York University researchers have published a qualitative study examining “how obese women with and without binge eating disorder (BED) experience overeating in relation to the DSM-5 [Diagnostic and Statistical Manual] symptoms of addiction.” Claire Curtis & Caroline Davis, “A Qualitative Study of Binge Eating and Obesity From an Addiction Perspective,” Eating Disorders, January 2014. According to the study, the recently-published DSM-5 includes a new category for “Addiction and Related Disorders” that addresses “both substance use disorders (SUDs) and non-substance addictions” in addition to providing new diagnostic guidelines. Using these expanded criteria, the authors interviewed 12 obese women with BED and 12 without BED, concluding that “both groups of women endorsed DSM-5 SUD criteria (in relation to food) in their narratives,” although there were “visible qualitative differences in how the women experienced these symptoms.” More specifically, Curtis and Davis reported that while both groups expressed a desire to reduce their food…
Tag Archives obesity
New York University Nutrition Professor Marion Nestle will join other speakers at Cornell University’s “Festschrift in Honor of Per Pinstrup-Andersen: New Directions in the Fight Against Hunger and Malnutrition,” slated for December 13-14, 2013, in Ithaca, New York. She and Cornell’s Malden Nesheim will present their paper, “The Internationalization of the Obesity Epidemic: The Case of Sugar Sweetened Sodas.” Contending that obesity rates have increased in tandem with the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) and that “many researchers are confident that the evidence justifies public health efforts to reduce children’s soda intake,” the co-authors report that efforts are underway globally to curtail SSB consumption despite pushback and purportedly aggressive foreign-marketing campaigns by U.S. SSB companies. Those efforts include taxes on SSBs, restrictions on marketing them in schools, advocacy, and education.
A recent study has allegedly concluded that soft drink consumption “is significantly linked to overweight, obesity and diabetes worldwide, including in low- and middle-income countries.” Sanjay Basu, et al., “Relationship of Soft Drink Consumption to Global Overweight, Obesity, and Diabetes: A Cross-National Analysis of 75 Countries,” American Journal of Public Health, November 2013. Relying on soft drink industry data obtained from the EuroMonitor Passport Global Market Information Database, researchers analyzed soft drink sale records for 79 countries from 1997 to 2010 that included per capita annual purchases of both imported and domestically-produced carbonated soft drinks. They also examined age-standardized overweight prevalence data obtained from the World Health Organization’s Global Database on Body Mass Index, which reflects “the best available population-representative, survey-based estimates of the percentage of adults aged 20 years and older in each country who had a [BMI] of 25 kg/m2 of greater.” After assessing “global trends and variation…
Communications and health policy researchers report that while perceptions about government interventions to address childhood obesity are correlated with political ideology, certain approaches to—or framing of—the childhood obesity message can affect whether conservatives accept the seriousness of the problem and are willing to (i) endorse responsibility beyond the individual, and (ii) support policy action. Sarah Gollust, et al., “Framing the Consequences of Childhood Obesity to Increase Public Support for Obesity Prevention Policy,” Research & Practice, November 2013. Their findings were based on two Web-based public opinion surveys. The first involved testing perceptions as to a series of common messages about the consequences of childhood obesity. And from those viewed as the strongest, the researchers selected four to use in the second study to assess beliefs about responsibility for addressing childhood obesity and support for policies intended to curb its incidence, including a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages, physical activity requirements in schools,…
A recent article detailing the history of food addiction studies has claimed that foods dense in fat and sugar can override our appetite suppressing hormones, activate our neurological reward systems and prompt us to continue eating past the point of satiety. Paul Kenny, “Is obesity an addiction?,” Scientific American, September 2013. According to author Paul Kenny, a neuroscientist with The Scripps Research Institute, obesity in some cases may be caused “by hedonic overeating that hijacks the brain’s reward networks,” thus creating “a feedback loop in the brain’s reward centers—the more you consume, the more you crave, and the harder it is for you to satisfy that craving.” Asking whether this cycle of hedonistic overeating constitutes an addiction, Kenny not only describes several studies that seem to highlight the similarities between drug addiction and obesity, but also explains important differences between the two conditions. In particular, he notes that “research overall indicates…
