Childhood Obesity Prevention and Control in City Recreation Centres and Family Homes: The MOVE/me Muevo Project.
Childhood obesity prevention and control in city recreation centres and family homes: the MOVE/me Muevo Project.
Pediatr Obes. 2013 Jun 11;
Elder JP, Crespo NC, Corder K, Ayala GX, Slymen DJ, Lopez NV, Moody JS, McKenzie TL
WHAT IS ALREADY KNOWN ABOUT THIS SUBJECT: Child overweight and obesity is a significant public health problem. Mixed method strategies that involve parents and community organizations are promising approaches to prevent and control childhood obesity. Few studies have targeted city recreation centres to promote healthy eating and physical activity behaviours. WHAT THIS STUDY ADDS: This study presents the primary results of a family- and recreation centre-based childhood obesity prevention and control intervention. The study was carried out in neighbourhoods of a socioeconomically diverse county of more than 1?000?000 inhabitants. Primary results showed no significant reductions in child’s body mass index (BMI); however, secondary analyses showed that girls in the intervention condition reduced BMI significantly more than girls in the control condition. Children in the intervention condition improved on several obesity-related behaviours compared with those in the control condition. BACKGROUND: Interventions to prevent and control childhood obesity have shown mixed results in terms of short- and long-term changes. OBJECTIVES: ‘MOVE/me Muevo’ was a 2-year family- and recreation centre-based randomized controlled trial to promote healthy eating and physical activity among 5- to 8-year-old children. It was hypothesized that children in the intervention group would demonstrate lower post-intervention body mass index (BMI) values and improved obesity-related behaviours compared with the control group children. METHODS: Thirty recreation centres in San Diego County, California, were randomized to an intervention or control condition. Five hundred forty-one families were enrolled and children’s BMI, diet, physical activity and other health indicators were tracked from baseline to 2 years post-baseline. Analyses followed an intent-to-treat approach using mixed-effects models. RESULTS: No significant intervention effects were observed for the primary outcomes of child’s or parent’s BMI and child’s waist circumference. Moderator analyses, however, showed that girls (but not boys) in the intervention condition reduced their BMI. At the 2-year follow-up, intervention condition parents reported that their children were consuming fewer high-fat foods and sugary beverages. CONCLUSIONS: Favourable implementation fidelity and high retention rates support the feasibility of this intervention in a large metropolitan area; however, interventions of greater intensity may be needed to achieve effects on child’s BMI. Also, further research is needed to develop gender-specific intervention strategies so that both genders may benefit from such efforts. HubMed – eating
Emotion dysregulation and symptoms of anorexia nervosa: The unique roles of lack of emotional awareness and impulse control difficulties when upset.
Int J Eat Disord. 2013 Jun 11;
Racine SE, Wildes JE
OBJECTIVE: Extant research suggests that individuals with anorexia nervosa (AN) have deficits in emotion regulation across a variety of domains. The current study investigated associations between specific difficulties with emotion regulation and the core symptoms of AN. METHOD: Participants were 192 patients with AN presenting to an intensive eating disorder treatment facility. Emotion regulation was assessed using the multidimensional Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale, and associations with body mass index (BMI) at admission, eating disorder cognitions, objective binge eating, subjective binge eating, and purging were examined. RESULTS: Eating disorder cognitions were significantly associated with multiple forms of emotion dysregulation; however, only lack of emotional awareness was independently related to these symptoms. In contrast, impulse control difficulties when upset was the only emotion regulation impairment associated with the presence of recurrent objective binge eating and recurrent purging in AN. No significant relationships between emotion regulation and BMI or subjective binge eating were detected. DISCUSSION: Results point to differential associations between specific emotion regulation deficits and core symptoms of AN. These findings suggest that parsing the construct of emotion regulation as well as the AN phenotype can help to identify the unique ways in which eating disorder symptoms may function to regulate emotions. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (Int J Eat Disord 2013). HubMed – eating
Double deletion of melanocortin 4 receptors and SAPAP3 corrects compulsive behavior and obesity in mice.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2013 Jun 10;
Xu P, Grueter BA, Britt JK, McDaniel L, Huntington PJ, Hodge R, Tran S, Mason BL, Lee C, Vong L, Lowell BB, Malenka RC, Lutter M, Pieper AA
Compulsive behavior is a debilitating clinical feature of many forms of neuropsychiatric disease, including Tourette syndrome, obsessive-compulsive spectrum disorders, eating disorders, and autism. Although several studies link striatal dysfunction to compulsivity, the pathophysiology remains poorly understood. Here, we show that both constitutive and induced genetic deletion of the gene encoding the melanocortin 4 receptor (MC4R), as well as pharmacologic inhibition of MC4R signaling, normalize compulsive grooming and striatal electrophysiologic impairments in synapse-associated protein 90/postsynaptic density protein 95-associated protein 3 (SAPAP3)-null mice, a model of human obsessive-compulsive disorder. Unexpectedly, genetic deletion of SAPAP3 restores normal weight and metabolic features of MC4R-null mice, a model of human obesity. Our findings offer insights into the pathophysiology and treatment of both compulsive behavior and eating disorders. HubMed – eating