“The Scenic Route to a Longer Life”
Loved this post and had to share it!
An Overlooked Age for Weight-related Behavior Change
An interesting analysis of why we need more research into the health behaviors of emerging adults – college aged youth.
(source: Nature, by Melissa C. Nelson et al)
Article Excerpt:
Over the past 50 years, major population-level demographic shifts including increases in postsecondary education and delays in marriage and childbearing have occurred. These shifts have opened the door for a period of “emerging adulthood,” typically defined as 18–25 years of age (1). This period is marked by important transitions such as leaving home and increasing autonomy in decision-making; however at the same time, adult responsibilities such as financial independence and residential and employment stability are still in flux. This period of emerging adulthood may be an important, yet overlooked, age for establishing long-term health behavior patterns. Several factors differentiate emerging adulthood from other life stages and have specific relevance to the formation of health behavior patterns, including identity development and shifting interpersonal influences.
New ‘healthy’ eating disorder difficult to diagnose
The article discusses an interestingly new eating disorder – Orthorexia nervosa – a disorder of wanting to eat healthy.
(source: The Daily Free Press)
Eating healthy can actually be unhealthy at times, doctors and dieticians said.
With the rise of food trends promoting purity and dietary cleansing movements, a new eating disorder has emerged. Orthorexia nervosa, an unhealthy obsession with being healthy, has health professionals struggling in their diagnoses.
Because orthorexia is not an official medical diagnosis in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, as anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa are, it is less well-known and harder to diagnose. The term was coined in 1997 by Steven Bratman, a Colorado doctor who experienced the disorder, said Boston University Nutrition and Fitness Center nutritionist Sarah Butler.
8 Studies Demonstrating the Power of Simplicity
I found an interesting post on Simoleon Sense today about simplicity. The topic might not be exclusively “public health,” however, the ideas from the article are applicable to the field of public health in the terms of policy development, research, development of health interventions, etc.
(original source: PSYBLOG)
Obesity Prevention Programs That Work!
Being involved in an multi-state obesity-prevention effort, I was curious to know what interventions work and what interventions do not. The following paper by Stice et al provides an overview of current obesity prevention efforts and whether they were effective.
(source: Pub Med, U. of Texas, by Stice et al.)
Abstract
This meta-analytic review summarizes obesity prevention programs and their effects and investigates participant, intervention, delivery, and design features associated with larger effects. A literature search identified 64 prevention programs seeking to produce weight gain prevention effects, of which 21% produced significant prevention effects that were typically pre to post effects. Larger effects emerged for programs targeting children and adolescents (versus preadolescents) and females, programs that were relatively brief, programs solely targeting weight control versus other health behaviors (e.g., smoking), programs evaluated in pilot trials, and programs wherein participants must self-select into the intervention. Other factors, including mandated improvements in diet and exercise, sedentary behavior reduction, delivery by trained interventionists, and parental involvement, were not associated with significantly larger effects.