One in four elderly Australian women has dementia
At least a quarter of Australian women over 70 will develop dementia according to study
March 17, 2017
Science Daily/University of Queensland
At least a quarter of Australian women over 70 will develop dementia according to researchers. Australian policymakers previously had to rely on dementia rates from international studies, or extrapolated from clinical assessments made on small groups of people. The researchers used a technique borrowed from ecologists to provide an up-to-date estimate for dementia in the Australian population
The researchers used a new technique to provide an up-to-date estimate for dementia in the Australian population. Dr Michael Waller from the UQ School of Public Health said the nation's population was aging, but there was conflicting information being presented.
"On one hand we expect the number of women living with dementia to increase, but on the other hand there is international research suggesting rates might be decreasing," Dr Waller said.
"Having an up-to-date, local estimate of dementia rates is important so that policy makers and the health care and aged care industries can meet the needs of older Australians.
"There's no national registry for dementia, so Australian policy makers have had to rely on dementia rates from international studies, or extrapolated from clinical assessments made on small groups of people.
"We needed a new approach so we used a method ecologists call 'capture-recapture'.
"Where an ecologist works with animals, we work with data.
"So instead of capturing, tagging, releasing and then recapturing animals to estimate a population size we are applying the same technique to health data to estimate the number of cases.
"The prevalence of dementia is often underestimated and this technique allows us to compare different data sources and estimate the number of cases that may have been missed."
The researchers looked at data from 12,000 Australian women born between 1921 and 1926 who participated in the Women's Health Australia study (also known as the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health).
For the past 20 years participants answered detailed surveys on their lifestyle, activities, and physical and mental health.
Survey data was linked to aged care assessments, the National Death Index, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, and hospital admissions data to find any instance where the women participating in the study were diagnosed with dementia by a doctor.
"Previously, an elderly participant with dementia would have just dropped out of the survey, but by linking to additional health records we can find out what happened to them and their contribution isn't lost," Dr Waller said.
"The women in the study have been very loyal over the years and I think that they, and their families, would appreciate that their contribution to women's health research will continue despite their diagnosis."
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/03/170317082500.htm
Exposure to aluminum may impact on male fertility
- October 21, 2014
Science Daily/SOURCE :http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/10/141021085114.htm
Science Daily/Keele University
Human exposure to aluminum may be a significant factor in falling sperm counts and reduced male fertility, new research suggests. Fluorescence microscopy using an aluminum-specific stain confirmed the presence of aluminum in semen and showed aluminum inside individual sperm.
New research from scientists in the UK and France suggests that human exposure to aluminum may be a significant factor in falling sperm counts and reduced male fertility.
Professor Exley said: "There has been a significant decline in male fertility, including sperm count, throughout the developed world over the past several decades and previous research has linked this to environmental factors such as endocrine disruptors.
"Human exposure to aluminum has increased significantly over the same time period and our observation of significant contamination of male semen by aluminum must implicate aluminum as a potential contributor to these changes in reproductive fertility."
The mean aluminum content for all 62 donors was found to be very high at 339 ppb with the aluminum content of semen from several donors being in excess of 500 ppb. A statistically significant inverse relationship was found between the aluminum content of semen and the sperm count. Higher aluminum resulted in a lower sperm count.
Positive father-child relationship can moderate negative effects of maternal depression Crucial role for partners of depressed mothers
Crucial role for partners of depressed mothers
May 11, 2017
Science Daily/Bar-Ilan University
A new study has examined for the first time whether fathering can moderate the negative effects of maternal depression on family-level functioning. The results of the study are the first to describe the family process by using direct observations of mothering, fathering, and family patterns in homes where mothers suffer clinical depression during the child's first years of life.
Maternal depression negatively impacts children's emotional and cognitive development and family life. Studies have shown that a home in which the mother suffers from depression exhibits lower cohesion, warmth, and expressiveness and higher conflict, rigidity, and affectionless control. Since 15-18% of women in industrial societies and up to 30% in developing countries suffer from maternal depression, it is of clinical and public health concern to understand the effects of maternal depression on children's development.
A family affair
A new study, published in Development and Psychopathology, by Prof. Ruth Feldman and colleagues at the Department of Psychology and Leslie and Susan Gonda (Goldschmied) Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center at Bar-Ilan University has, for the first time, examined whether fathering can moderate the negative effects of maternal depression on family-level functioning. The results of this study are the first to describe the family process by using direct observations of mothering, fathering, and family patterns in homes where mothers suffer clinical depression during the child's first years of life.
Feldman conducted a longitudinal study of a carefully selected sample of married or cohabiting chronically depressed women with no comorbid contextual risk, who were repeatedly assessed for maternal depression across the first year after childbirth and when the child reached age six. The families were home-visited when the child reached preschool age in order to observe and videotape mother-child, father-child, and both-parent-child interactions.
Sense and sensitivity
During the first years of life, sensitivity marks the most critical component of the parental style that affects the child's emotional and social development. Sensitive parents are attuned to their child's needs and attend to them in a responsive and nonintrusive manner. Parents who act intrusively tend to take over tasks that children are, or could be, performing independently, imposing their own agenda without regard for the child.
In Feldman's study depressed mothers exhibited low sensitivity and high intrusiveness, and children displayed lower social engagement during interactions with them. Partners of depressed mothers also showed low sensitivity, high intrusiveness, and provided little opportunities for child social engagement, so that the family unit was less cohesive, harmonious, warm, and collaborative. However, when fathers were sensitive, nonintrusive, and engaged children socially, maternal depression no longer predicted low family cohesion.
Feldman: "When fathers rise to the challenge of co-parenting with a chronically depressed mother, become invested in the father-child relationship despite little modeling from their wives, and form a sensitive, nonintrusive, and reciprocal relationship with the child that fosters his/her social involvement and participation, fathering can buffer the spillover from maternal depression to the family atmosphere."
According to Feldman, because rates of maternal depression appear to increase each decade, and paternal involvement in child care is constantly increasing in industrial societies, it is critical to address the fathers' potential contribution to family welfare by providing interventions for the development of a sensitive parenting style and other compensatory mechanisms, in order to enhance their role as buffers of the negative effects of maternal depression.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/05/170511095154.htm
Sleep disorders affect men and women differently
Women are more likely to feel tired and depressed than men
May 23, 2017
Science Daily/American Academy of Sleep Medicine
A new study suggests that men and women are affected differently by sleep disorders. Results show that women are more likely than men to have more severe symptoms of depression, trouble sleeping at night, and excessive daytime sleepiness. Women also have a higher degree of difficulty concentrating and remembering things due to sleepiness or tiredness. In contrast, male snoring was more likely than female snoring to force bed partners to sleep in different rooms.
