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Links
to some of the latest research and articles on
binge-eating, food addiction, and related topics
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Obesity-related information
NPR's Health Blog:
Shots (Jan. 27, 2012) by Judith Graham – Research already
demonstrates that physicians are sometimes uncomfortable talking about weight
with their obese patients. Now, a new study
shows that the doctors' weight makes a difference too. Physicians who pack on
the pounds discuss weight loss less frequently with obese
patients than doctors who have normal body mass indexes.
ScienceDaily (Jan. 24, 2012) – In a new poll, 30% of parents report at least one worrisome behavior in their children that could be associated with the development of eating disorders. A new report from the C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health examines the possible association between school-based childhood obesity prevention programs and an increase in eating disorders among young children and adolescents.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120124151207.htm
Globe
and Mail (Jan. 11, 2012) by Kim Mackrael – If you want to live a
long and healthy life, your best bet is to get off the couch, not cut the
carbohydrates. That’s the message developed from years of research by Steven
Blair, an exercise researcher at the University of South Carolina
The fat trap
New
York Times: Well blog (Dec. 28, 2011) by Tara Parker-Pope – For 15
years, Joseph Proietto has been helping people lose weight. When these obese patients arrive at his weight-loss clinic in
Australia, they are determined to slim down. And most of the time, he says,
they do just that, sticking to the clinic’s program and dropping excess pounds.
But then, almost without exception, the weight begins to creep back. In a
matter of months or years, the entire effort has come undone, and the patient
is fat again. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/01/magazine/tara-parker-pope-fat-trap.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&ref=health#
Could obesity
change the brain?
NPR's
Health Blog: Shots (Dec.28, 2011) by Nancy Shute – The standard
advice for losing weight often comes up short for people who are obese. If they switch to a healthful diet and exercise
more, they might lose a bit. But the pounds have a way of creeping back on. Now
some provocative research suggests that a part of the problem might be that obesity could change the area of the brain that helps
control appetite and body weight. http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2011/12/27/144331177/could-obesity-change-the-brain?ft=1&f=1128&sc=tw
Free to be fat
Globe and Mail (Dec. 28, 2011) by David Haslam – The classic 1981 horror movie The Monster Club, starring Vincent Price, Donald Pleasence and John Carradine as monsters, included a cast of cannibals, vampires, werewolves, ghouls and a hybrid creature called a “shadmock.” Among this group of misfits, the only outcast was an ordinary fat girl…. The obese were not always considered monsters.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/opinion/free-to-be-fat/article2282203/
Obesity
in teen years may be blamed on mother/child relationships
CNN Health (Dec.
26, 2011) by Dr. Sanjay Gupta – The mother-child relationship has always
carried a lot of weight. Now researchers say some obese teens might be in essence, carrying the weight of their
relationship with their mothers when they were younger. A new study published
in this week's edition of Pediatrics finds the type of relationship a
mother has with her young child could affect that little one's chances of
becoming obese as a teen. http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2011/12/26/embargoed-26-dec-2011-0015-et-obesity-in-teen-years-may-be-blamed-on-motherchild-relationships/?hpt=hp_bn10
Free radicals crucial to
suppressing appetite
ScienceDaily (Aug. 29, 2011) — Obesity is growing at alarming rates worldwide, and the biggest culprit is overeating. In a study of brain circuits that control hunger and satiety, Yale School of Medicine researchers have found that molecular mechanisms controlling free radicals -- molecules tied to aging and tissue damage -- are at the heart of increased appetite in diet-induced obesity.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/08/110828140931.htm
Why some obese people are
healthier than skinny people.
Healthzone.ca (Aug. 15, 2011) by Debra Black – Being fat doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re in poor health. Or so suggests a study done by Jennifer Kuk, a York University assistant professor in the School of Kinesiology and Health Science in the Faculty of Health. “Not all obese individuals have poor health,” Kuk told the Star. “Conversely not all normal weight individuals have good health. You can have normal weight individuals who have high blood pressure, diabetes and poor lifestyle.” Kuk and her team looked at 6,000 obese Americans comparing them to 23,000 healthy individuals.
The thins versus the fats: Is obesity really a health, and a health care, issue?
