Young adults and the 5 a day campaign: perceived benefits and barriers of eating more fruits and vegetables

Although consuming adequate amounts of fruits and vegetables reduces the risk of developing chronic diseases, it is widely recognized that young adults’ intakes are currently well below the Department of Health’s recommended five portions a day, with men consuming even less than women. One approach in the UK has been to introduce health campaigns such as the 5 A DAY programme; however, little is currently known about how well their messages are understood amongst young adults. This study examined current knowledge of the 5 A DAY message in young adults, as well as the perceived benefits and remaining barriers towards consuming more fruits and vegetables. In total, four focus groups were conducted using male (n = 22) and female (n = 18) students at the University of Reading. Content analysis revealed that while participants were aware of the 5 A DAY recommendation, there was widespread confusion regarding the detail. In addition, men were less accepting of the message than women, reporting greater disbelief and a lack of motivation to increase intake. Finally, a range of barriers was reported by participants of both genders, despite the perceived beneficial effects for health and appearance. The results illustrate a considerable gap between awareness and knowledge of the 5 A DAY message, and underscore the challenge that changing behaviour in young adults represents. As well as stepping up education- and skill-based health campaigns, more targeted gender specific interventions will be needed to achieve sustained increases in fruit and vegetable intake.

Diet digestibility, rate of passage, and eating and rumination behavior of Jersey and Holstein cows

Diet digestibility and rate of passage, eating and rumination behavior, dry matter intake (DMI), and lactation performance were compared in 6 Jersey and 6 Holstein multiparous cows. Cows were fed gestation diets according to body weight (BW) beginning 7 wk before expected calving and ad libitum amounts of a lactation diet postpartum. Diet digestibility and rate of passage were measured in 5-d periods at wk 5 prepartum and wk 6 and 14 of lactation. Eating and ruminating behavior was measured over 5-d periods at wk 5 and 2 prepartum and wk 2, 6, 10, and 14 of lactation. Milk yield and DMI were higher in Holsteins, but milk energy output per kilogram of metabolic BW (BW0.75) and intake capacity (DMI/kg of BW) did not differ between breeds. Holsteins spent longer ruminating per day compared with Jerseys, but daily eating time did not differ between breeds. Jerseys spent more time eating and ruminating per unit of ingested feed. The duration and number of meals consumed did not differ between breeds, but the meals consumed by Jerseys were distributed more evenly throughout each 24-h period, providing a more regular supply of feed to the rumen. Feed passed through the digestive tract more quickly in Jerseys compared with Holsteins, suggesting particle breakdown and rumen outflow were faster in Jerseys, but this may also reflect the relative size of their digestive tract. Neutral detergent fiber digestibility was greater in Jerseys, despite the shorter rumen retention time, but digestibility of dry matter, organic matter, starch, and N did not differ between breeds. Utilization of digested N for tissue retention was higher at wk 5 prepartum and lower at wk 14 of lactation in Jerseys. In contrast to numerous published studies, intake capacity of Jerseys was not higher than that of Holsteins, but in the present study, cows were selected on the basis of equal expected milk energy yield per kilogram of metabolic BW. Digestibility of neutral detergent fiber and rate of digesta passage were higher in Jerseys, probably as a consequence of increased mastication per unit of feed consumed in Jerseys and their smaller size.

The changing structure of diets in the European Union in relation to healthy eating guidelines

Objective: Our objective in this paper is to assess diets in the European Union (EU) in relation to the recommendations of the recent World Health Organization/Food and Agriculture Organization expert consultation and to show how diets have changed between 1961 and 2001. Data and methods: Computations make use of FAOSTAT data on food availability at country level linked to a food composition database to convert foods to nutrients. We further explore the growing similarity of diets in the EU by making use of a consumption similarity index. The index provides a single number measure of dietary overlap between countries. Results: The data confirm the excessive consumption by almost all countries of saturated fats, cholesterol and sugars, and the convergence of nutrient intakes across the EU. Whereas in 1961 diets in several European countries were more similar to US diets than to those of other European countries, this is no longer the case; moreover, while EU diets have become more homogeneous, the EU as a whole and the USA have become less similar over time. Conclusions: Although the dominant cause of greater similarity in EU diets over the period studied is increased intakes in Mediterranean countries of saturated fats, cholesterol and sugar, also important are reductions in saturated fat and sugar in some Northern European countries. This suggests that healthy eating messages are finally having an impact on diets; a distinctly European diet may also be emerging.

Population genetic models can be used to study the evolution of the interacting behaviours of parents and their progeny

An example of the evolution of the interacting behaviours of parents and progeny is studied using iterative equations linking the frequencies of the gametes produced by the progeny to the frequencies of the gametes in the parental generation. This population genetics approach shows that a model in which both behaviours are determined by a single locus can lead to a stable equilibrium in which the two behaviours continue to segregate. A model in which the behaviours are determined by genes at two separate loci leads eventually to fixation of the alleles at both loci but this can take many generations of selection. Models of the type described in this paper will be needed to understand the evolution of complex behaviour when genomic or experimental information is available about the genetic determinants of behaviour and the selective values of different genomes. (c) 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Effect of psychological treatment on attentional bias in eating disorders

Objective: The aims of these studies were (a) to investigate the relationship between attentional bias and eating disorders and (b) examine the impact of psychological treatment on attentional bias. Method: The first study compared performance on a pictorial dot probe of 82 female patients with clinical eating disorders and 44 healthy female controls. The second study compared the performance of 31 patients with eating disorder on the same task before and after receiving 20 weeks of standardized cognitive behavior therapy. Twenty-four patients with eating disorder served as wait-list controls. Results: With the exception of neutral shape stimuli, attentional biases for eating, shape, and weight stimuli were greater in the patient sample than the healthy controls. The second study found that attentional biases significantly reduced after active treatment only. Conclusion: Attentional biases may be an expression of the eating disorder. The question of whether such biases warrant specific intervention requires further investigation. (C) 2008 by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Attentional bias in eating disorders