Results show that women are more likely than men to have more severe symptoms of depression, trouble sleeping at night, and excessive daytime sleepiness. Women also have a higher degree of difficulty concentrating and remembering things due to sleepiness or tiredness. In contrast, male snoring was more likely than female snoring to force bed partners to sleep in different rooms.
"We found that females were more likely to have sleeping disorders associated with daytime sleepiness," said co-author Dr. John Malouf, founder of SleepGP sleep clinic in Coolangatta, Queensland, Australia. "Females were also likely to feel more affected by the burden of their symptoms."
The main purpose of the study was to understand the differences in functional status between the sexes when they present to primary care providers with sleep problems.
"What was surprising about the results was that while men and women tended to present at a similar age, their symptoms and the effect on their lives differed markedly," said lead author Allegra Boccabella, research associate at SleepGP clinic. "We didn't expect there to be differences across the board in terms of the different aspects of people's lives."
Study results are published in the May 15 issue of the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine.
Boccabella and Malouf conducted a retrospective clinical audit of 744 patients who received sleep-related health care from 7 private general practices in Australia between April 2013 and January 2015. Patients completed a variety of sleep-related questionnaires, including the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), the Snoring Severity Scale (SSS), and the Functional Outcomes of Sleep Questionnaire 10.
According to the authors, understanding how the symptoms reported by women differ from those of men can help medical professionals manage sleep disorders more holistically.
"If we can identify the ways that their lives are affected, we can help produce better outcomes for the patient," said Boccabella.
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/05/170523081838.htm
Mindfulness-focused childbirth education leads to less depression
May 24, 2017
Science Daily/University of Wisconsin-Madison
A new study shows mindfulness training that addresses fear and pain during childbirth can improve women's childbirth experiences and reduce their depression symptoms during pregnancy and the early postpartum period.
"Fear of the unknown affects us all, and perhaps none more so than pregnant women," says lead author Larissa Duncan, UW-Madison professor of human development and family studies. "With mindfulness skills, women in our study reported feeling better able to cope with childbirth and they experienced improved mental well-being critical for healthy mother-infant adjustment in the first year of life."
The study also suggests that pregnant women who practice mindfulness may use less medication for pain during labor. Many women and their healthcare providers are concerned about the use of medications during pregnancy, labor and while breastfeeding because of the potential risks to infants. Yet, left untreated, maternal mental health problems also pose a significant risk to infants.
"A mindfulness approach offers the possibility of decreasing the need for these medications and can reach women who may not know they are at risk for perinatal depression or can't access mental health services," Duncan says.
The new study, published in the journal BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, is a randomized, controlled trial called Prenatal Education About Reducing Labor Stress (PEARLS), compares mainstream childbirth education with childbirth education that includes mindfulness skills focused on reducing fear among first-time mothers. Fear of childbirth has been shown in previous studies to be linked to poorer labor-and-delivery outcomes and to depression.
While many consider childbirth education classes a primary resource for pregnant women and their partners to learn information and strategies for the birthing process and remedies for coping with labor pain, there is limited data that demonstrates they achieve these goals for the more than 2 million pregnant women who attend them each year in the United States.
In fact, Duncan says, "sometimes women report that the information in childbirth education actually increases their fear of childbirth."
For the study, considered a pilot because funding limited participation to 30 women and their partners, first-time mothers late in their third trimester of pregnancy were offered either a standard childbirth preparation course lacking a mind-body focus or an intensive weekend workshop called Mind in Labor: Working with Pain in Childbirth.
The workshop was based on the Mindfulness-Based Childbirth and Parenting education course developed by study co-author, Nancy Bardacke, a certified nurse-midwife and senior mindfulness teacher at UCSF. It focused on practices like mindful movement, walking meditation, and pain coping strategies. Previous research shows that mindfulness training can be an effective way to manage both chronic and acute pain.
Participants represented a diversity of ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds. They completed self-reported assessments before and after taking part in a childbirth education course and after giving birth. The mindfulness group also received handouts and guided audio materials so they could practice mindfulness on their own. The study team collected medical record data from each woman.
The researchers found a reduction in depression symptoms in the mindfulness group, which continued through their post-birth follow up at approximately six weeks. In contrast, depression symptoms worsened among women who participated in the standard childbirth education courses.
While mothers in the mindfulness group sought epidurals at similar rates to those in the control group and retrospectively reported similar levels of perceived pain during labor, the study did see a trend toward lower use of opioid-based pain medication during labor. While these results were not statistically significant, the rate of narcotic use during labor was around 62 percent in the control group and just 31 percent in the mindfulness group. A larger study is needed to better understand this effect.
"The encouraging results of this small study point to the possibility that mindfulness skills can transform the way expectant parents prepare for this profound life change," says Bardacke. "In addition to supporting moms and babies, we may also be benefiting fathers, who are themselves experiencing the birth of their child and becoming parents. While more research is clearly needed, the larger public health implications of this work are motivating."
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/05/170524131122.htm
Mom and baby sleeping in same room associated with less sleep, unsafe sleep habits
June 5, 2017
Science Daily/Penn State College of Medicine
Room sharing between babies and mothers beyond the first four months is associated with less sleep for babies and unsafe sleeping practices.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends parents keep babies in the same room with them to sleep for the first year to prevent sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). But room sharing between babies and mothers beyond the first four months is associated with less sleep for babies and unsafe sleeping practices the AAP is hoping to prevent, according to Penn State College of Medicine researchers.
While room sharing can be justified for the first six months based on the fact that 90 percent of SIDS cases happen in this timeframe, Dr. Ian Paul, professor of pediatrics, said evidence was lacking for the 6 to 12 month recommendation made by the AAP, which also conflicts with infant sleep expert guidance. This lack of evidence led the researchers to address the question of the effects of parent-baby room sharing on sleep habits and quality for infants 6 to 12 months old.
"Inadequate infant sleep can lead to obesity, poor sleep later in life and can negatively affect parents," Paul said. "Many pediatricians and sleep experts question the room-sharing recommendation until one year because infants begin to experience separation anxiety in the second half of the first year, making it problematic to change sleep locations at that stage. Waiting too long can have negative effects on sleep quality for both parents and infants in both the short and long term."