New York Times/Opinionator (July 30, 2011) by Eric Etheridge – Though the now-twinned issues of race and beer have dominated the week’s storyline, Paul Campos wants you to think about another form of discrimination — fatism. It’s time we “stop harassing people about their weight,” says Campos, author of the “Obesity Myth,” in an interview with Megan McArdle for her Atlantic blog. It appears that focusing on the idea that being fat actually makes people fatter. At least there’s an extremely strong correlation there. I bet if we stopped demonizing fatness people would actually be a bit thinner. They’d certainly be happier and healthier. http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/30/the-thins-versus-the-fats/?emc=eta1
Does food act physiologically like a 'drug of choice' for
some?
ScienceDaily (July 20, 2011) — Variety is considered the "spice of life," but does today's unprecedented level of dietary variety help explain skyrocketing rates of obesity? Some researchers think it might. According to ASN Spokesperson Shelley McGuire, PhD: "We've known for years that foods- even eating, itself- can trigger release of various brain chemicals, some of which are also involved in what happens with drug addiction and withdrawal. And, as can happen with substance abusers, tolerance or "habituation" can occur, meaning that repeated use (in this case, exposure to a food) is sometimes accompanied by a lack of response (in this case, disinterest in the food). The results of the study by Epstein and colleagues provides a very interesting new piece to the obesity puzzle by suggesting that meal monotony may actually lead to reduced calorie consumption. The trick will be balancing this concept with the importance of variety to good nutrition." http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/07/110719114340.htm
Food addiction works like drug addiction in the brain
Huffington Post (Apr. 5, 2011) – Seeing a milkshake can activate the same areas of the brain that light up when an addict sees cocaine, U.S. researchers said on Monday. The study helps explain why it can be so hard for some people to maintain a healthy weight, and why it has been so difficult for drug makers and health experts to find obesity treatments that work. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/05/food-addiction-brain_n_844931.html
Obesity: Character flaw or
neurochemical disease?
Huffington Post (Mar. 10, 2011), by Carole Carson – When is the last time someone challenged you to examine a cherished opinion or viewpoint? This comes close to describing my conversation with Dr. Jennifer Lovejoy, president of the Obesity Society, a clearheaded thinker whose insights are shifting attitudes and shaping future policies about obesity. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/carole-carson/is-obesity-a-character-fl_b_831143.html
Binge eaters' dopamine levels spike at sight, smell of
food
ScienceDaily
(Feb. 28, 2011) — A brain imaging study at the U.S. Department of
Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory reveals a subtle difference
between ordinary obese subjects and those who
compulsively overeat, or binge: In binge eaters but not ordinary obese
subjects, the mere sight or smell of favorite foods triggers a spike in
dopamine -- a brain chemical linked to reward and motivation.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/02/110228104308.htm
Compulsive eating shares addictive biochemical mechanism
with cocaine, heroin abuse, study shows
ScienceDaily (Mar. 29, 2010) — In a newly published study, scientists from The Scripps Research Institute have shown for the first time that the same molecular mechanisms that drive people into drug addiction are behind the compulsion to overeat, pushing people into obesity.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100328170243.htm?sms_ss=email
Huffington Post (Oct. 16, 2010) by Mark Hyman, MD – Our government and food industry both encourage more "personal responsibility" when it comes to battling the obesity epidemic and its associated diseases. They say people should exercise more self-control, make better choices, avoid overeating, and reduce their intake of sugar-sweetened drinks and processed food. We are led to believe that there is no good food or bad food, that it's all a matter of balance. This sounds good in theory, except for one thing...New discoveries in science prove that industrially processed, sugar- fat- and salt-laden food -- food that is made in a plant rather than grown on a plant, as Michael Pollan would say -- is biologically addictive. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/food-addiction-could-it-e_b_764863.html
Obesity
gene, carried by more than a third of the us population, leads to brain tissue
loss
ScienceDaily (Apr. 20, 2010) — Three years
ago, geneticists reported the startling discovery that nearly half of all
people in the U.S. with European ancestry carry a variant of the fat mass and obesity associated (FTO) gene, which causes them to
gain weight -- from three to seven pounds, on average -- but worse, puts them
at risk for obesity.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100419162308.htm?sms_ss=email
Junk food addiction may be clue to obesity:
High-calorie bingeing as addictive as cocaine, rat study shows
msnbc.com (Mar. 29, 2010) by JoAnne Allen, Reuters – Bingeing on high-calorie foods may be as addictive as cocaine or nicotine, and could cause compulsive eating and obesity, according to a study. The findings in a study of animals cannot be directly applied to human obesity, but may help in understanding the condition and in developing therapies to treat it, researchers wrote Sunday in the journal Nature Neuroscience.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36081881/ns/health-diet_and_nutrition/
Discovery of 'fat' taste could
hold the key to reducing obesity
ScienceDaily (Mar. 10, 2010) — A newly discovered ability for people to taste fat could hold the key to reducing obesity, Deakin University health researchers believe. Deakin researchers…have found that humans can detect a sixth taste -- fat. They also found that people with a high sensitivity to the taste of fat tended to eat less fatty foods and were less likely to be overweight. The results of their research are published in the latest issue of the British Journal of Nutrition. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100310164011.htm
Intestinal bacteria drive obesity and metabolic disease in immune-altered mice
ScienceDaily (Mar. 8, 2010) — Increased appetite and insulin resistance can be transferred from one mouse to another via intestinal bacteria, according to research being published online by Science magazine. The finding strengthens the case that intestinal bacteria can contribute to human obesity and metabolic disease, since previous research has shown that intestinal bacterial populations differ between obese and lean humans.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100304142232.htm
Some morbidly obese people
are missing genes, shows new research
ScienceDaily (Feb. 4, 2010) — A small but
significant proportion of morbidly obese people
are missing a section of their DNA, according to research published February 3
in Nature. The authors of the study, from Imperial College London and ten other
European Centres, say that missing DNA such as that identified in this research
may be having a dramatic effect on some people's weight.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100203131401.htm?sms_ss=email
ScienceDaily (Aug. 31, 2009) — New York collaborators at Columbia and Rockefeller Universities have identified cells in the stomach that time the release of a hormone that makes animals anticipate food and eat even when they are not hungry. The finding, which has implications for the treatment of obesity, marks a landmark in the decades-long search for the timekeepers of hunger. The work reveals what the stomach “tells” the brain.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/08/090829092042.htm
Mice can eat 'junk' and not
get fat: researchers find gene that protects high-fat-diet mice from obesity
ScienceDaily (Sep. 4, 2009) — University
of Michigan researchers have identified a gene that acts as a master switch to
control obesity in mice. When the switch is
turned off, even high-fat-diet mice remain thin.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090903163719.htm
When parents try to control
every little bite: Being too
restrictive about your child’s diet can backfire, experts say
Msnbc.com:
Health (Sept . 3, 2009) by Bridget Murray
Law — Driven by concern about childhood obesity
or other food anxieties, more nutrition-focused parents are turning into food
cops, monitoring every morsel their children eat…In fact, a recent study found
that being too restrictive about the foods children eat can cause more weight
gain. Researchers from the Center for Childhood Obesity
Research at Pennsylvania State University, University Park, found the highest
weight gain among girls who considered their parents most restrictive about
eating certain foods. The study tracked 200 girls for 10 years from age 5. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32480988/ns/health-kids_and_parenting/from/ET
Scientists identify stomach’s
timekeepers of hunger
ScienceDaily (Aug. 31, 2009) — New York collaborators at Columbia and Rockefeller Universities have identified cells in the stomach that time the release of a hormone that makes animals anticipate food and eat even when they are not hungry. The finding, which has implications for the treatment of obesity, marks a landmark in the decades-long search for the timekeepers of hunger. The work reveals what the stomach “tells” the brain.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/08/090829092042.htm
Toronto Star: HealthZone.ca (July 27, 2009) by Joseph Hall — The body's immune system targets its own fat and may soon be manipulated to fight epidemic obesity and diabetes, a revolutionary Toronto study has found. http://www.healthzone.ca/health/article/672237
Get fat, live longer: What the
obesity industry doesn't want you to know
Globe and Mail: Opinion (July 25, 2009) by Margaret Wente — A new study based on Statistics Canada population data reaches an exceedingly awkward conclusion: People who are overweight live longer than people who are classified as “normal” weight. Not only that, people who are classified as significantly overweight also live longer.
