A recent study has reportedly likened overeating to a drug addiction, concluding that rats given access to high-fat food exhibited a neurochemical dependency similar to the “reward homeostasis induced by cocaine or heroin.” Paul Johnson and Paul Kenny, “Dopamine D2 Receptors in Addiction-Like Reward Dysfunction and Compulsive Eating in Obese Rats,” Nature Neuroscience, March 28, 2010. Researchers monitored the brains of rats divided into three groups: the first allowed unlimited access to high-fat foods; the second given access to high-fat fare for only one hour per day; and the third fed rat chow only. While the rats in the second group acquired a pattern of compulsive binge eating, consuming 66 percent of their daily calories during the one hour when high-fat food was available, the rats with extended access not only grew obese but also displayed “a progressively worsening deficit in neural reward responses.” The obese rats gradually developed an…
Category Archives Scientific/Technical Items
A new study asserts that the food portions depicted in paintings of the Last Supper as chronicled in the New Testament of the Bible linearly increased for 1,000 years. Brian and Craig Wansink, “The largest Last Supper: depictions of food portions and plate size increased over the millennium,” International Journal of Obesity, March 23, 2010. Authored by sibling scholars, the study examined 52 of the most artistically significant depictions of the Last Supper between the year 1000 and the year 2000, although Craig Wansink was quoted as saying the period of artwork considered ended about 1900 because few non-parodic Last Suppers have been created since then. Using the size of the diners’ heads as a basis for comparison, the Wansinks determined that the relative sizes of the main course increased by 69.2 percent, bread by 23.1 percent and plates by 65.6 percent. “I think people assume that increased serving sizes,…
A recent study involving both short- and long-term animal experiments has purportedly linked high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) to significant weight gain in rats. Miriam Bocarsly, et al., “High-fructose corn syrup causes characteristics of obesity in rats: Increased body weight, body fat and triglyceride levels,” Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior, March 2010. According to a March 23, 2010, Princeton University press release, researchers have “demonstrated that all sweeteners are not equal when it comes to weight gain: Rats with access to high-fructose corn syrup gained significantly more weight than those with access to table sugar, even when their overall caloric intake was the same.” In the short-term experiment, the authors reported that “male rats given water sweetened with [HFCS] in addition to a standard diet of rat chow gained much more weight than male rats that received water sweetened with table sugar, or sucrose, in conjunction with the standard diet.” Moreover, the long-term…
A recent psychology study has reportedly suggested that children younger than age 5 “have emerging knowledge of brands that are relevant in their lives.” Anna McAllister and T. Bettina Cornwell, “Children’s Brand Symbolism Understanding: Links to Theory of Mind and Executive Functioning,” Psychology & Marketing, March 2010. Noting previous research suggesting that “brand symbolism understanding does not develop until 7 to 11 years of age,” the study authors nevertheless found that younger children not only recognize brands, but are already beginning to understand brands “as social systems.” McAllister and Cornwell first asked 38 children ages 3 to 5 to identify brand name logos for 50 brands across 16 product categories, including fast food. The researchers then interviewed 42 3-to-6 year olds to determine their brand symbolism understanding. “Surprisingly, there were children as young as 3 who were making very strong judgments when comparing McDonald’s and Burger King,” one author was quoted…
Researchers at Yale School of Medicine have reportedly claimed in a new study that exposure to the food packaging chemical bisphenol A (BPA) during pregnancy can cause permanent abnormalities in the uterus of offspring, including altering their DNA. Jason G. Bromer, et al, “Bisphenol-A exposure in utero leads to epigenetic alterations in the developmental programming of uterine estrogen response,” Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (March 2010). According to a March 8, 2010, Yale University press release, the study is the first to show that BPA exposure permanently affects sensitivity to estrogen. Using two groups of mice, one exposed to BPA as a fetus during pregnancy and another exposed to a placebo, researchers examined gene expression and the amount of DNA modification in the uterus. Results showed that the mice exposed to BPA as a fetus had an exaggerated response to estrogens as adults, long after the…