To study the association between room-sharing and sleep outcomes, researchers used data they had already collected from the INSIGHT study, which included 279 mothers who delivered at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, and their babies. A questionnaire was completed by mothers when their babies were 4 and 9 months old and assessed sleep duration, location, night waking, night feedings, bedtime routines and sleep behaviors. Sleep duration, location and patterns were also assessed at 12 and 30 months. Paul and colleagues report their findings in Pediatrics.
At 4 months, children who already slept independently in their own room averaged 45 minutes longer stretches of continuous sleep than those who shared a room with a parent. At nine months, the gap widened: those who learned to sleep independently by 4 months had sleep stretches that averaged 1 hour and 40 minutes longer than babies who were still sleeping in their parent's room, 542 minutes vs. 442 minutes respectively. Total sleep over the night was also greater for the babies who were in their own room.
These early decisions by parents had lasting effects. At 30 months, babies who had room shared at 9 months slept, on average, 45 minutes less per night than those who were independent sleepers at 4 and 9 months.
Room sharing also affected sleep safety. Babies who shared a room at 4 months were more likely to have a blanket, pillow or other unapproved object that could increase chances of SIDS in their crib than those who slept in their own room. Additionally, babies who shared a room were more likely to be moved into their parent's bed overnight at both 4 and 9 months old.
"Perhaps our most troubling finding was that room-sharing was associated with overnight transitions to bed-sharing, which is strongly discouraged by the American Academy of Pediatrics," Paul said. "Bed-sharing overnight was more common in our sample among 4- and 9-month-olds who began the night on a separate surface in their parents' room."
Paul said the study questions the American Academy of Pediatrics' recommendation to room-share for the entire first year.
"Our findings showing poorer sleep-related outcomes and more unsafe sleep practices for babies who room-share beyond early infancy suggest that the American Academy of Pediatrics should reconsider and revise the recommendation pending evidence to support it."
Paul said that parents should discuss this study and safe sleep guidance with their pediatrician and noted that breastfeeding outcomes were not different between groups at age 4 months and beyond.
Limitations of this study include the study population being mostly white with a lower number of low-income participants. The recommendations may not translate into lower income homes that may not have a separate bedroom for baby.
Other researchers on the study are Patricia Carper, clinical trial coordinator, Penn State College of Medicine; Emily Hohman, research associate, Jennifer Savage, associate director and Michele Marini, research technologist, Center for Childhood Obesity Research, Penn State; Eric Loken, University of Connecticut, Storrs; Stephanie Anzman-Frasca, University at Buffalo, and Leann Birch, University of Georgia.
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/06/170605102137.htm
Weight and diet may help predict sleep quality
Overweight adults spend more of their sleep in REM stage than healthy weight adults do, says Penn Medicine study
June 10, 2016
Science Daily/University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
The old adage 'you are what you eat,' may be better phrased as 'your sleep relates to what you eat.' An individual's body composition and caloric intake can influence time spent in specific sleep stages, according to results of a new study.
In the study, 36 healthy adults experienced two consecutive nights of 10 hours in bed per night at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Polysomnography- which records physiological changes that occur during sleep -- was recorded on the second night. Body composition and resting energy expenditure were assessed on the morning following the first night of sleep. Food/drink intake was measured each day.
The Penn team found that body mass index (BMI), body fat percentage and resting energy expenditure were not significant predictors of sleep stage duration, but that overweight adults exhibited a higher percentage of time spent in the rapid-eye movement (REM) stage of sleep -- when dreams typically occur and characterized by faster heart rate and breathing and less restorative sleep than in non-REM stages -- than normal-weight adults.
The group also found that increased protein intake predicted less stage 2 sleep -- the period when a person's heart rate and breathing are relatively normal and his/her body temperature lowers slightly -- and predicted more REM sleep.
"In a culture of increasing pressure to sacrifice sleep to maintain productivity, this research adds to the body of knowledge on how lifestyle behaviors may influence the quality of our sleep" said Andrea M. Spaeth, PhD, postdoctoral fellow and lead author on the study.
Much of this body of knowledge resulted from the same researchers. A 2013 study from the Penn team found that those with late bedtimes and chronic sleep restriction may be more susceptible to weight gain due to the increased consumption of calories during late-night hours. A 2015 study from the group found that eating less late at night may help curb the concentration and alertness deficits that accompany sleep deprivation.
Future research is needed to study whether changing protein intake alters REM sleep duration and to find the biological mechanisms behind this relationship.
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160610173612.htm
Age, obesity, dopamine appear to influence preference for sweet foods
Finding may reveal dysfunction in the brains of individuals with obesity
June 15, 2016
Science Daily/Washington University School of Medicine
As young people reach adulthood, their preferences for sweet foods typically decline. But a research team has found that for people with obesity, the drop-off may not be as steep, and the brain's reward system may be operating differently.
https://images.sciencedaily.com/2016/06/160615110927_1_540x360.jpg
For people with obesity, the brain's reward system may be operating differently than those who are not obese.
Credit: © ematon / Fotolia
"We believe we may have identified a new abnormality in the relationship between reward response to food and dopamine in the brains of individuals with obesity," said the study's first author, M. Yanina Pepino, PhD, an assistant professor of medicine. "In general, people grow less fond of sweet things as they move from adolescence into adulthood. Also, as we age, we have fewer dopamine receptors in a brain structure, called the striatum, that is critical to the reward system. We find that both younger age and fewer dopamine receptors are associated with a higher preference for sweets in those of normal weight. However, in people with obesity, that was not the case in our study."
The researchers studied 20 subjects with healthy weights and compared them with 24 people considered obese, each of whom had a body mass index of 30 or higher. The study volunteers were 20 to 40 years old.
The participants received drinks containing varying levels of sugar to determine the degrees of sweetness each individual preferred. The researchers then conducted positron emission tomography (PET) scans to identify dopamine receptors linked to rewards in each person's brain. Dopamine is the main chemical in the brain that makes us feel good. The PET scans revealed that although there was a relationship between the dopamine receptors, preference for sweet things and age in lean people, that pattern didn't hold true in the brains of obese people.
"We found disparities in preference for sweets between individuals, and we also found individual variations in dopamine receptors -- some people have high levels and some low -- but when we looked at how those things go together, the general trend in people of normal weight was that having fewer dopamine receptors was associated with a higher preference for sweets," said co-investigator Tamara Hershey, PhD, a professor of psychiatry, of neurology and of radiology.
But that wasn't true in the obese subjects. The relationship between their ages, sweetness preferences and dopamine receptors didn't follow the pattern seen in people who weighed less.
