Crinkle, Pop, Fizz...

Did you ever stop to consider whether the act of actually opening a wrapper, or stirring a drink, made a difference as to how much you enjoy the food or beverage?  Here's an interesting bit of human food psychology - a recent study shows that these actions actually do enhance the pleasure of the food or drink itself.

The study found that a group of people who unwrapped a chocolate bar following a specific set of instructions enjoyed the chocolate more than those who were not given specific unwrapping instructions.  They also found that if there was a longer time between the food preparation 'ritual' and consumption of the food (time to drool?), the food was enjoyed more.  Finally, they found that enjoyment was higher if the food was prepared by another person, it was not enjoyed as much as if the food was 'ritualized' by the person eating the food.  So for example - watching someone else mix a pitcher of lemonade does not make the lemonade as tasty as when you do the mixing yourself.

So, it seems that the rituals of food preparation enhance the enjoyment of consumption because we are more involved in the food experience.  This comes back to the principle of avoiding Mindless Eating  - we end up feeling more satisfied with less food if we are involved in, and thinking about, the process of eating, from start to finish!

www.drsue.ca © 2013 @drsuepedersen

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Seven Risk Factors for Obesity at Age 3

A recent study looked for risk factors that influence a child’s likelihood of being overweight by age 3.  The study looked at over 13,000 children aged 6-12 months in the UK, and followed their data to age 3 to determine whether any factors could predict the risk of being overweight at age 3. 

Out of 33 different possibilities studied, they found seven characteristics that were associated with an increased risk of childhood obesity at age 3.

The 7 factors that are associated with a higher risk of a 3-year-old being overweight are:

• Mother smoking in pregnancy increased the rate of the 3-year-old being overweight by 33%
• Children who are not breastfed were 25% more likely to be overweight at age 3 than those who were ever breastfed
• Mom being overweight before pregnancy
• Dad having obesity
• A higher weight at birth
• Gender: girls were more likely to be overweight at age 3 than boys
• Early weight gain: babies who rapidly gained weight during their first year were 4 times more likely to be overweight at age 3 than those who grew at an average weight

So why do we care if a 3 year old is overweight?  Doesn’t the weight just balance out over time?  While many kids will go through different phases of body fat storage as they grow, it is a fact that overweight in childhood does increase the risk of that individual being overweight in adulthood.  So while it would not be appropriate to get carried away with intense weight management of a three year old, what we can learn from this study is that there are things we can look at in our own lives that could be modified to improve the health of our offspring. 

While some of the above risk factors are modifiable (eg smoking), others are not.  Knowing that there are many benefits to breastfeeding, most mothers these days do choose or try to breastfeed, but it isn’t always successful.  Parental obesity has been shown to be associated with weight struggles in their offspring, both in childhood and as those children become adults, so it is important to reach out for help with a weight struggle not only for a person's own health and well being, but also for that of their kids.  

Dr Sue Pedersen www.drsue.ca © 2013 drsuetalks@gmail.com

Follow me on Twitter for daily tips! @drsuepedersen 

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Breakfast Like a King.... Will It Help You Lose Weight?

As part of weight management counseling, we often advise patients to eat 'breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper'.

A new study, by Jakubowicz and colleagues, tested this approach in a clinical trial.  They randomly assigned a group of overweight women to have more of their daily food intake at breakfast (700 calories at breakfast, 500 calories at lunch, and 200 calories at supper), or to have more of their daily food intake at supper (200 calories at breakfast, 500 calories at lunch, and 700 calories at supper) for three months.

Not only did the women eating more at breakfast lose more weight than the women eating more at supper, but the breakfast group also had a greater improvement in blood sugars, insulin resistance, and a type of cholesterol called triglycerides.  In addition, the breakfast group reported less hunger and more fullness after a meal, and their ghrelin (hunger hormone) levels were lower than the supper group.

So why does eating more food at breakfast work?  Previous studies have shown that eating breakfast may help to regulate brain activity to control eating behaviours later in the day, especially if the breakfast is high in protein. Contrast this with a day we have probably all experienced at some point, where you skipped breakfast, ate very little for lunch, and upon coming home at the end of the day, you were just so hungry that you had to eat and eat NOW - does that feeling sound familiar?   In that setting of intense hunger, we often overeat, as food is often eaten quickly - remember that it takes 10-15 minutes for the fullness hormones to start to kick in.  So, people who don't eat enough during the day will often eat their entire day's calories (and then some) at the end of the day.

So, prepare your shopping list to include healthy, bodacious, proteinaceous breakfast foods, like Egg Beaters, skim milk, no-salt-added cottage cheese, and lean cuts of deli meat - and enjoy!

Thanks to Obesity and Energetic Offerings for the heads' up on this study!



Dr Sue Pedersen www.drsue.ca © 2013 drsuetalks@gmail.com

Follow me on Twitter for daily tips! @drsuepedersen 

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Could Soap Increase Our Risk of Diabetes?

What!? we exclaim as we race into the bathroom to grab the bottle or bar that we use without thinking every day.  It's not like we're eating it.  But it may be true - chemicals called phthalates, which are found in soaps, hair spray, nail polish, creams, perfumes and other beauty products, may increase our risk of diabetes.

A recent study, published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, lends more suggestive evidence to this interesting area.  They measured the urine phthalate levels in over 2,000 women, and found that women who were in the top 25% for urine phthalate levels were nearly twice as likely to have diabetes, compared to women in the bottom 25% for urine phthalate levels.

While the association between higher urine levels of this chemical and diabetes doesn't necessarily mean that one causes the other, the overall collection of studies in this area is certainly suggestive.

While scientists are busy sorting out what phthalates actually do to our metabolism and risk of diabetes, it makes sense to try to avoid perfumes and other scented beauty products, which often contain higher levels of this chemical.

Dr Sue Pedersen www.drsue.ca © 2013 drsuetalks@gmail.com

Follow me on Twitter for daily tips! @drsuepedersen 

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