Study Investigates The Role Mood Plays In The Development Of Unhealthy Eating

Dr. Enrique Jacome

Unhealthy eating behaviors may worsen the moods of women who are worried about their diet and self image, researchers from Pennsylvania State University revealed.

Kristin Heron, research associate at the Survey Research Center, and team found that college-age females who are concerned about their eating behaviors tend to have moods that get worse after episodes of disordered eating.

Disordered eating refers to unhealthy and extreme weight control behaviors and binge eating. The person has an unhealthy relationship with food and/or their body, one that undermines their quality of life and may affect their overall physical, mental or emotional health. People involved in disordered eating behaviors might not fit the full criteria of a traditional eating disorder, such as binge-eating disorder, bulimia or anorexia; they are usually within the range of healthy weight and do not exhibit behaviors all the time.

Heron said:
"There was little in the way of mood changes right before the unhealthy eating behaviors," said Heron. "However, negative mood was significantly higher after these behaviors."

Heron explained that individuals with disordered eating patterns may binge eat and lose control over eating and how much food they consume.

The researchers presented their study-findings at the American Psychosomatic Society Conference, Miami, Florida.

The study participants appeared to show little change in mood before an unhealthy eating bout. While disordered eating was followed by worsening moods "a positive mood did not change either before or after any of the behaviors studied by the researchers."

Handheld computers were given to 131 women who were concerned about their weight and body shape. They all had high levels of unhealthy eating, but none of them had an eating disorder.

The handheld computer would prompt the women to answer questions regarding their eating behaviors and moods.

Heron said:
"What we know about mood and eating behaviors comes primarily from studies with eating disorder patients or from laboratory studies. We were interested in studying women in their everyday lives to see whether mood changed before or after they engaged in unhealthy eating and weight control behaviors."

Co-author Joshua Smyth, professor of biobehavioral health, said that their findings may help health care professionals devise more effective treatments for women with eating problems.

Smyth said "This study is unique because it evaluates moods and eating behaviors as they occur in people's daily lives, which can provide a more accurate picture of the relationship between emotions and eating. The results from this study can help us to better understand the role mood may play in the development and maintenance of unhealthy eating, and weight-control behaviors, which could be useful for creating more effective treatment programs for people with eating and weight concerns."

Disordered eating behaviors have been extensively studied

Several studies have been carried out on disordered eating, which tends to affect females more than males. Below are some examples:

• Disordered eating affects up to 15% of females - researchers from the Université de Montréal and the Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Canada, found that between 10 to 15% of adult females may be affected by disordered eating. They reported their findings in the International Journal of Eating Disorders. Lead researchers, Lise Gauvin, described the study results as "disquieting".
  
  Women are constantly bombarded with contradictory messages. On the one hand they are told to lose weight, while at the same time being encouraged to eat for the simple pleasure of it.


• Disordered eating in adolescence often carries on into adulthood - teenagers who diet and develop disordered eating behaviors tend to continue with such behaviors when they are adults, researchers from the University of Minnesota reported in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.
  
  Dianne Neumark-Sztainer, PhD, MPH, RD, said "The findings from the current study argue for early and ongoing efforts aimed at the prevention, early identification, and treatment of disordered eating behaviors in young people. Within clinical practices, dietitians and other health care providers should be asking about the use of these behaviors prior to adolescence, throughout adolescence, and into young adulthood. Given the growing concern about obesity, it is important to let young people know that dieting and disordered eating behaviors can be counterproductive to weight management. Young people concerned about their weight should be provided with support for healthful eating and physical activity behaviors that can be implemented on a long-term basis, and should be steered away from the use of unhealthy weight control practices."


• Anxiety disorders linked to disordered eating risk - Dr Lynne Drummond, a consultant psychiatrist at South West London and St George's NHS Mental Health Trust, England, found that disordered eating is much more common among people with anxiety disorders, compared to the rest of the population.
  