Tel Aviv University Senior Law Lecturer Avihay Dorfman explores the theoretical underpinnings of assumption of the risk as a tort defense and illustrates its nuances in the context of obesity. “Assumption of the Risk, After All,” Theoretical Inquiries in Law (forthcoming 2013). Observing that any hostility toward the doctrine stems from the perception that it has a libertarian basis, the author develops a liberal egalitarian account, “arguing that the fact of making a choice (to assume a given risk) is not sufficient to justify the shifting of responsibility from the negligent injurer to the choosing victim. For it is also necessary that the latter must be acting under conditions that render this shifting fair.” In the case of an obese individual residing in a “food desert” where “junk food” is the only food readily available at an affordable price, Dorfman contends that it would not be fair to attribute responsibility for…
A recent study examining the role of gut bacteria in obesity has reported that germ-free mice transplanted with human fecal microbiota either gained weight or stayed lean depending on the body profile of the human donor. Vanessa Ridaura, et al., “Gut Microbiota from Twins Discordant for Obesity Modulate Metabolism in Mice,” Science, September 2013. Using mice with no gut microbiota of their own, researchers with the Washington University School of Medicine apparently conducted two separate experiments, the first of which involved transplanting fecal microbiota from one lean twin and one obese twin into mice that were then kept in separate cages and fed a diet low in fat and high in plant polysaccharides. After 15 days, the mice that received bacteria from the lean twin reportedly stayed lean while the mice that received bacteria from the obese twin gained weight and fat in addition to developing signs of insulin resistance.…
Public Health Advocacy Institute (PHAI) Staff Attorney Cara Wilking and President Richard Daynard, a self-described “strategic litigation expert with a focus on combating the epidemics caused by tobacco and obesity,” have co-authored an article titled “Beyond Cheeseburgers: The Impact of Commonsense Consumption Acts on Future Obesity-Related Lawsuits.” 68 Food & Drug Law Journal 229 (2013). Beginning with the premise that “[a]ffirmative litigation is an important tool in the public health toolkit to recover healthcare costs stemming from harmful commercial practices and to prevent future health harms,” they provide a detailed analysis of the “Common Sense Consumption” acts (CCAs) enacted in 25 states to shield the food industry from civil liability for obesity-related harms allegedly caused by the long-term consumption of food. According to the authors, the National Restaurant Association took a leadership role in getting the measures before state legislatures. Noting that CCAs “have yet to be meaningfully tested in the…
A recent study has reportedly claimed that higher levels of urinary bisphenol A (BPA) “were associated with a higher odds of obesity … and abnormal waist circumference-to-height ratio” in children. Donna Eng, et al., “Bisphenol A and Chronic Disease Risk Factors in US Children, Pediatrics, September 2013. Using data from 3,000 children ages 6 to 18 who were enrolled in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2003-2010, University of Michigan researchers evidently sought to evaluate cross-sectional associations between urinary BPA “and multiple measures of adiposity, cholesterol, insulin, and glucose.” The results suggested that although urinary BPA was associated with an increased risk of obesity, “there were no associations found between BPA and laboratory measures of cardiovascular disease and diabetes risk,” an outcome that apparently contrasted with previous adult studies. “Our findings suggest the need for longitudinal analysis to elucidate temporal relationships between BPA exposure and the development of obesity…
The Institute of Medicine (IOM) has published an August 2013 report that seeks to provide guidance to federal, state and local groups “for systematic and routine planning, implementation, and evaluation of the advancement of obesity prevention efforts.” Titled Evaluating Obesity Prevention Efforts: A Plan for Measuring Progress, the latest effort complements the specific goals and strategies outlined in a 2012 report funded by the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation as part of IOM’s Weight of the NationTM campaign. To this end, it offers frameworks for national, state and community-level obesity evaluation plans that address “aspects of data collection and infrastructure systems, capacity for conducting evaluations, and feedback mechanisms for the data collected,” among other things. In particular, the report identifies 83 indicators for evaluation, including overarching indicators that “focus on obesity, overweight, and weight status for evaluating the combined effect of the full system of the goals and strategies outlined…
