Anti-Fat Bias is Even Prevalent Among Med Students

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A recent study at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, has shown that apparently (and perhaps ironically), two medical students out of every five have an implicit anti-fat bias against people with obesity. In this study, at least 300 med school students in their third years, took a survey online, widely known as the Weight Implicit Association Test, to measure the amount of bias they had against obese people. The study revealed that 39%, over one-third of the medical student population in the study, had a bias towards obese people. Past research has shown that doctors with this anti-fat bias believe that obese people are unlikely to commit to treatment plans and therefore treat obese patients with less respect than other patients. The results from this study indicate that this unconscious anti-fat stigma is an important issue that should be addressed, especially for those on the route of becoming future doctors.

Stressful Job? It could increase your cardiovascular risk…

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A statistical update from the American Heart Association (AHA) cites health behaviors such as smoking and tobacco use, physical inactivity, nutrition, and family history and genetics as risk factors for cardiovascular disease. But what about stress? Spanish researchers from the Sociedad de Prevención de Ibermutuamur recently looked into the effect of work-related stress on increased blood fat levels, and consequently, cardiovascular health risk.

This study, published in the Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, used a sample population of more than 90,000 workers undergoing medical check-ups. What they found was that “workers who stated that they had experienced difficulties in dealing with their job during the previous twelve months (8.7% of the sample) had a higher risk of suffering from dyslipidemia.” Dyslipidemia, a metabolic disorder of lipoproteins, causes plaque accumulation in arteries and could therefore explain the relationship between stress and cardiovascular risk.

This finding suggests that stress management and the promotion of harmonious work environments may play an important role in buffering us against chronic disease.

When fast food gets too close to home… literally

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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.

Does anyone like a “Fat Talker?”

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The answer: not really.

So who is a “fat talker?” According to Alexandra Corning, the director of Notre Dame’s Body Image and Eating Disorder Lab, a “fat talker” is a girl or woman who engages in self-disparaging remarks about her body, regardless of whether or not she is overweight. Corning’s study found that peers rated women who made “fat talk” statements about their bodies less likeable and rated women who made positive  statements about their bodies more likeable. What is shocking is that “fat talk” is commonly thought of as a strategy for women to strengthen social bonds. Corning’s research finding reveals the truth about how women are perceived when they engage in negative talks about themselves; “fat talk” has the opposite effect of building friendship. In the near future, researchers hope that this valuable information could be used to help educate women and reduce “fat talkers” on college campuses. So the next time someone gives you a compliment, accept it with a smile and love yourself.

Even our cells can get depressed…

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Despite the widespread use of antidepressants in the last decade, depression rates continue to steadily climb. In fact, recent research indicates that approximately one in four Americans will meet the diagnostic criteria for depression at some point in their lives. This makes depression the most pervasive mental illness in our society. A recent study from the University of Michigan Medical School shows that depression not only affects our cognition but also affects our biology on a cellular and genetic level!

This research hinges on circadian rhythms. Every cell in the human body runs on what amounts to a 24-hour clock fine-tuned to night-day and light-dark cycles, and the brain is responsible for regulating this. Through examining cadaver brains of depressed and non-depressed people, researchers are beginning to understand that depression likely causes the brain’s clock to malfunction. And depression affects us at more than just at the cellular level but at the genetic level as well. This study uncovered evidence of hundreds of genes that are very sensitive to circadian rhythms, which means that as depression alters our circadian rhythms, it can also be altering our genetics.

With this wealth of new information, scientists can now better understand the predictors of depression. More importantly, clinicians may be able to utilize genetic information to fine tune patient-specific treatments. All in all, this research could revolutionize treatment options for depression!

Do our personalities change along with our weight?

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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.

 

So THAT’S what calories mean!

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In recent years, restaurants have received a lot of pressure to include their meals’ calorie contents on menus. But does this really change how much a customer will order? Does anyone even know what calorie content is measuring? Studies have shown that having calorie information actually leads people to order more food which, if anything, is affecting eating behavior in the wrong direction.

So how do we fix this? Researches from Texas Christian University, have tried to look into better tactics to change eating behavior when ordering food. One idea is putting contextual information on menus so that a person can easily see the impact of their food choices. In this case, researchers put information on how much exercise would be needed to burn the fat on menus to measure this. They tested this experimentally with 300 young adults from 18-30, randomly assigned to be in 1 of 3 conditions – a calorie-free menu, a menu that included calorie counts or a menu labeled with the minutes of walking needed to burn the calories in the food. Results showed that those participants with the exercise information on their menus ordered and consumed fewer calories than the other 2 conditions. Having calorie-free menus or menus with just calorie information did not affect food choices.

So maybe the key is not knowing how much we are eating but knowing how hard it would be to burn that off. Time for a menu change anyone?

Binge Eating Biology

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We often blame societal pressure, advertisements, magazines, and beauty campaigns for the fact that eating disorders are more common among women than men. It turns out, however, that biology may also be a culprit of this discrepancy, at least when it comes to binge eating. Although it is difficult, or even impossible, to nullify societal influences when examining eating disorders in humans, research findings from Michigan State University used rats to study sex differences outside the context of culture. Over two weeks, researchers offered rats food pellets versus vanilla frosting, and it turned out that the rate of binge eating “proneness” was up to six times higher in female rats than male rates. Kelly Klump, who headed this research, suggests that these findings may be indicative of a sex-related difference in the brain’s natural reward system. While we do have to be sensitive to the messages society sends to girls and women, at the same time, this research has some major implications for etiology, diagnosis, and treatment of eating disorders in women versus men.

How to raise a healthy eater

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With the goal of raising happy and healthy children, many parents strive to ensure that their kids are eating the right foods and in the right amounts. However, a recent study published in the journal Pediatrics found that parents’ intervening over what their children eat may not be helpful in maintaining a healthy weight. Restricting calorie intake of unhealthy foods, such as those high in sugar and fat, or encouraging overconsumption of a healthy food may inhibit adolescents’ ability understand and respond to their own hunger signals. Excessive control over a kid’s diet might actually result in an increase, rather than a reduction in weight! Instead, a better way to get kids to learn healthy eating habits is to provide them with a variety of healthy food choices (fruits and veggies!) and allow them to eat what they like in moderation.

An ‘Exercise’ in Healthy Eating

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As people are becoming more health conscious, it is difficult to decide whether we should focus our energy on changing our diet or boosting physical activity. This study out of Stanford University School of Medicine found that participants who engaged in both exercise and diet were able to achieve the nationally recommended goals of 150 minutes of exercise per week, eating five to nine servings of fruits and vegetable daily, and keeping saturated fat intake at less than 10 percent. So how can exercising make you eat better and eating better make you exercise more? When we change our diet and exercise one after the other, we may place more emphasis on the behavior that we changed first and feel less obligated to change the second behavior. When dieting and fitness habits are changed simultaneously, people are more likely to maintain their healthy behaviors over longer periods because dieting and exercise are of equal priority. Making healthy lifestyle choices does not have to be one or the other, and in this case, they should go hand-in-hand!