  Doctors and other health care professionals should be aware of this risk. Disordered eating may affect up to one fifth of all patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder and one third of those with other anxiety disorders.

www.fleurhealth.com

Link Between Smoking And A Worse Urothelial Cancer Prognosis, Especially For Women

Dr. Enrique Jacome

Smoking significantly increases individuals' risk of developing serious forms of urothelial carcinoma and a higher likelihood of dying from the disease, particularly for women. That is the conclusion of a recent study published in BJU International. While the biological mechanisms underlying this gender difference are unknown, the findings indicate that clinicians and society in general should focus on smoking prevention and cessation to safeguard against deadly cancers of the bladder, ureters, and renal pelvis, especially in females. 

To evaluate the gender-specific effects of smoking habits and cumulative smoking exposure on the health of patients with urothelial carcinoma, investigators led by Shahrokh Shariat, MD, of the Weill Medical College of Cornell University and New York-Presbyterian Hospital in New York City, studied 864 patients (553 men and 311 women) from five international institutions who underwent surgery to treat urothelial carcinoma. 

Cancer was more likely to recur in female current smokers than in male current smokers. In heavy long-term smokers, women were 70 percent more likely to experience a cancer recurrence and twice as likely to die from cancer than men. In female patients only, smoking quantity, duration, and cumulative exposure were linked with cancer recurrence and death. For both men and women, those who stopped smoking for more than 10 years saw their risk of dying from cancer revert to that of non-smokers. 

"The biological and clinical effect of smoking seems to be different in females than in males. More effort needs to be spent on the science of how normal human biology differs between men and women and how the diagnosis and treatment of urothelial carcinoma differs as a function of gender," said Dr. Shariat. "Also, gender-specific smoking prevention and cessation can have a major health care impact in urothelial carcinoma." 

www.fleurhealth.com

Study Shows Most Mothers Wait At Least 6 Weeks To Engage In Sex After Childbirth

Dr. Enrique Jacome

Most first-time mothers wait until after 6 weeks postpartum to resume vaginal sex following childbirth and women who have an operative vaginal birth, caesarean section, perineal tear or episiotomy appear to wait longer, suggests a new study published inBJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. 

The study, conducted by the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Australia, used data from the Maternal Health Study, a large prospective pregnancy cohort in which data were collected from self-administered questionnaires in early pregnancy and at 3, 6 and 12 months postpartum. The study used a sample of 1507 first-time mother to investigate the timing of resumption of vaginal sex and assess associations with methods of birth, perineal trauma and other obstetric and social factors. 

Results show that 41% of women attempted vaginal sex by 6 weeks postpartum, 65% by 8 weeks, and 78% by 12 weeks, with this figure increasing to 94% by 6 months postpartum. 

The study also found that sexual activity was resumed earlier than vaginal sex, with 53% resuming sexual activity by 6 weeks postpartum. 

Furthermore, women aged 30-34 years were significantly less likely to have resumed vaginal sex compared with younger women, aged 18-24 years, by 6 weeks post partum (40% compared with 63%). 

Women who had a caesarean section, a birth assisted with forceps and those who had an episiotomy or sutured tear were also less likely to have resumed vaginal sex by 6 weeks postpartum compared with women who had had a spontaneous vaginal birth and intact perineum. The results show that 45% of women who had a caesarean section, 32% who had a forceps-assisted birth, 32% who had an episiotomy and 35% who had a sutured tear had resumed vaginal sex by 6 weeks, compared with 60% who had a spontaneous vaginal birth with intact perineum. 

The paper states that only around 10% of women having a first baby will achieve a vaginal birth with an intact perineum. Hence, for the vast majority of women and their partners, it is reasonable to anticipate a delay in resuming vaginal sex related to the events of labour and birth, say the authors. 

Associate Professor Stephanie Brown from the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Victoria, Australia and lead author of the study said: 

"The most important finding from the study is the wide time interval over which couples resume sex after childbirth. Most couples do not resume sex until after 6-8 weeks postpartum, and many delay much longer than this. 

"This is useful information for couples to know before their baby is born, and may help reduce feelings of anxiety and guilt about not resuming sexual activity sooner." 

Ellie McDonald, from the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute and co-author of the research said: 

"The study findings provide evidence that both method of birth and degree of perineal traumaplay a role in the resumption of sex after childbirth. 