Pepino and Hershey explained that it's possible that insulin resistance or some other metabolic change linked to obesity could contribute to the absence of those associations in the obese group. Although none of the obese study participants had diabetes, some had higher blood glucose and insulin concentrations, and some were becoming resistant to insulin. The researchers believe those factors could have altered the brain's response to sweet things.
"There is a relationship between insulin resistance and the brain's reward system, so that might have something to do with what we saw in obese subjects," Hershey said. "What's clear is that extra body fat can exert effects not only in how we metabolize food but how our brains perceive rewards when we eat that food, particularly when it's something sweet."
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160615110927.htm
Childhood binge eating: Families, feeding, and feelings
June 28, 2016
Science Daily/University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences
In order to put childhood binge eating into context, a new systematic review identifies two potential risk factors for binge eating in children under the age of 12. With family being the most proximal and influential setting affecting behaviors and attitudes in children, the study reports that parental non-involvement or emotional unresponsiveness and weight-related teasing in the family are behaviors consistently associated with childhood binge eating.
In order to put childhood binge eating into context, a new systematic review from the University of Illinois identifies two potential risk factors for binge eating in children under the age of 12. With family being the most proximal and influential setting affecting behaviors and attitudes in children, the study reports that parental non-involvement or emotional unresponsiveness and weight-related teasing in the family are behaviors consistently associated with childhood binge eating.
Jaclyn Saltzman, a doctoral researcher in human development and family studies, and a scholar in the Illinois Transdisciplinary Obesity Prevention Program, explains that childhood binge eating can lead to many weight and eating behavior problems as the child grows and in to adulthood. "Intervening early to address binge eating may not only help prevent an eating disorder from emerging but also prevent lifetime habits of unhealthy weight-related behaviors," she says.
Saltzman stresses that binge eating is not the same as feeling you have had too much dessert at dinner. "Binge eating is feeling like you are not in control when you are eating. You are eating past the point of fullness and to the point of discomfort. You are experiencing a lot of emotional distress because of it," she explains.
She adds that binge eating is associated with depression and obesity.
Saltzman and Janet M. Liechty, a professor of medicine and of social work at U of I, reviewed studies on childhood binge eating spanning the last 35 years. They found that very few studies had been done over the last decade on kids and binge eating in the family context.
"We quickly found out that we had to focus specifically on family correlates and risk factors for childhood binge eating, because we were struck by how little research had explored contextual influences, especially in comparison to a much larger body of literature on individual psychological, behavioral, and biological influences. We thought there was a need for a more nuanced understanding of the context in which childhood binge eating develops," Saltzman says.
Initially, the researchers identified over 700 studies, to which they applied strict inclusion criteria to locate studies that looked at outcomes in children under age 12, using reliable instruments, and assessing the constructs of interest. "That left us with 15 studies, which we screened with a tool to assess risk for bias so that we could comment on the strengths and limitations in the studies," she adds.
In their review, the researchers focused on binge eating and loss-of-control eating behavior. Loss of control is traditionally considered a symptom of binge eating in adults, but Saltzman explains that, according to recent research in the field, loss of control is used as a proxy for binge eating in young children, although this is not yet officially recognized in diagnostic manuals.
"Loss of control is something that researchers have used to describe binge eating in young children," she says. "The idea is that the size of the binge--the amount of food they eat--is less important than the feelings of being out of control or the stress about that eating behavior, especially in young kids, because they don't have all that much control over the food that they have access to. But they do have control of their emotions around eating and how much they eat and the sense of being out of control."
Although they found parent ignoring, under-involvement, emotional non-responsiveness and weight-related teasing in the family to be associated with childhood binge eating, Saltzman says that parent weight, education, economic situation, race, or ethnicity, are not correlated. "Actually, no studies found any association between these constructs and childhood binge eating," she says.
"This study found that childhood binge eating is really associated with parents' weight-related beliefs, but not their actual weight, and their emotional availability but not necessarily the income availability," she adds.
Weight teasing is being made fun of, mocked, or "kidded with" about one's weight, usually for being perceived as being overweight, Saltzman explains. "Family-based weight teasing would be any of those behaviors perpetrated by a family member, like a parent or a sibling."
Despite finding that behavior in the family is an important context for childhood binge eating, Saltzman stresses that this does not indicate that parents are to blame for children's binge eating behaviors. "Even though weight-related teasing was a correlate of childhood binge eating, it would be counterproductive and incorrect to blame parents for childhood binge eating behavior. In light of these findings, the large body of literature linking childhood binge eating to psychological factors such as negative affect, and other research studies our lab has done, we want to stress the importance of shifting the paradigm from focusing on weight alone--which is what weight teasing does--to addressing beliefs about weight and emotional coping strategies in the family."
This study was limited in that it focused only on peer-reviewed, English-language articles, and that it could not use meta-analytic techniques to identify the magnitude of associations between the identified correlates and childhood binge eating. Despite these limitations, the review finds evidence to suggest that focus on the emotional context of eating is critical to understanding childhood binge eating.
"We want to emphasize to parents that weight isn't the 'be all end all,' and that focusing on weight too much can be damaging. Instead, focusing on giving kids the tools they need to manage their emotions, particularly emotions around eating and weight, can help strengthen children's coping skills so they are less likely to need binge eating." Saltzman says.
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160628182630.htm
Are brain changes fueling overeating in the obese?
July 12, 2016
Science Daily/Michigan State University
Obese mice are much more likely than lean mice to overeat in the presence of environmental cues, a behavior that could be related to changes in the brain, finds a new study.
The findings offer clues in Alexander Johnson's quest to unpack the interconnected mechanisms of overeating and obesity. Obesity is an epidemic domestically -- more than a third of Americans are considered to be obese -- and a growing health problem in other parts of the world.
"In today's society we are bombarded with signals to eat, from fast-food commercials to the smell of barbecue and burgers, and this likely drives overeating behaviors," said Johnson, MSU assistant professor of psychology. "Our study suggests both a psychological and neurobiological account for why obese individuals may be particularly vulnerable to these signals."
The study involved two groups of mice -- one group that was fed a high-calorie diet until they became obese and a second group that was fed a regular lab chow diet so they stayed lean. Johnson then trained the mice with different auditory cues. Whenever they heard one cue, such as a tone, the mice received a reward of sugar solution; with a second cue, such as a white noise, they received no reward.
All of the mice were then given access to their assigned maintenance diet for three days so they were satiated (i.e., not hungry) for the test phase of the study.
In that test, the sugar solution was available to the mice at all times to see what would trigger them to start eating. When no cue was given, and when the white-noise cue was given (which previously offered no reward), the lean mice and obese mice ate roughly the same amount. When the rewarding tone cue was given, however, the obese mice ate significantly more of the sugar solution than the lean mice.