According to researchers from Denmark and Greece, some juice drinks obtained from markets in the European Union (EU) contain levels of antimony, a suspected carcinogen related to arsenic, above EU drinking water limits. Claus Hansen, et al., “Elevated antimony concentrations in commercial juices,” Journal of Environmental Monitoring, February 17, 2010. According to the article, “Antimony concentrations up to a factor of 2.7 above the EU limit for drinking water were found in commercial juices and may either be leached from the packaging material or introduced during manufacturing, pointing out the need for further research.” The researchers reportedly tested antimony levels in 42 different beverages, primarily red fruit juices, produced in the United Kingdom and sold in polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles or Tetra Pak® cartons. They apparently found antimony above established safe levels in eight of them. Lead researcher Claus Hansen noted that while the levels exceeded drinking water limits, because “no antimony…
A recent study has reportedly claimed that “nationally representative surveys of food intake in U.S. children show large increases in snacking between the 1989-91 to 1994-98 and 1994-98 to 2003-06 periods.” Carmen Piernas and Barry Popkin, “Trends in Snacking Among U.S. Children,” Health Affairs, March 2010. Researchers apparently examined the responses of 31,337 children ages 2 to 18 who participated in four federal food surveys, concluding that this population’s average dietary intake has risen by 113 calories per day. In addition, the study reports, “Childhood snacking trends are moving toward three snacks per day, and more than 27 percent of children’s daily calories are coming from snacks. The researchers further noted that while “desserts and sweetened beverages remain the major sources of calories from snacks,” calories from salty snack foods more than doubled between 1977 and 2006. “Our findings suggest that children ages 2–18 are experiencing important increases in snacking…
A recent study has apparently concluded that industry efforts to reduce mean sodium intake by 9.5 percent could avert “513,885 strokes and 480,358 MIs [myocardial infarctions] over the lifetime of adults aged 40 to 85 years who are alive today compared with the status quo, increasing QALYs [quality-adjusted life-years] by 2.1 million and saving $32.1 billion in medical costs.” Crystal Smith-Spangler, et al., “Population Strategies to Decrease Sodium Intake and the Burden of Cardiovascular Disease: A Cost-Effectiveness Analysis,” Annals of Internal Medicine, March 1, 2010. By comparison, a sodium tax of 40 percent would achieve only a 6 percent reduction in salt intake, averting 327,892 strokes and 306,173 MIs, increasing QALYs by 1.3 million and saving $22.4 billion over the same period. Researchers specifically assessed the cost-effectiveness of two population strategies to reduce sodium intake: “government collaboration with food manufacturers to voluntarily cut sodium in processed foods, modeled on the…
Researchers studying 31 different types of food purchased from supermarkets in Dallas, Texas, have apparently found a range of persistent organic pollutants, including organochlorine pesticides, at varying levels, although none exceeded Environmental Protection Agency reference doses or EU maximum residue levels for pesticide residues in food. Arnold Schecter, et al., “Perfluorinated Compounds, Polychlorinated Biphenyl, and Orgnaochlorine Pesticide Contamination in Composite Food Samples from Dallas, Texas,” Environmental Health Perspectives, February 10, 2010. Noting that a number of the pollutants tested have been banned for some time in the United States, the researchers nonetheless found them in meat products, fish, dairy, vegetable-based foods, and eggs. While uncertain whether some of the chemicals may have migrated from food packaging, the researchers conclude that “US food is contaminated with a wide range of chemicals, including pesticides, PFCs, and PCBs and that expanding the current monitoring beyond pesticides to include emerging pollutants is warranted.” The…
A recent study has reportedly “confirmed that beer is a very rich source of silicon,” a dietary nutrient that increases bone mineral density. Troy Casey and Charles Bamforth, “Silicon in Beer and Brewing,” Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, February 2010. According to researchers with the University of California’s Department of Food Science and Technology, pale ales made from barley grist contained more silicon than non-alcoholic beers, light lagers and wheat beers, “likely because of the high levels of silica in the retained husk of barley.” Of the commercial beers sampled, silicon content apparently ranged from 6.4 to 56.5 milligrams per liter. “During brewing the vast majority of the silicon remains with the spent grains; however, aggressive treatment during wort production in the brewhouse leads to increased extraction of silicon into wort and much of this survives into the beer,” the study concludes. See Reuters, February 9, 2010.