"It is possible that some couples delay resumption of sex until after the 6-week check-up on the grounds of waiting to check that everything is back to normal. This may explain the relatively large number of women that resume vaginal sex at 7-8 weeks postpartum." 

John Thorp, BJOG Deputy-Editor-in-Chief added: 

"It is very common for women and their partners to want information about when sexual activity may be safely and comfortably resumed, and what to expect in relation to the impact of childbirth on their relationship. 

"Having reliable information to guide clinical practice can dispel common myths about what is normal during the postnatal period as well as enabling clinicians to tailor information to a woman's individual circumstances. 

"This study provides important new evidence to guide information given to women and their partners about what to expect after childbirth. However, it is important to remember that these decisions are down to the individual couple and when it feels right for them." 

www.fleurhealth.com

Iron Intake May Help To Protect Women Against PMS

Dr. Enrique Jacome

Women who reported eating a diet rich in iron were 30 to 40 percent less likely to develop pre-menstrual syndrome (PMS) than women who consumed lower amounts, in a study reported this week by researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst School of Public Health and Health Sciences and Harvard. It is one of the first to evaluate whether dietary mineral intake is associated with PMS development.

Senior author Elizabeth Bertone-Johnson and others at UMass Amherst, with lead author Patricia Chocano-Bedoya and colleagues at Harvard, assessed mineral intake in approximately 3,000 women in a case-control study nested within the prospective Nurses' Health Study II. Participants were free from PMS at baseline. Results appear in the early online edition of the American Journal of Epidemiology.

Women in the study completed three food frequency questionnaires over the 10-year study period. After 10 years, 1,057 women were diagnosed with PMS and 1,968 remained free from PMS. Adjusting for calcium intake and other factors, the researchers then compared previous mineral intake reported by the women diagnosed with PMS with that of women who had few or no menstrual symptoms.

"We found that women who consumed the most non-heme iron, the form found primarily in plant foods and in supplements, had a 30 to 40 percent lower risk of developing PMS than women who consumed the lowest amount of non-heme iron," says Bertone-Johnson. Women in the highest intake group for non-heme iron had a relative risk of PMS of 0.60 compared to women in the lowest intake group.

She adds, "We also saw some indication that high intake of zinc was associated with lower risk. In contrast, we were somewhat surprised to find that women consuming the highest amount of potassium had a higher risk of being diagnosed with PMS than women consuming the lowest amount of potassium. In general, results for mineral from food sources and minerals from supplements were similar."

Overall, "Our findings need to be replicated in other studies. However, women at risk for PMS should make sure they are meeting the RDA for non-heme iron and zinc."

"The level of iron intake at which we saw a lower risk of PMS, roughly greater than 20 mg per day, is higher than the current recommended daily allowance (RDA) for iron for premenopausal women, which is 18 mg per day," Bertone-Johnson says. This amount may be obtained in 1 to 1.5 servings per day of iron-fortified cereal or with supplements.

"However, as high iron intake may have adverse health consequence, women should avoid consuming more than the tolerable upper intake level of 45 mg per day unless otherwise recommended by a physician," she notes. Iron may be related to PMS because it is involved in producing serotonin, a neurotransmitter that helps to regulate mood, she and colleagues point out.

The unexpected finding of higher PMS risk with high potassium intake, even at levels below current recommendations of 4,700 mg per day, may be related to potassium's role in regulating fluid balance in the body. It may affect PMS symptoms such as swelling in the extremities and bloating by affecting fluid retention. "More studies of potassium and menstrual symptoms are needed to better understand this," they say.

"The level of zinc intake at which we saw suggestion of a lower risk of PMS, greater than 15 mg per day, was also higher than current recommendations of 8 mg per day. However, as high zinc intake may also have adverse health consequences, women should avoid consuming more than the tolerable upper intake level of 40 mg per day unless recommended by a physician."

Intake of other minerals, including magnesium, copper, sodium and manganese were not associated with PMS risk, the authors point out.

www.fleurhealth.com