"From a psychological perspective, this tells us that the obese mice are more vulnerable to the effects of food cues on evoking overeating behavior," Johnson said. "Looking at it through a human lens, this suggests that obese individuals may be more sensitive to, say, the McDonald's Golden Arches."
But why? The final part of the study may offer an explanation.
Johnson also examined the mice's lateral hypothalamus, which is known as a key brain area in appetite and feeding behavior. Using a procedure called immunofluorescence to label neurons in this area of the brain, he found that neurons releasing a certain hormone -- melanin-concentrating hormone, or MCH -- were more abundant in obese mice. But importantly, these MCH-releasing neurons were more active when the obese mice encountered the environmental reminders of sugar.
"In other words, if you become obese, this may lead to increases in MCH expression, and this may make you more sensitive to this form of overeating," Johnson said.
The novel findings, he added, start to paint a picture in the relationship between brain-behavior mechanisms that may underlie learned overeating in obese individuals.
"This could be one of perhaps many reasons why obese people have the urge to eat more when presented with food cues."
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/07/160712110730.htm
Just add water? New MRI technique shows what drinking water does to your appetite, stomach and brain
July 12, 2016
Science Daily/Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior
Stomach MRI images combined with functional fMRI of the brain activity have provided scientists new insight into how the brain listens to the stomach during eating. Researchers show -- for the first time -- real time data of the brain, the stomach, and people's feelings of satiety measured simultaneously during a meal.
https://images.sciencedaily.com/2016/07/160712093345_1_540x360.jpg
Activation in the insula is increased when the stomach is distended more.
Credit: G CAMPS, R VEIT, M MARS, C DE GRAAF, P SMEETS
In the experiment, participants drank a milk-shake on an empty stomach, which was followed by a small (50 mL) or large glass of water (350 mL). MRI images were used to see how the different amounts of water affected stretching of the stomach: the large glass of water doubled the stomach content compared to the small glass. Together with this larger volume subjects reported to have less hunger and felt fuller.
This novel approach -- combining information obtained simultaneously from MRI images of the stomach, feelings reported by the subjects, and brain scans -- can offer new insights which would otherwise have been unknown, for example that activation in a brain area called the mid-temporal gyrus seems is in some way influenced by the increased water load in this experiment. The Wageningen University scientists developed the combined MRI method as part of the European Nudge-it research project, which seeks to discover simple changes that promote healthier eating. They will use it to search for a brain signature that leads people to decide to stop eating, to determine how strategies like water with a meal can be effective at feeling fuller sooner.
"Combining these types of measurements is difficult, because MRI scanners are usually set-up to perform only one type of scan. We've been able to very quickly switch the scanner from one functionality to another to do this type of research" says Guido Camps, lead author of the study. "In conclusion, we've found that simply adding water increases stomach distension, curbs appetite in the short term and increases regional brain activity."
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/07/160712093345.htm
Stress relief by 'comfort foods' may vary between sexes and across the estrous cycle
July 12, 2016
Science Daily/Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior
Researchers have found that the brain networks that mediate stress relief after eating highly palatable foods may vary between males and females, and may also depend on the stage of the estrous cycle. The study used a rodent model of 'comfort food' to investigate the neurocircuitry behind this phenomenon.
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"We know that both men and women eat tasty foods as a strategy to reduce stress, and in fact there is some evidence that suggests that women may be more prone to this 'comfort food' style of eating," explained Egan. "This study is important because it suggests that males and females may be using slightly different brain regions, and the stress relief in females may also be affected by the stage of the estrous cycle. This can help us understand how eating behaviors can affect men and women differently, and how eating behaviors are affected by fluctuating hormone levels."
The researchers used a rodent model that is based on human snacking patterns. Female rats were given twice-daily access to a small amount of a sweet sugar drink for 14 days, while other female rats were only given water as a control. Then rats were subjected to a stress test, and their stress hormone response was measured. Similar to previous studies done in male rats, female rats that had been given the sugar solution had a lower stress hormone response to the stress challenge. However, in the female rats the reduced stress response only occurred if the rats were in the proestrus/estrus stage of their estrous cycle, when levels of estrogen are high.
Previous studies in male rats have identified particular brain regions that are important for the stress relief, including the basolateral amygdala and prefrontal cortex. The researchers looked at protein markers of activity (FosB/deltaFosB and pCREB) in these brain regions to see if the sugar drink altered these protein levels similarly in male and female rats. FosB/deltaFosB was increased in the amygdala of males who were given the sugar drink compared to those drinking only water. Female rats also showed this increase in amygdala FosB/deltaFosB after the sugar drink, but only when they were in the proestrus/estrus stage of their cycle. In contrast, amygdala pCREB was increased by the sugar drink in males but not females. Instead amygdala pCREB varied across the estrous cycle in female rats and was unaffected by sugar drink. These different patterns show that comfort eating has some similar effects in male and female brains, but also has unique effects in the female brain that vary across the hormonal cycle. Pursuing these findings could lead to different strategies that could be useful for women and men who habitually eat to manage stress.
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/07/160712092358.htm
Parenting and Home Environment Influence Children's Exercise and Eating Habits
June 18, 2013
Science Daily/SOURCE :http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/06/130618113652.htm
Science Daily/Duke Medicine
Kids whose moms encourage them to exercise and eat well, and model those healthy behaviors themselves, are more likely to be active and healthy eaters, according to researchers at Duke Medicine.
"Obesity is a complex phenomenon, which is influenced by individual biological factors and behaviors," said study author Truls Østbye, M.D., PhD, professor of community and family medicine at Duke. "But there are variations in obesity from one society to another and from one environment to another, so there is clearly something in the environment that strongly influences the obesity epidemic."
"If we determine that there is a causal link between chronic sleep and poor dietary choices, then we need to start thinking about how to more actively incorporate sleep hygiene education into obesity prevention and health promotion interventions," she said.
Overeating in obese mice linked to altered brain responses to food cues
July 12, 2016
Science Daily/Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior
Obese mice are much more likely than lean mice to overeat in the presence of environmental cues, a behavior that could be related to changes in the brain, finds a new study by neuroscientists.
The findings offer clues in Alexander Johnson's quest to unpack the interconnected mechanisms of overeating and obesity. Obesity is an epidemic domestically -- more than a third of Americans are considered to be obese -- and a growing health problem in other parts of the world.
