Researchers with Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity have published a study purportedly assessing the effectiveness of “major obesity public health campaigns from the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia.” R. Puhl, et al., “Fighting obesity or obese persons? Public perceptions of obesity-related health messages,” International Journal of Obesity, September 2012. After showing a random selection of 10 obesity-related messages to “a nationally representative example of 1014 adults,” the study’s authors reported that participants responded most favorably “to messages involving themes of increased fruit and vegetable consumption, and general messages involving multiple health behaviors.” In particular, those messages that made no mention “obesity” but instead focused on general behaviors and empowerment were rated as more motivating by surveyed adults, while campaigns that “implied personal responsibility and blame… received the more negative/less positive ratings among participants.” “This suggests that messages intended to motivate individuals to be healthier…
Category Archives Scientific/Technical Items
A new study in which Wistar rats were exposed to bisphenol A (BPA) through drinking water from gestation through puberty purportedly shows that “behavioral impacts of BPA can manifest during adolescence, but wane in adulthood, and may be mitigated by diet.” Heather Patisaul, et al., “Anxiogenic Effects of Developmental Bisphenol A Exposure Are Associated with Gene Expression Changes in the Juvenile Rat Amygdala and Mitigated by Soy”, PLoS One, September 5, 2012. The rats were reared on a soy-based or soy-free diet, and the changes observed were associated only among those on the soy-free diet. The animals, which were found on assessment to have internal BPA doses “within a human-relevant range,” were assessed for anxiety-like and exploratory behavior after weaning but before puberty. According to the authors, “BPA induced anxiogenic behavior in juveniles and loss of sexual dimorphisms in adult exploratory behavior” in the soy-free animals.
A recent study has reportedly documented “lower cognitive performance and reductions in brain structural integrity” among adolescents with metabolic syndrome (MeTS), “thus suggesting that even relatively short-term impairments in metabolism, in the absence of clinically manifest vascular disease, may give rise to brain complications.” Po Lai Yau, et al., “Obesity and Metabolic Syndrome and Functional and Structural Brain Impairments in Adolescence,” Pediatrics, October 2012. Researchers with the New York University School of Medicine and the Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research apparently conducted cognitive testing on 111 adolescents with and without MeTS, concluding that those with metabolic syndrome “showed significantly lower arithmetic, spelling, attention, and mental flexibility and a trend for lower overall intelligence.” In addition, MRIs of the participants reportedly showed, “in a MeTS-dose—related fashion, smaller hippocampal volumes, increased brain cerebrospinal fluid, and reductions of microstructural integrity in major white matter tracts.” According to the report, these “alarming” findings imply that…
Researchers using data for nearly 500,000 men and women participating in the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study have purportedly found that coffee consumption is “inversely associated with colon cancer, particularly proximal tumors.” Rashmi Sinha, “Caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee and tea intakes and risks of colorectal cancer in a large prospective study,” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, June 13, 2012. Ninety percent of the cohort drank coffee, and 16 percent consumed more than four cups per day. “Compared with nondrinkers, heavy coffee drinkers (≥6 cups/d) were more likely to be men, current smokers, and physically inactive and consumed more red meat and alcohol but less fruit and vegetables.” Heavy coffee drinkers also apparently consumed predominantly caffeinated coffee. According to the researchers, “there was an inverse association between individuals who drank 4-5 cups coffee/d compared with nondrinkers with colon cancer (HR: 0.85; 95%, CI: 0.75, 0.96), and the association was even stronger…
Relying on data provided by a study of more than 60,000 Norwegian women from 1999 to 2008, Swedish and Norwegian researchers have found that a “high intake of both AS [artificially sweetened] and SS [sugar-sweetened] beverages is associated with an increased risk of preterm delivery.” Linda Englund-Ögge, et al., “Association between intake of artificially sweetened and sugar-sweetened beverages and preterm delivery: a large prospective cohort study,” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, August 2, 2012. The women were asked about servings of carbonated soft drinks and non-carbonated beverages, both AS and SS, per day, week and month, and a serving was defined as 250 mL for all beverages. The groups were divided into AS and SS groups and further divided into intake categories. For women consuming more than one serving per day of AS beverages, the adjusted odds ratio for preterm delivery was 1.11. Consumption of more than one serving of…
