A recent animal study has reportedly identified a new mechanism by which the brain increases the desire to overconsume sweet and fatty treats like chocolate. Alexandra DiFeliceantonio, et al., “Enkephalin Surges in Dosal Neostriatum as a Signal to Eat,” Current Biology, October 2012. Relying on advanced opioid microdialysis techniques to detect extracellular levels of a neurotransmitter called enkephalin, University of Michigan researchers injected a drug into the neostriatum of rats to stimulate the mu opioid receptors before the animals were permitted to eat M&M candies. The results evidently showed that mu opioid stimulation “potently enhanced consumption of palatable M&M chocolates,” with injected rats “more than doubling total M&M intake.” In addition, the authors’ microdialysis study of the same brain region, which has primarily been linked to movement, purportedly revealed that naturally occurring enkephalin levels “rose to 150% of baseline when the rats were suddenly allowed to eat chocolates.” According to…
Category Archives Issue 455
A recent study has allegedly linked low doses of bisphenol A (BPA) to reproductive abnormalities in rhesus monkeys. Patricia A. Hunt, et al., “Bisphenol A alters early oogenesis and follicle formation in the fetal ovary of the rhesus monkey,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, September 2012. Seeking to determine whether BPA exposure “could influence [] reproductive longevity and success,” researchers from University of California, Davis, and Washington State University (WSU) sought to approximate human exposure levels by administering BPA to gestating rhesus monkeys via one daily oral dose or a continuous subdermal implant. Their results evidently showed that the egg cell failed to divide properly in both groups of monkeys exposed to BPA, with those in the continuous-dosing group exhibiting further complications in the third trimester as fetal eggs “were not packaged appropriately in follicles, structures in which they develop,” according to a September 24, 2012, WSU press release.…
A recent commentary published in the International Journal of Obesity has dubbed high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) “one of the most misunderstood ingredients,” arguing that studies linking the sweetener’s use to increasing obesity rates tend to rely on temporal associations, “an ecologic fallacy in which group data are extrapolated to individuals.” D.M. Klurfeld et al., “Lack of evidence for high fructose corn syrup as the cause of the obesity epidemic,” International Journal of Obesity, September 2012. In particular, the article’s authors claim that not only did earlier hypotheses fuel misconceptions about “the metabolism and health effects of HFCS,” but more recent research has failed to identify a mechanism by which HFCS affects the body differently than sucrose, “the leading source of fructose in the American diet.” They also note that obesity and diabetes rates have not declined even as HFCS consumption has decreased and that these rates have persisted in areas…
Researchers with the University of Missouri-Kansas City and the University of Kansas Medical Center have published a study claiming that children’s brain scans registered increased activation in the orbitofrontal precortex and inferior prefrontal cortex when the subjects were shown familiar food logos. Amanda Bruce, et al., “Branding and a child’s brain: an fMRI study of neural responses to logos,” Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, September 2012. The study’s authors apparently used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) with 17 healthy-weight children to gauge their neural reactions to 60 food and 60 non-food logos as opposed to a baseline image created to approximate the logos’ visual properties of color composition and brightness. “Food logos compared to baseline were associated with increased activation in orbitofrontal cortex and inferior prefrontal cortex,” concluded the report. “Compared to nonfood logos, food logos elicited increased activation in the posterior cingulate cortex. Results confirmed that food logos activate…
The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) has published a series of studies and commentary on the purported health effects of consuming sugar-sweetened beverages. The American Beverage Association issued a statement contending that studies focusing “solely on sugar-sweetened beverages” as an alleged cause of obesity “or any single source of calories, do nothing meaningful to help address this serious issue. The fact remains: sugar-sweetened beverages are not driving obesity. By every measure, sugar-sweetened beverages play a small and declining role in the American diet.” The studies included Janne de Ruyter, et al., “A Trial of Sugar-free or Sugar-Sweetened Beverages and Body Weight in Children,” (concluding, “[m]asked replacement of sugar-containing beverages with noncaloric beverages reduced weight gain and fat accumulation in normal-weight children.”); Cara Ebbeling, et al., “A Randomized Trial of Sugar-Sweetened Beverages and Adolescent Body Weight,” (concluding, “[a]mong overweight and obese adolescents, the increase in [body mass index] was smaller…