New York Times: Health (July 13, 2009) by Randi Hutter Epstein — No one has precise statistics on who is affected by eating disorders like anorexia nervosa and bulimia, often marked by severe weight loss, or binge eating, which can lead to obesity. But experts say that in the past 10 years they are treating an increasing number of women over 30 who are starving themselves, abusing laxatives, exercising to dangerous extremes and engaging in all of the self-destructive activities that had, for so long, been considered teenage behaviors.
http://health.nytimes.com/ref/health/healthguide/esn-eating-disorders-ess.html?ref=health
ScienceDaily (June 22, 2009) — Obesity is probably the most important factor in the development of insulin resistance, but science's understanding of the chain of events is still spotty. Now, researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have filled in the gap and identified the missing link between the two. Their findings, to be published in the June 21, 2009 advance online edition of the journal Nature, explain how obesity sets the stage for diabetes and why thin people can become insulin-resistant.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090621143236.htm
Obesity
surgery may thin bones, causing breaks: Bariatric patients may be more likely
to fracture hands or feet, study says
MSNBC.com/Health (June 15, 2009) —WASHINGTON - It isn't just the thunder thighs that shrink after obesity surgery. Melting fat somehow thins bones, too. Doctors don't yet know how likely patients' bones are to thin enough to break in the years after surgery. But one of the first attempts to tell suggests they might have twice the average person's risk,
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31374099/ns/health-diet_and_nutrition/
Study offers clues to why
people overeat
New
York Times: Health (June 10, 2009) by Roni Caryn Rabin
People usually gain
weight because they overeat, but what makes them overeat? A new study suggests
that obese people have a different physiological
response to food: they continue to salivate longer in response to a new taste
than do people of normal weight.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/10/health/10eating.html?ref=health
New obesity
surgery leaves no scars: Experimental procedure aims to reduce pain, speed
recovery
MSNBC.com/Associated Press (June 3, 2009) — Doctors are testing a new kind of obesity surgery without any cuts through the abdomen, snaking a tube as thick as a garden hose down the throat to snap staples into the stomach. The experimental, scar-free procedure creates a narrow passage that slows the food as it moves from the upper stomach into the lower stomach, helping patients feel full more quickly and eat less. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31090449/
New York Times (May 25, 2009) by Nicholas Bakalar — Reducing childhood obesity may have yet another benefit: lowering the incidence of food allergies. Researchers studying more than 4,000 children ages 2 to 19 enrolled in a larger survey of childhood health found a significant association of overweight and obesity with allergic reactions to eggs, peanuts and other common allergens. For example, overweight and obese children were over 50 percent more likely than those of normal weight to be allergic to milk. Over all, the obese and overweight children were about 25 percent more likely to have one or more food allergies.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/26/health/research/26child.html?_r=1&ref=health
Feeding behaviors in monkeys and humans have ancient, shared roots, Bolivian rainforest study suggests
ScienceDaily (May 20, 2009) — Behavioural
ecologists working in Bolivia have found that wild spider monkeys control their
diets in a similar way to humans, contrary to what has been thought up to now.
Rather than trying to maximize their daily energy intake, the monkeys tightly
regulate their daily protein intake, so that it stays at the same level
regardless of seasonal variation in the availability of different foods. Tight regulation of daily protein intake is
known to play a role in the development of obesity
in humans, and the findings from this research suggest that the evolutionary
origins of these eating patterns in humans may be far older than suspected.