Objective: To examine the relationship between eating disorders and attentional biases. Method: The first study comprised 23 female patients with clinical eating disorders, women with high levels of anxiety (n = 19), and three female normal control groups comprising low (n = 31), moderate (n = 21), or high levels of shape concern (n 23). The second study comprised 82 women with clinical eating disorders and 44 healthy controls. All participants completed measures of eating disorder psychopathology and completed a modified pictorial dot-probe task. Results: In the first study, biases were found for negative eating and neutral weight pictures, and for positive eating pictures in women with eating disorders; these biases were greater than those found in anxious and normal controls. The second study replicated these findings and biases were also found for negative and neutral shape stimuli. Conclusion: It is concluded that future research should establish whether such biases warrant specific therapeutic interventions. (c) 2007 by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Children's representation of family mealtime in the context of maternal eating disorders

Background Recent research provides evidence for specific disturbance in feeding and growth in children of mothers with eating disorders. Aim To investigate the impact of maternal eating disorders during the post-natal year on the internal world of children, as expressed in children's representations of self and their mother in pretend mealtime play at 5 years of age. Methods Children of mothers with eating disorders (n = 33) and a comparison group (n = 24) were videotaped enacting a family mealtime in pretend play. Specific classes of children's play representations were coded blind to group membership. Univariate analyses compared the groups on representations of mother and self. Logistic regression explored factors predicting pretend play representations. Results Positive representations of the mother expressed as feeding, eating or body shape themes were more frequent in the index group. There were no other significant group differences in representations. In a logistic regression analysis, current maternal eating psychopathology was the principal predictor of these positive maternal representations. Marital criticism was associated with negative representations of the mother. Conclusions These findings suggest that maternal eating disorders may influence the development of a child's internal world, such that they are more preoccupied with maternal eating concerns. However, more extensive research on larger samples is required to replicate these preliminary findings.

Processing biases in eating disorders: the impact of temporal factors

Objective: Previous research has indicated that temporal factors [specifically, the duration of interstimulus intervals (ISI) during a threat processing task] may influence the nature of processing biases exhibited in nonclinical populations with some degree of eating disorder psychopathology (Meyer et al., Int J Eat Disord, 27, 405-410, 2000). The current study aimed to test this hypothesis by investigating attentional biases for eating-disorder-relevant images and irrelevant visual images (animals) in patients with eating disorders (n = 23) and psychiatric (n = 19) and nonpsychiatric (n = 65) controls. Method: A dot probe task was modified from previous research (Shafran et al., Int Eat Disord, 40, 369-380, 2007), whereby an original ISI of 500 ms was increased to 2.000 ms. Results: Patients with an eating disorder continued to display a bias in the processing of weight stimuli. However, biases noted in previous research for shape and weight stimuli disappeared when the ISI duration was increased in this way. Conclusion: These findings highlight the importance of temporal factors in whether processing biases are displayed and may point to ways in which biases actually work in this population. However, further research is warranted. (C) 2008 by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The interpretation of symptoms of starvation/severe dietary restraint in eating disorder patients

The aims of the study were to test the hypotheses that some symptoms of starvation/severe dietary restraint are interpreted by patients with eating disorders in terms or control. Sixty-nine women satisfying the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders - IV edition (DSM-IV) criteria for a clinical eating disorder and 107 controls participated in the Study. All the participants completed an ambiguous scenarios paradigm, the Eating Disorder Lamination Questionnaire (EDE-Q) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Significantly more eating disorder patients than non clinical participants interpreted the starvation/dietary restraint symptoms of hunger, heightened satiety, and dizziness in terms of control. The data give further Support to the recent cognitive-behavioural theory of eating disorders suggesting that eating disorder patients interpret some starvation/dietary restraint symptoms in terms of control.

Treatment of child anxiety. an exploratory study of the role of maternal anxiety and behaviours in treatment outcome

Anxiety disorders are common among parents of anxious children and have been found to impede child treatment outcomes, yet it is unclear whether it is parental anxiety that needs to be targeted in therapy or associated parental behaviours. Twenty-two children (6-12 years) with a current anxiety disorder and their mothers received cognitive-behavioural treatment (CBT) for child anxiety. In addition, of the 12 mothers who met criteria for a current anxiety disorder, 6 received CBT for their own disorder. Assessments were made of the mother-child interaction. The main findings were: (1) children did less well from treatment where their mothers had a current anxiety disorder; (2) treatment of maternal anxiety disorder did not improve child treatment outcome; and (3) maternal overinvolvement and expression of fear was associated with child treatment outcome. The results suggest that in the context of maternal anxiety disorder, child treatment outcome may be improved by specifically targeting parenting behaviours. Copyright (C) 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Cognitive behaviour therapy for eating disorders

The eating disorders provide one of the strongest indications for cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT). This bold claim arises from two sources: first, the fact that eating disorders are essentially cognitive disorders and second, the demonstrated effectiveness of CBT in the treatment of bulimia nervosa, which has led to the widespread acceptance that CBT is the treatment of choice. In this paper the cognitive behavioural approach to the understanding and treatment of eating disorders will be described. A brief summary of the evidence for this account and of the data supporting the efficacy and effectiveness of this form of treatment will be provided. Challenges for the future development and dissemination of the treatment will be identified.