Modifying the food environment is a promising strategy for promoting healthier eating behavior. This study aimed to evaluate nutritional and weight changes in a program that used worksite cafeterias to reduce employees’ calorie content of purchased foods and improve their macronutrient intake. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: 1) only environmental change (i.e., the introduction of 10 new low-energy-density (ED) foods and provision of labels for all foods sold at lunch, which listed ED, calories, and macronutrient content) or 2) the environmental change plus pricing incentives for purchasing low-ED foods and education about low-ED eating delivered in four, 1-hour group sessions. Participant lunch choices were monitored electronically at the point of purchase for 3 months before the intervention was instituted (i.e., the baseline period) and for 3 months afterward (i.e., intervention period). Participants were adults (n = 96, BMI = 29.7 ± 6.0 kg/m2) who regularly ate lunch at their workplace cafeteria. There was no difference between groups in total energy intake over the study period. Across groups, energy and percent of energy from fat decreased and percent of energy from carbohydrate increased from baseline to the intervention period (all p <. 01). Follow-up analyses, conducted by averaging Baseline Months 1 and 2 and comparing them to Intervention Month 3 as a conservative estimate of overall impact of the intervention, indicated that change in energy, carbohydrate, and fat intake remained significant (p < .001). Providing nutrition labels and reducing the ED of selected foods was associated with improved dietary intake.
Objectives-Based on a life-course risk-chain framework, we examined whether (1) residual associations between childhood SES and adult obesity and BMI would be observed in women, but not men after adjusting for adult SES; (2) adult Big Five personality traits would be associated with adult body mass in both genders, and (3) personality would explain unique variation in outcomes beyond child and adult SES. Design-National survey (Midlife Development in the US study; N = 2922). Main Outcome Measures-BMI and obesity.Results-(1) in both genders, association between childhood SES and adult obesity were accounted for entirely by adult SES, but its effect on adult BMI was observed only in women. (2) Higher Conscientiousness was associated with lower obesity prevalence and BMI in both genders, though more strongly in women. In men, greater obesity prevalence was associated with higher Agreeableness and Neuroticism. (3) Personality explained unique outcome variation in both genders.Conclusions-Early social disadvantage may affect adult weight status more strongly in women owing to gender differences in the timing and nature of weight-management socialization. Personality may enhance or detract from risks incurred by childhood or adulthood SES in either gender, necessitating the consideration of dispositional differences in prevention and intervention programs. KeywordsObesity; BMI; socioeconomic status; personality; gender differences; Midlife Development in the US Obesity is a major public health problem in industrialized societies (Cope & Allison, 2006;McLaren, 2007), resulting in levels of morbidity nearly comparable to smoking and poverty (Sturm & Wells, 2001). Although the direction and strength of social gradients in obesity may vary depending a country's level of industrialization and age cohort, in many countries, Phone: 585-275-9431 Fax: 585-273-1082 Email: Benjamin_chapman@urmc.rochester.edu. Publisher's Disclaimer: The following manuscript is the final accepted manuscript. It has not been subjected to the final copyediting, fact-checking, and proofreading required for formal publication. It is not the definitive, publisher-authenticated version. The American Psychological Association and its Council of Editors disclaim any responsibility or liabilities for errors or omissions of this manuscript version, any version derived from this manuscript by NIH, or other third parties. The published version is available at http://www.apa.org/journals/hea/ NIH Public Access (McLaren, 2007;van der Horst et al., 2007) and endure through adulthood. Importantly, individuals born into higher childhood socioeconomic status (SES) show lower rates of adult obesity (SarlioLahteenkorva, 2007). A major question, however, is whether associations between lower childhood SES and adult obesity can be explained by adult SES (Drewnowski & Specter, 2004;Klohe-Lehman et al., 2006). If the effects of childhood SES on adult weight status are mediated entirely through adult SES, then prevention and intervention resources altering the ...
Restraint theory has been used to model the process that produces binge eating. However, there is no satisfactory explanation for the tendency of restrained eaters (REs) to engage in counterregulatory eating, an ostensible analogue of binge eating. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), the authors investigated brain activation of normal weight REs (N = 9) and unrestrained eaters (UREs; N = 10) when fasted and fed and viewing pictures of highly and moderately palatable foods and neutral objects. When fasted and viewing highly palatable foods, UREs showed widespread bilateral activation in areas associated with hunger and motivation, whereas REs showed activation only in the cerebellum, an area previously implicated in low-level processing of appetitive stimuli. When fed and viewing high palatability foods, UREs showed activation in areas related to satiation and memory, whereas REs showed activation in areas implicated in desire, expectation of reward, and goal-defined behavior. These findings parallel those from behavioral research. The authors propose that the counterintuitive findings from preload studies and the present study are due to the fact that REs are less hungry than UREs when fasted and find palatable food more appealing than UREs when fed.
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