“Are you a food addict?,” asks a September 20, 2012, New York Times “Well” blog post featuring a “food addiction” quiz . Citing several food studies allegedly suggesting “that food and drug addiction have much in common, particularly in the way that both disrupt the parts of the brain involved in pleasure and self-control,” columnist Tara Parker-Pope offers a shortened version of the Yale Food Addiction Scale created by researchers at Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity. The quiz asks readers to respond to such questions such as, “I find myself consuming certain foods even though I am no longer hungry” and “I keep consuming the same types or amounts of food despite significant emotional and/or physical problems related to my eating.” Based on the inputted responses, the applet then provides a food addiction score ranging from “not addicted” to “possible food addiction” indicating that “you may…
Employment law practitioners are, according to a recent article, predicting an increase in the number of obesity-related claims filed against employers under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The 2008 amendments have made it easier for employees to prevail in these cases, and a trio of claims filed and resolved in recent months demonstrates that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and courts are recognizing obesity as a disability in itself, rather than focusing on some underlying physiological condition as the basis for the employees’ disability. Settlements of obesity claims in Texas and Louisiana have resulted in payments of $55,000 and $125,000, respectively, while the Montana Supreme Court determined that a physiological disorder underlying morbid obesity is not necessary for a disability claim under a state law that mirrors the ADA. See The National Law Journal, September 24, 2012.
The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) has issued a paper titled “Projecting the Effect of Changes in Smoking and Obesity on Future Life Expectancy in the United States.” Funded by the Social Security Administration and a grant from the National Institute on Aging, the research applied Markov modeling to National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys data from 1999 to 2008 to conclude that reductions in smoking rates coupled with increases in obesity will result in a gain of nearly one year of life expectancy for men and just a quarter of a year’s gain for women. According to the authors, “By 2040, male life expectancy at age 40 is expected to have gained 0.92 years from the combined effects. Among women, however, the two sets of effects largely offset one another throughout the projection period, with a small gain of 0.26 years expected by 2040.” The researchers also project…
The International Association for the Study of Obesity (IASO) has released a report criticizing the food and beverage industry’s efforts to reduce marketing to children in the European Union. Part of the StanMark Project, which receives EU funding, A Junk-Free Childhood 2012 focuses on the EU Pledge signed by 20 companies that agreed to stop marketing products to children younger than age 12 and to submit to independent monitoring. Citing data from the 2011 EU Pledge Monitoring Report, IASO notes a “disappointing” 29 percent decline in the number of advertisements for “non-compliant” products that were viewed by children between January and March 2011 as compared to those viewed between January and March 2005. “While for some countries there were significant decreases in advertising (e.g. in Poland, Ireland and France), in other countries significant increases were recorded, including Slovenia (up 26%) and the Netherlands (up 38%),” states the report. “The problem…
Naked Wines LLC has filed an action against Nakedwines.com, Inc. and Groupon, Inc. alleging that they have infringed its “family of erotically-themed marks” including NAKED WINERY®, NAKED WINERY VIXEN®, NAKED WINERY NAUGHTY®, and NAKED WINERY DIVA®. Naked Wines LLC v. Nakedwines. com, Inc., No. 12-01717 (D. Or., filed September 21, 2012). According to the complaint, Oregon-based Naked Wines has used the marks since 2005 and has “developed and maintains customers throughout the United States.” The marks have purportedly “become an asset of substantial value as a symbol of Plaintiff and its products.” Nakedwines.com, located in Napa, California, is allegedly “the U.S. arm of a UK-based, online company that sells and distributes wine from multiple producers.” According to the plaintiff, defendant Nakedwines.com, which is working with various producers to sell 400,000 cases of wine in the United States in 2013 and planning to open a winery in California under the name “Naked…
