The purpose of our study was to study the prevalence of exercise dependence (EXD) among college students and to investigate the role of EXD and gender on exercise behavior and eating disorders. Excessive exercise can become an addiction known as exercise dependence. In our population of 517 college students, 3.3% were at risk for EXD and 8% were at risk for an eating disorder. We used Path analysis the simplest case of Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to investigate the role of EXD and exercise behavior on eating disorders. We observed a small direct effect from gender to eating disorders. In females we observed significant direct effect between exercise behavior (r = −0.17, p = 0.009) and EXD (r = 0.34, p < 0.001) on eating pathology. We also observed an indirect effect of exercise behavior on eating pathology (r = 0.16) through EXD (r = 0.48, r2 = 0.23, p < 0.001). In females the total variance of eating pathology explained by the SEM model was 9%. In males we observed a direct effect between EXD (r = 0.23, p < 0.001) on eating pathology. We also observed indirect effect of exercise behavior on eating pathology (r = 0.11) through EXD (r = 0.49, r2 = 0.24, p < 0.001). In males the total variance of eating pathology explained by the SEM model was 5%.

Introduction Women, during the antenatal and post‐partum period, report pelvic, low back pain, stress and urge urinary incontinence, colorectal dysfunction, and other co‐morbidities that negatively affect health‐related quality of life. Exercise and nutrition are important considerations for improving maternal health in this period. Purpose The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a community‐driven nutrition and exercise programme focused on pelvic floor and core stability, healthy nutrition, and breastfeeding counselling over an 8‐week period on pelvic floor and urinary distress (UDI), prolapse and colorectal distress for antenatal and post‐partum women with limited access to health care, and low socio‐economic resources from a Midwestern Region of the United States. Materials and methods Purposive sample of 35 females, ages 18–44, were recruited for this prospective, preintervention to postintervention study, following ethical approval from Institutional Review Board and voluntary written consent from participants. The Health History Questionnaire, SF‐36, Food Frequency Questionnaire, report of pelvic organ prolapse dysfunction (POPDI), colorectal‐anal dysfunction (CRADI), and UDI as measured by the Pelvic Floor Distress Inventory (PFDI) were completed before and after intervention. Results Thirty‐five women (n = 35) 18 to 44 years old (mean age of 22.72 ± 3.45 years) completed the study. A significant difference was found from preintervention to postintervention scores means for PFDI total scores, CRADI individual scores, and UDI individual scores (p < .05). POPDI scores decreased preintervention to postintervention but were not significant. A significant improvement in healthy nutrition and breastfeeding postintervention was also found (z = 3.21, p = .001). Further analysis showed significant, but weak, correlation between parity and POPDI (r = .366, p = .033); between parity and UDI (r = .384, p = .03); and between parity and PFDI (r = .419, p = .014). Discussion Our study found a significant reduction in pelvic floor dysfunction, urinary, and colorectal‐anal distress symptoms and improvement in breastfeeding and healthy nutrition following an 8‐week community‐driven nutrition and exercise programme focused on pelvic floor and core stability, healthy nutrition, and breastfeeding counselling.

BackgroundChildhood obesity is a major global public health problem which disproportionately affects Hispanic children in the United States and Mexico. Many school‐based interventions have been tested to address this issue. Amate, Activate, Cuidate, Comparte (AACC) [Love Yourself, Activate Yourself, Take Care of Yourself, and Share] is a new culturally sensitive health education model to prevent child obesity.MethodsIn an attempt to curve the obesity epidemic among school‐aged children in Mexico, the AACC model was pilot tested in two schools that have a high rate of overweight (30%) and obesity (26%) in Tamaulipas, Mexico. Those schools were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. Third and fourth grade children were the focus of this intervention. Children in the experimental school received nutrition education, daily physical activity, and a modified school‐lunch while children in the control group had no intervention. The AACC curriculum is based on psycho‐pedagogical theory, including social cognitive theory and positive psychology. This model was developed and implemented through the collaborative work between Andrews University, and the Secretaría de Salud, and the Secretaría de Educación Pública of the State of Tamaulipas, México. The intervention targeted teachers, children and parents. Changes in anthropometric measurements (such as Body Mass Index (BMI) were assessed pre‐post intervention. We targeted 10 behaviors to reduce calorie density in the diet and one hour of daily physical activity to enhance energy expenditure.ResultsThe upward trend of BMI was reversed among children with overweight/obese in the experimental group while the upward trend of the BMI in the control group continued to increase. These changes are not statistically significant after four months.ConclusionThis preliminary data suggests that the AACC model could be effective in preventing obesity among school‐aged children in the Hispanic Population. This model needs further testing in more schools for longer time.Support or Funding InformationSecretaria de Salud Tamaulipas, Secretaria de Educacion Tamaulipas, Office of Research and Creative Scholarship, Andrews University

Spiritual wellbeing is associated with decreased risk for cancer. Stress and depression are common among cancer patients and may be inversely associated with spiritual wellbeing. The purpose of the study is to examine if stress and depression as indicators of cancer risk are lower in a racially diverse faith-based community. Methods: 752 individuals from a faith-based community completed a behavioral assessment survey that mapped the current patterns of behavior in key categories that include: stress, depression, exercise and nutrition using the E-wellness platform FitThumb. To identify stress biomarkers in cancer patients we examined levels of stress serum proteomic biomarkers that were previously identified in our study by proteomic profiling using 2D-DIGEMS analysis and a subset of samples by shotgun LCMS technology. The serum proteomic study included serum samples from 15 African American breast cancer patients and 12 healthy controls who were from a faith-based community. Results: The behavioral assessment surveys that included 752 individuals who were racially diverse showed a low stress risk of 47.74% vs 8.24 % of high stress risk for chronic disease; and low depression risk of 85.11% vs 1.99% high risk for chronic disease. Elevated levels of stress and inflammatory serum proteomic biomarkers such as ceruloplasmin known to increase in stressed animals and humans; heptaglobin, apolipoproteins, and heat shock proteins were significantly elevated in breast cancer patients compared to healthy controls. Conclusions: Our results indicate that spiritual well-being is associated with significantly low stress and depression in a faith-based community regardless of race or ethnicity, posing a low risk for cancer as shown in previous Adventist Health Cohort studies. Future efforts will focus on validating and identifying panel of biomarkers from this cohort to gain insight into their role(s) in the mechanisms of stress hormones and cancer risk. Funded by Susan G Komen for the cure. Citation Format: Padma P. Tadi Uppala, Gretchen Krivak, Sherine Brown-Fraser, Dixon Anjejo, Alfredo Mejia, Dominique wakefield, Kumar Kolli. Stress, spiritual wellbeing and cancer risk among diverse racial faith-based communities: Elevated levels of stress proteomic biomarkers in breast cancer patients [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 4999. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-4999

After this presentation, the attendee should be able to recognize that college-aged students perceive fresh fruit to be superior in nutrition profile, healthfulness, deliciousness, and convenience than to canned and frozen fruit. This information may be useful in nutrition education to increase fruit intake.