Inclusion of intensive relaxation response training in a nondieting program for overweight women enhanced stress management and medical symptoms outcomes but not weight outcomes.

Objective: To determine factors which predict non-completion of group nondieting interventions for overweight women, and to investigate whether completion improves outcomes. Design: First, baseline predictors of non-completion were identified; then changes at 10 weeks and 12 months were compared between completers and non-completers of 10-week non-dieting interventions. Setting: General community. Subjects: Participants were 119 women (aged 25-65 years, BMI $ 28 kg/m 2 ) with at least one cardiovascular risk factor. Participants who attended at least eight of the ten sessions were classified as completers, and non-completers were those who attended fewer than eight sessions. Measures included BMI, blood pressure, psychological distress, lifestyle behaviours and eating self-efficacy. Results: Logistic regression analyses indicated that women were less likely to be noncompleters at non-dieting group programmes if, at baseline, they were more highly educated or had healthier nutrition behaviours (controlling for education). Only healthier nutrition behaviour was negatively associated with non-completion in the final model. Twelve months after the intervention, completers showed significantly greater improvements in body weight (mean change 20?53 kg), systolic and diastolic blood pressure (26?3 and 24?1 mmHg, respectively), stress management behaviour score (10?5) and psychotic symptoms score (20?1) than non-completers (all P , 0?05). Conclusions: Highly educated women already engaging in some healthier lifestyle choices were less likely to be non-completers in non-dieting group programmes. Since important treatment outcomes vary according to attendance, future trials of non-dieting interventions should report the effects of completion on outcomes.

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Food allergies are increasing globally, including numbers of allergens, the sensitization rate, and the prevalence rate. To protect food-allergic individuals in the community, food allergies need to be appropriately managed. This paper describes current Australian food allergen management practices. In Australia, the prevalence of food allergies, the anaphylaxis rate, and the fatal anaphylaxis rate are among the highest in the world. Interagency and stakeholder collaboration is facilitated and enhanced as Australia moves through past, current, and ongoing food allergen challenges. As a result, Australia has been a global leader in regulating the labeling of common allergens in packaged foods and their disclosure in foods not required to bear a label. Moreover, the food industry in Australia and New Zealand has developed a unique food allergen risk management tool, the Voluntary Incidental Trace Allergen Labelling program, which is managed by the Allergen Bureau. This paper summarizes insights and information provided by the major stakeholders involved to protect food-allergic consumers from any allergic reaction. Stakeholders include government; consumer protection, regulation, and enforcement agencies; the food industry; and food allergen testing and food allergen/allergy research bodies in Australia. The ongoing goal of all stakeholders in food allergen management in Australia is to promote best practice food allergen management procedures and provide a wide choice of foods, while enabling allergic consumers to manage their food allergies and reduce the risk of an allergic reaction.