not show if this was a cause or an effect of the weight gain. What was surprising though was that the same participants who had gained weight also showed significantly more deliberation when making decisions, choosing to think through their decisions more than their non-weight gaining counterparts. These results beg the question of whether negative feedback from family and friends might be leading people to think twice about taking a second helping when they feel judgmental eyes on them. This study shows that even though individuals prone to weight gain deliberate more on decisions, they are often unable to resist the temptation they are deliberating, and the failure to resist temptation one day makes it more difficult to continue to resist on subsequent days.