"In today's society we are bombarded with signals to eat, from fast-food commercials to the smell of barbecue and burgers, and this likely drives overeating behaviors," said Johnson, Assistant Professor of Psychology at Michigan State University. "Our study suggests both a psychological and neurobiological account for why obese individuals may be particularly vulnerable to these signals."
The study involved two groups of mice -- one group that was fed a high-calorie diet until they became obese and a second group that was fed a regular lab chow diet so they stayed lean. Johnson then trained the mice with different auditory cues. Whenever they heard one cue, such as a tone, the mice received sugar reward; with a second cue, such as a white noise, they received no reward.
The mice were then given access to their assigned maintenance diet for three days so they were satiated (i.e., not hungry) for the final test phase of the study. In that test, the sugar solution was available to the mice at all times, to see what would trigger them to start eating. When no cue was given, and when the white-noise cue was given (which previously offered no reward), the lean mice and obese mice ate roughly the same amount. When the rewarding tone cue was given, however, the obese mice ate significantly more of the sugar solution compared to the lean mice.
"From a psychological perspective, this tells us that the obese mice are more vulnerable to the effects of environmental triggers on evoking overeating behavior," Johnson said. "Looking at it through a human lens, this suggests that obese individuals may be more sensitive to overeating food in the presence of say, the McDonald's Golden Arches."
But why? The final part of the study may offer an explanation.
Johnson also examined the mice's lateral hypothalamus, which is known as a key brain area in appetite and feeding behavior. Using a procedure called immunofluorescence to label neurons in this area of the brain, he found that neurons releasing a certain hormone- Melanin-Concentrating Hormone, or MCH -- were more abundant in obese mice. But importantly, these MCH-releasing neurons were more active when the obese mice encountered the environmental reminders of sugar.
"In other words, if you become obese this leads to increases in MCH expression, which may make you more sensitive to this form of overeating," Johnson said.
The novel findings, he added, start to paint a picture of the relationship between brain-behavior mechanisms that may underlie learned overeating in obese individuals.
"This could be one of perhaps many reasons why obese people may have the urge to eat more when presented with food cues."
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/07/160712092351.htm
Brains of overweight people 'ten years older' than lean counterparts at middle-age
August 4, 2016
Science Daily/University of Cambridge
From middle-age, the brains of obese individuals display differences in white matter similar to those in lean individuals ten years their senior, according to new research
https://images.sciencedaily.com/2016/08/160804071223_1_540x360.jpg
Comparison of grey matter (brown) and white matter (yellow) in sex-matched subjects A (56 years, BMI 19.5) and B (50 years, BMI 43.4)
Credit: Lisa Ronan
Our brains naturally shrink with age, but scientists are increasingly recognising that obesity -- already linked to conditions such as diabetes, cancer and heart disease -- may also affect the onset and progression of brain ageing; however, direct studies to support this link are lacking.
In a cross-sectional study -- in other words, a study that looks at data from individuals at one point in time -- researchers looked at the impact of obesity on brain structure across the adult lifespan to investigate whether obesity was associated with brain changes characteristic of ageing. The team studied data from 473 individuals between the ages of 20 and 87, recruited by the Cambridge Centre for Aging and Neuroscience. The results are published in the journal Neurobiology of Aging.
The researchers divided the data into two categories based on weight: lean and overweight. They found striking differences in the volume of white matter in the brains of overweight individuals compared with those of their leaner counterparts. Overweight individuals had a widespread reduction in white matter compared to lean people.
The team then calculated how white matter volume related to age across the two groups. They discovered that an overweight person at, say, 50 years old had a comparable white matter volume to a lean person aged 60 years, implying a difference in brain age of 10 years.
Strikingly, however, the researchers only observed these differences from middle-age onwards, suggesting that our brains may be particularly vulnerable during this period of ageing.
"As our brains age, they naturally shrink in size, but it isn't clear why people who are overweight have a greater reduction in the amount of white matter," says first author Dr Lisa Ronan from the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Cambridge, "We can only speculate on whether obesity might in some way cause these changes or whether obesity is a consequence of brain changes."
Senior author Professor Paul Fletcher, from the Department of Psychiatry, adds: "We're living in an ageing population, with increasing levels of obesity, so it's essential that we establish how these two factors might interact, since the consequences for health are potentially serious.
"The fact that we only saw these differences from middle-age onwards raises the possibility that we may be particularly vulnerable at this age. It will also be important to find out whether these changes could be reversible with weight loss, which may well be the case."
Despite the clear differences in the volume of white matter between lean and overweight individuals, the researchers found no connection between being overweight or obese and an individual's cognitive abilities, as measured using a standard test similar to an IQ test.
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/08/160804071223.htm
Mediterranean diet associated with lower risk of early death in cardiovascular disease patients
Preventing sudden death -- diet or device
August 29, 2016
Science Daily/European Society of Cardiology
The Mediterranean diet is associated with a reduced risk of death in patients with a history of cardiovascular disease, according to results from the observational study.
"The Mediterranean diet is widely recognised as one of the healthier nutrition habits in the world," said Professor Giovanni de Gaetano, head of the Department of Epidemiology and Prevention at the I.R.C.C.S. Neuromed Institute in Pozzilli, Italy. "In fact, many scientific studies have shown that a traditional Mediterranean lifestyle is associated with a lower risk of various chronic diseases and, more importantly, of death from any cause."
"But so far research has focused on the general population, which is mainly composed of healthy people," he added. "What happens to people who have already suffered from cardiovascular disease? Is the Mediterranean diet optimal for them too?"
The answer is yes, according to a study in patients with a history of cardiovascular disease, such as coronary artery disease and stroke. The patients were among the participants enrolled into the Moli-sani project, a prospective epidemiological study that randomly recruited around 25,000 adults living in the Italian region of Molise.
"Among the participants, we identified 1197 people who reported a history of cardiovascular disease at the time of enrolment into Moli-sani," said Dr Marialaura Bonaccio, lead author of the research.
Food intake was recorded using the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer (EPIC) food frequency questionnaire. Adherence to the Mediterranean diet was appraised with a 9-point Mediterranean diet score (MDS). All-cause death was assessed by linkage with data from the office of vital statistics in Molise.
During a median follow up of 7.3 years there were 208 deaths. A 2-point increase in the MDS was associated with a 21% reduced risk of death after controlling for age, sex, energy intake, egg and potato intake, education, leisure-time physical activity, waist to hip ratio, smoking, hypertension, hypercholesterolaemia, diabetes and cancer at baseline.
When considered as a 3-level categorical variable, the top category (score 6-9) of adherence to the Mediterranean diet was associated with 37% lower risk of death compared to the bottom category (0-3).