Until now it was thought humans' eating patterns originated in the Palaeolithic
era (between 2.4 million and 10,000 years ago). http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090519214940.htm
One in five obese women select overweight or obese silhouettes as
their ideal body image
ScienceDaily (May 14, 2009) — For many women, body image is a constant struggle; a poor self-image can lead to a host of both mental and physical health problems. But a new study out of Temple University finds that an extremely good body image can also take its toll on a woman's health. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090507145747.htm
Does mom know when enough is
enough? Missed satiety cues from infants linked to obesity
ScienceDaily (May 12, 2009) — As the childhood obesity epidemic in the United States continues, researchers are examining whether early parent and child behaviors contribute to the problem. A study from the Department of Nutritional Sciences, Rutgers University, published in the May/June 2009 issue of the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior reports that mothers who miss signs of satiety in their infants tend to overfeed them, leading to excess weight gains during the 6 month to 1 year period. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090511091912.htm
ScienceDaily (May 8, 2009) — New research that uses an innovative approach to study, for the first time, the relative contributions of food and exercise habits to the development of the obesity epidemic has concluded that the rise in obesity in the United States since the 1970s was virtually all due to increased energy intake.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090508045321.htm
ScienceDaily (May 3, 2009) — Having strong memories of that rich, delicious dessert you ate last night? If so, you shouldn't feel like a glutton. It's only natural. UC Irvine researchers have found that eating fat-rich foods triggers the formation of long-term memories of that activity. The study adds to their recent work linking dietary fats to appetite control and may herald new approaches for treating obesity and other eating disorders.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090427193236.htm
ScienceDaily (Apr. 15, 2009) — Researchers have uncovered new evidence suggesting factors other than genes could cause obesity, finding that genetically identical cells store widely differing amounts of fat depending on subtle variations in how cells process insulin.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090414153525.htm
ScienceDaily (Jan. 26, 2009) — If you are a mouse on the chubby side, then eating less may help you live longer. For lean mice – and possibly for lean humans, the authors of a new study predict – the anti-aging strategy known as caloric restriction may be a pointless, frustrating and even dangerous exercise. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090123101224.htm
ScienceDaily (Dec. 16, 2008) — Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have found that overactivity of a brain enzyme may play a role in preventing weight gain and obesity. The findings were reported in Cell Metabolism.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081212141845.htm
ScienceDaily (Dec. 15, 2008) — Is obesity all in your head? New research suggests that genes that predispose people to obesity act in the brain and that perhaps some people are simply hardwired to overeat.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081214190959.htm
Study: Six new gene mutations linked to obesity
MSNBC.com (Dec. 14, 2008) — Researchers have identified six new gene mutations linked to obesity and said on Sunday they point to ways the brain and nervous system control eating and metabolism. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28222722/from/ET/
ScienceDaily (Dec. 12, 2008) — Severely obese patients who have lost significant amounts of weight by changing their diet and exercise habits may be as successful in keeping the weight off long-term as those individuals who lost weight after bariatric surgery, according to a new study published online by the International Journal of Obesity.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081208123257.htm
ScienceDaily (Oct. 22, 2008) — The combination of eating quickly and eating until full trebles the risk of being overweight, according to a study published on the British Medical Journal website. Until the last decade or so most adults did not have the opportunity to consume enough energy to enable fat to be stored. However, with the increased availability of inexpensive food in larger portions, fast food, and fewer families eating together and eating while distracted (e.g. while watching TV), eating behaviours are changing, and this may be contributing to the obesity epidemic. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081021210307.htm
Genetic link found for obesity
CBC.ca (Apr. 12, 2007) — A gene variant common in the European population has been discovered that shows the first clear link to obesity, researchers say. Copyright 2008 CBC All Rights Reserved http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2007/04/12/obesity-gene.html
ScienceDaily (Feb. 4, 2007) — The first national survey of individuals with eating disorders shows that binge eating disorder is more prevalent than either anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa. The study, conducted by researchers at Harvard-affiliated McLean Hospital, also calls binge eating disorder a "major public health burden" because of its direct link to severe obesity and other serious health effects. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/02/070203103249.htm
New York Times: Science (July 22, 2003) by Erica Goode From giant sodas to supersize burgers to all-you-can-eat buffets, America's approach to food can be summed up by one word: Big. Plates are piled high, and few crumbs are left behind. Today's blueberry muffin could, in an earlier era, have fed a family of four. But social norms change . . . Now many health experts are hoping that, in the service of combating an epidemic of obesity, the nation might be coaxed into a similar cultural shift in its eating habits.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/22/science/the-gorge-yourself-environment.html
Studies on
the dopamine connection
CBC Marketplace: Food/Junk
Food Addiction (Oct. 29, 2002) by
Reporter: Wendy Mesley; Producer: Greg Sadler; Researchers: Colman Jones, Leonardo
Palleja — Scientists
at the Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory found that
dopamine, a brain chemical associated with addiction to cocaine, alcohol, and
other drugs, may also play an important role in obesity. http://www.cbc.ca/consumers/market/files/food/junkfood_addiction/dopamine.html
published by: changehappens.ca
last
updated: Jan. 29, 2012