New York University researchers using the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children with data on more than 11,000 children have purportedly found a consistent association between antibiotic exposure in the first six months of life with “elevations in body mass index with overweight and obesity from ages 10 to 38 months.” L. Trasande, et al., “Infant antibiotic exposures and early-life body mass,” International Journal of Obesity, August 21, 2012 (online). The researchers suggest that the administration of antibiotics during early life, “a critical period for gut colonization,” may disrupt “ancient patterns of intestinal colonization.” U.S. farmers since the late 1940s have apparently given low-dose antibiotics to domesticated mammalian and avian species to hasten weight gain with the understanding that “alterations in the microbiota change ‘feed efficiency.’” Thus, the researchers explored the possibility of similar effects in human children. According to lead researcher Leonardo Trasande, “Microbes in our intestines may…
U.K. researchers have allegedly identified raised urinary bisphenol A (uBPA) concentrations in 591 study participants “with intermediate or severe stenoses compared to those graded as having no coronary artery disease [CAD],” suggesting that “associations between uBPA and CAD may be specific to coronary artery stenosis.” David Melzer, et al., “Urinary Bisphenol A Concentration and Angiography-Defined Coronary Artery Stenosis,” PLoS One, August 2012. According to the authors, their results apparently supported the associations between uBPA and CAD reported in three previous studies but “effectively ruled out reverse causation, strengthening the evidence for causal inference.” “The mechanism by which BPA ingestion and metabolism influences vascular function and risk of cardiovascular disease has not been elaborated… We recently suggested plausible mechanisms by which BPA might increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, including reduced nitric oxide bioavailability, altered vascular reactivity to endothelin-1, oxidative stress and inflammation,” concluded the researchers, who recommended further work to…
A recent study has reportedly concluded that school children in states with strong restrictions on competitive food sales gained less weight than their counterparts in states with weaker restrictions. Daniel Taber, et al., “Weight Status Among Adolescents in States That Govern Competitive Food Nutrition Content,” Pediatrics, September 2012. After identifying states with strong, weak or no competitive food laws, researchers analyzed data from 6,300 students in 40 states in both fifth and eighth grade (2004 and 2007). The findings evidently showed that “students exposed to strong laws at baseline gained, on average, 0.25 fewer BMI [body mass index] units… and were less likely to remain overweight or obese over time than students in states with no laws.” “Laws that regulate competitive food nutrition content may reduce adolescent BMI change if they are comprehensive, contain strong language, and are enacted across grade levels,” concluded the study’s authors. “Our results suggest that…
A recent study has allegedly linked a second artificial butter flavoring— 2,3-pentanedione (PD)—to respiratory toxicity in animals, raising concerns about the diacetyl replacement’s potential effects on factory workers. Ann Hubbs, et al., “Respiratory and Olfactory Cytotoxicity of Inhaled 2,3-Pentanedione in Sprague-Dawley Rats,” The American Journal of Pathology, September 2012. After exposing rats to either PD, diacetyl or air for six hours, researchers reported that those inhaling PD “developed necrotizing rhinitis, tracheitis, and bronchitis comparable to diacetyl-induced injury.” The study’s authors then investigated PD’s delayed toxicity on the animals, concluding that the substance caused “respiratory epithelial injury in the upper nose . . . which progressed through 12 to 14 hours after exposure,” as well as the loss of olfactory neurons and altered gene expression in the brain. “Our study demonstrates that PD, like diacetyl, damages airway epithelium in laboratory studies. This finding is important because the damage is believed to be…
A recent study funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) has reportedly registered a significant decrease in the availability of soft drinks in secondary schools but “widespread access to other sugary beverages, such as fruit drinks and sport drinks.” Yvonne Terry McElrath, et al., “Trends in Competitive Venue Beverage Availability: Findings From US Secondary School,” Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, August 2012. After surveying the availability of competitive beverages in 1,900 public middle and high schools from 2006-07 to 2010-11, researchers with the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research reported that the percentage of high school students with access to regular soda fell to 25 percent in 2010-11 from 54 percent in 2006-07, while the percentage of middle schoolers with access to regular soda declined to 13 percent in 2010-11, down from 27 percent in 2006-07. At the same time, however, the survey purportedly revealed that 63 percent of…