Professor de Gaetano said: "We found that among those with a higher adherence to the Mediterranean diet, death from any cause was reduced by 37% in comparison to those who poorly adhered to this dietary regime."
The researchers deepened their investigation by looking at the role played by individual foods that make up Mediterranean diet. "The major contributors to mortality risk reduction were a higher consumption of vegetables, fish, fruits, nuts and monounsaturated fatty acids -- that means olive oil," said Dr Bonaccio.
Professor de Gaetano concluded: "These results prompt us to investigate the mechanism(s) through which the Mediterranean diet may protect against death. This was an observational study so we cannot say that the effect is causal. We expect that dietary effects on mediators common to chronic diseases such as inflammation might result in the reduction of mortality from any cause but further research is needed."
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/08/160829094040.htm
Stress and obesity biologically linked
October 5, 2016
Science Daily/The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Metabolic and anxiety-related disorders both pose a significant healthcare burden, and are in the spotlight of contemporary research and therapeutic efforts. Although intuitively we assume that these two phenomena overlap, the link has not been scientifically demonstrated.
Now, a team of researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, headed by Prof. Hermona Soreq from the Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences and the Department of Biological Chemistry at the Faculty of Mathematics and Sciences, revealed the molecular elements that bridge anxiety and metabolism -- a type of microRNA that influences shared biological mechanisms.
"We already know that there is a connection between body and mind, between the physical and the emotional, and studies show that psychological trauma affects the activity of many genes. Our previous research found a link between microRNA and stressful situations -- stress and anxiety generate an inflammatory response and dramatically increase the expression levels of microRNA regulators of inflammation in both the brain and the gut, for example the situation of patients with Crohn's disease may get worse under psychological stress, "says Prof. Soreq.
"In the present study, we added obesity to the equation. We revealed that some anxiety-induced microRNA are not only capable of suppressing inflammation but can also potentiate metabolic syndrome-related processes. We also found that their expression level is different in diverse tissues and cells, depending on heredity and exposure to stressful situations," explains Prof. Soreq.
The family of microRNA genes is part of the human genome, which was considered until not too long ago as "junk-DNA." However, microRNAs are now known to fulfill an important role in regulating the production process of proteins by other genes. These tiny RNA molecules, which are one percent of the average size of a protein-coding gene, act as suppressors of inflammation and are able to halt the production of proteins.
The research paper, published in the journal Trends in Molecular Medicine, details the evidence linking microRNA pathways, which share regulatory networks in metabolic and anxiety-related conditions. In particular, microRNAs involved in these disorders include regulators of acetylcholine signaling in the nervous system and their accompanying molecular machinery.
Metabolic disorders, such as abdominal obesity and diabetes, have become a global epidemic. In the USA, the prevalence of metabolic syndrome is as high as 35 percent. In other countries, such as Austria, Denmark and Ireland it affects 20-25 percent of the population.
Anxiety disorders are harder to quantify than metabolic ones. They include obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and phobia. The full burden of the anxiety spectrum is difficult to assess, due to under-diagnosis and poorly defined pathophysiological processes.
This newly revealed link offers novel opportunities for innovative diagnoses and treatment of both metabolic and anxiety-related phenomena.
"The discovery has a diagnostic value and practical implications, because the activity of microRNAs can be manipulated by DNA-based drugs," explains Prof. Soreq. "It also offers an opportunity to reclassify 'healthy' and 'unhealthy' anxiety and metabolic-prone states, and inform putative strategies to treat these disorders."
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/10/161005114822.htm
Sleep-deprived preschoolers eat more
Study has implications for childhood obesity
October 13, 2016
Science Daily/University of Colorado at Boulder
Sleep-deprived preschoolers consumed about 20 percent more calories than usual, 25 percent more sugar and 26 percent more carbohydrates, say researchers. The following day, the kids were allowed to sleep as much as they needed. On this "recovery day," they returned to normal baseline levels of sugar and carbohydrate consumption, but still consumed 14 percent more calories and 23 percent more fat than normal.
During the day of lost sleep, the 3- and 4-year-olds consumed about 20 percent more calories than usual, 25 percent more sugar and 26 percent more carbohydrates, said Assistant Professor Monique LeBourgeois, lead study author. The following day, the kids were allowed to sleep as much as they needed. On this "recovery day," they returned to normal baseline levels of sugar and carbohydrate consumption, but still consumed 14 percent more calories and 23 percent more fat than normal.
"With this study design, children missed a daytime nap and stayed up late, which mimics one way that children lose sleep in the real world," said LeBourgeois of the Department of Integrative Physiology. According to the National Sleep Foundation, about 30 percent of preschoolers do not get enough sleep.
"We found that sleep loss increased the dietary intake of preschoolers on both the day of and the day after restricted sleep," she said. These results may shed light on how sleep loss can increase weight gain and why a number of large studies show that preschoolers who do not get enough sleep are more likely to be obese as a child and later in life.
A paper on the study was published in the Journal of Sleep Research.
Even with extensive obesity prevention efforts in the past decade, childhood obesity remains an epidemic. In 2014, 23 percent of American children under the age of 5 years were overweight or obese, said LeBourgeois. Childhood obesity increases the risk for later life chronic illnesses like diabetes and is associated with low self-esteem and depression. Overweight youth are about four times more likely to be obese as adults.
"We think one of the beauties of this study is that parents were given no instructions regarding the kind or amount of food or beverages to provide their children," said LeBourgeois. Parents fed their children just like they would on any normal day.
The researchers also studied each child across all study conditions -- meaning when their sleep was optimized, restricted and recovered -- which gave them control over how kids could differ individually in their eating preferences and sleep.
The children in the study -- five girls and five boys -- each wore small activity sensors on their wrists to measure time in bed, sleep duration and sleep quality. Parents logged all food and beverages consumed by the preschoolers, including portion sizes, brand names and quantities, using household measures like grams, teaspoons and cups. For homemade dishes parents recorded ingredients, quantities and cooking methods.
"To our knowledge, this is the first published study to experimentally measure the effects of sleep loss on food consumption in preschool children," said Elsa Mullins, the study first author and a CU Boulder researcher who worked with LeBourgeois as an undergraduate. "Our results are consistent with those from other studies of adults and adolescents, showing increased caloric intake on days that subjects were sleep deprived," she said.
Other CU Boulder co-authors include Professor Kenneth Wright, graduate student Sherin Cherian and postdoctoral fellow Salome Kurth. University of Michigan co-authors include Dr. Julie Lumeng and Associate Professor Alison Miller.
The new study opens the door for a number of follow-up studies using larger samples, experimentally controlling dietary intake and objectively measuring energy expenditure in children. The study was funded in part by a National Institute of Mental Health grant to LeBourgeois and undergraduate research grants to Mullins from CU Boulder.
Another study involving Kurth and LeBourgeois supported by a Jacobs Foundation grant and in collaboration with Brown University was recently published in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. Findings showed that the developing brain regions of school-age children are the hardest hit by sleep restriction.
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/10/161013145906.htm
Red is good: The brain uses color to help us choose what to eat
November 14, 2016
Science Daily/Sissa Medialab
Red means "Green light, go for it!" Green means: "hmm, better not!" Like an upside down traffic light in our brain, color helps us decide whether or not to eat something. This new study states that vision is the main sense we use to guide us in food choices. To evaluate calorie intake, we rely on a "color code."
"According to some theories, our visual system evolved to easily identify particularly nutritious berries, fruits and vegetables from jungle foliage," says Raffaella Rumiati, SISSA neuroscientist and coordinator of the new study. The human visual system is trichromatic: in the retina, the light-sensitive organ of the eye, there are three classes of photoreceptors (cones) tuned preferentially to three different bands of the visible spectrum. This implies that we can see a large number of colors (more than monochromatic and dichromatic animals, less than those with 4, even 5 types of photoreceptor). "We are particularly efficient at distinguishing red from green," says Rumiati. This sophistication testifies to the fact that we are "visual animals," unlike others, dogs, for example, who depend on their sense of smell. "It is mainly the color of food that guides us, and our experiments show how," explains Rumiati. "To date, only a few studies have been focused on the topic."
What do we look for in food? Nutrition, of course, or calorie-dense content, and high protein. "In natural foods, color is a good predictor of calories," explains Francesco Foroni, SISSA researcher and first author of the study. "The redder an unprocessed food is, the more likely it is to be nutritious, while green foods tend to be low in calories." Our visual system is clearly adapted to this regularity. "The participants in our experiments judged foods whose color tended towards red as higher in calories, while the opposite was true for greens," continues Giulio Pergola, a researcher at the University of Bari, and one of the authors of the study. "This is also true for processed, or cooked foods, where color loses its effectiveness as an indicator of calories."
Actually, the scientific literature shows clearly that cooked foods are favored over natural foods and the phenomenon has been observed even in other species besides humans. "Cooked foods are always preferred because, compared to natural foods, there is more nutrition for the same quantity," explains Rumiati. "With cooked foods, however, the dominance of red over green no longer provides reliable information, which might lead us to believe that the brain would not apply the rule to processed foods. On the contrary, it does, which hints at the presence of ancient evolutionary mechanisms from before the introduction of cooking."
Another nod in favor of this hypothesis is the fact that the color code in the Rumiati and colleagues experiments does not come into play for items other than food: "The preference for red over green is not observed with non-edible objects," says Rumiati. "This means that the color code of the visual system activates correctly only with food stimuli."
Inner traffic light for eating healthier
Our findings, besides increasing our knowledge of the visual system, offer interesting possibilities on many fronts which could have an important impact on the public health: marketing food, for example, and treating eating disorders. "Much is being done today to encourage healthier eating," notes Rumiati. "For example, trying to convince the people to eat foods lower in calories." Some countries propose bans on certain types of products, such as carbonated soft drinks and high fat foods. In some cases, there is a disclaimer on the packaging, as with cigarettes. Perhaps food color could be used to produce significant results, even if artificial.
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/11/161114081903.htm
Nutrition protects against the impact of stress on the brain in early life
November 14, 2016
Science Daily/Universiteit van Amsterdam (UVA)
Young mice that grow up in stressful circumstances go on to have fewer cognitive-impairments and memory problems as adults if they are given enriched breast milk, scientists report.
In both humans and other animals, severe stress in early childhood (human examples are abuse and neglect or war trauma) results in impaired brain development and health issues later in life. For example, people exposed to early-life stress have a higher risk of developing depression, anxiety disorders and other diseases such as obesity, and on average have a lower IQ and a less effective memory.
Long-term hospital stay
Previous research conducted by neuroscientists Eva Naninck, Paul Lucassen and Aniko Korosi revealed that stress during early development also permanently changes the brain in mice. This current study conducted by the same group demonstrates that supplementing the nutrition of the mother during this early period can mitigate the harmful consequences of this early-life stress later on. Korosi: 'The fact that nutrients can influence impaired brain development deriving from stress in early childhood is hopeful. It enables us to look in a targeted way for nutritional interventions for children who are growing up in stressful circumstances, for example babies that have to undergo long-term hospital stays.'
To induce stress in young mice, the researchers gave mother mice only a limited amount of material with which to build their nests. As a result, their care for their young changed, and they left the nest more often in order to look for nesting material. Mothers in the control group who had plenty of nesting material at their disposal, on the other hand, stayed in the nest with their young for much longer periods of time.
The researchers gave half of the stressed mother mice a dietary supplement containing various nutrients which the body is unable to produce on its own, such as vitamins B6, B9 (folic acid) and B12 and the functionally related aminoacid, methionine.
The researchers found an increased hormonal stress response and reduced methionine levels in the brains of those young mice whose mothers were stressed, but were not given the nutritional supplement. In addition, these mice had an impaired memory as adults; they were less able to remember locations and objects.
The young of stressed mothers that were given supplemented nutrition were more similar to conspecifics growing up under normal circumstances. They had higher methionine levels in the brain and a lower hormonal stress response when young, and as adults they performed better on several memory tasks than the early-stress exposed mice whose mothers did not receive a nutritional supplement.
Human breast milk
The researchers emphasise that this explorative study was unable to fully explain precisely how the stress system and metabolism work together in this early period and in brain development. It is unclear whether the impaired development is due to the fact that stress-exposed mothers produce less nutritious milk, or if the problem lies with absorption in the body or brain of the young mice, who may also experience stress as result of the mother's unpredictable behaviour. However, according to Naninck the results are still valuable: 'Scientists tend to view metabolism and stress as unrelated systems, but we have demonstrated that in fact they work together in early brain programming. We hope that our insights can contribute to new nutrition strategies to mitigate the lasting effects of a seriously disturbed childhood.'
Before this kind of nutritional intervention can be used in people, it first has to be established whether human mothers and babies under serious stress, experience similar disturbances to mice. Currently, the group's first step is to investigate whether the nutritional content of human breast milk also changes under stress.
Science Daily/SOURCE :https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/11/161114082239.htm