Sizeable
Weight bias in graduate school admissions
Jacob Burmeister et al.
Obesity, May 2013, Pages 918-920
Objective: Whether weight bias occurs in the graduate school admissions process is explored here. Specifically, we examined whether body mass index (BMI) was related to letter of recommendation quality and the number of admissions offers applicants received after attending in-person interviews.
Design and Methods: Participants were 97 applicants to a psychology graduate program at a large university in the United States. They reported height, weight, and information about their applications to psychology graduate programs. Participants' letters of recommendation were coded for positive and negative statements as well as overall quality.
Results: Higher BMI significantly predicted fewer post-interview offers of admission into psychology graduate programs. Results also suggest this relationship is stronger for female applicants. BMI was not related to overall quality or the number of stereotypically weight-related adjectives in letters of recommendation. Surprisingly, higher BMI was related to more positive adjectives in letters.
Conclusions: The first evidence that individuals interviewing applicants to graduate programs may systematically favor thinner applicants is provided here. A conscious or unconscious bias against applicants with extra body weight is a plausible explanation. Stereotype threat and social identity threat are also discussed as explanations for the relationship between BMI and interview success.
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Neighbourhood food environments and body mass index among New York City adults
James Stark et al.
Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, forthcoming
Background: Studies evaluating the impact of the neighbourhood food environment on obesity have summarised the density or proximity of individual food outlets. Though informative, there is a need to consider the role of the entire food environment; however, few measures of whole system attributes have been developed. New variables measuring the food environment were derived and used to study the association with body mass index (BMI).
Methods: Individual data on BMI and sociodemographic characteristics were collected from 48 482 respondents of the 2002-2006 community health survey in New York City and linked to residential zip code-level characteristics. The food environment of each zip code was described in terms of the diversity of outlets (number of types of outlets present in a zip code), the density of outlets (outlets/km2) and the proportion of outlets classified as BMI-unhealthy (eg, fast food, bodegas).
Results: Results of the cross-sectional, multilevel analyses revealed an inverse association between BMI and food outlet density (-0.32 BMI units across the IQR, 95% CI -0.45 to -0.20), a positive association between BMI and the proportion of BMI-unhealthy food outlets (0.26 BMI units per IQR, 95% CI 0.09 to 0.43) and no association with outlet diversity. The association between BMI and the proportion of BMI-unhealthy food outlets was stronger in lower (
Conclusions: These results support a more nuanced assessment of the impact of the food environment and its association with obesity.
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Paula Brochu & John Dovidio
Social Psychological and Personality Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Policies that focus on self-regulation are being implemented to reduce obesity. One policy is menu labeling, the provision of calorie information on restaurant menus, which has evidenced mixed results. To illuminate the role of psychological processes, we examined the effect of weight-based stereotype threat on food choice as a function of body mass index (BMI). In Study 1, participants under stereotype threat ordered food containing more calories from a conventional menu that did not present calorie information as BMI increased, whereas no association between BMI and calories was found in the control (no threat) condition. In Study 2, participants under stereotype threat ordered more calories from a conventional menu as BMI increased, whereas no association between BMI and calories was found among participants who ordered from a calorie menu, demonstrating that menu labeling eliminated the stereotype threat effect. Theoretical and practical implications for stereotype threat and policy interventions are discussed.
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Does Advertising on Television Cause Childhood Obesity? A Longitudinal Analysis
Howard Beales & Robert Kulick
Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, forthcoming
Abstract:
Numerous studies finding a relationship between children's television viewing and obesity have led many to argue that advertising "unhealthy" food products causes children to adopt eating habits that lead to obesity. This longitudinal analysis of the relationship between television viewing and childhood obesity finds a positive effect in children aged seven years and older but not in younger children. Adding controls for the household environment created by the children's parents reduces the size of this effect. If advertising is the causal mechanism for the relationship, watching programming on television should have a greater effect than watching similar programming on video or DVDs. We find no significant difference in the effects of viewing commercial versus noncommercial television. Moreover, we generally find no significant differences between watching programming for the same intended audience on television or on video. These results suggest that restrictions on advertising may play a limited role in the battle against childhood obesity. Research is needed on the determinants of children's television viewing and how those factors may influence dietary choices.
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Kathleen Vohs et al.
Psychological Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Four experiments tested the novel hypothesis that ritualistic behavior potentiates and enhances ensuing consumption - an effect found for chocolates, lemonade, and even carrots. Experiment 1 showed that participants who engaged in ritualized behavior, compared with those who did not, evaluated chocolate as more flavorful, valuable, and deserving of behavioral savoring. Experiment 2 demonstrated that random gestures do not boost consumption as much as ritualistic gestures do. It further showed that a delay between a ritual and the opportunity to consume heightens enjoyment, which attests to the idea that ritual behavior stimulates goal-directed action (to consume). Experiment 3 found that performing a ritual oneself enhances consumption more than watching someone else perform the same ritual, suggesting that personal involvement is crucial for the benefits of rituals to emerge. Finally, Experiment 4 provided direct evidence of the underlying process: Rituals enhance the enjoyment of consumption because of the greater involvement in the experience that they prompt.
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Chen Zhen et al.
American Journal of Agricultural Economics, forthcoming
Abstract:
A censored Exact Affine Stone Index incomplete demand system is estimated for 23 packaged foods and beverages and a numéraire good. Instrumental variables are used to control for endogenous prices. A half-cent per ounce increase in sugar-sweetened beverage prices is predicted to reduce total calories from the 23 foods and beverages but increase sodium and fat intakes as a result of product substitution. The predicted decline in calories is larger for low-income households than for high-income households, although welfare loss is also higher for low-income households. Neglecting price endogeneity or estimating a conditional demand model significantly overestimates the calorie reduction.
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Children's and adolescents' sedentary behaviour in relation to socioeconomic position
Ngaire Coombs et al.
Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, forthcoming
Background: Sedentary behaviour is an emerging cardiometabolic risk factor in young people. Little is known about how socioeconomic position (SEP) and sedentary behaviour are associated in children and adolescents. This study examines associations between SEP and sedentary behaviour in school-age children and adolescents.
Methods: The core sample comprised 3822 Health Survey for England 2008 participants aged 5-15 years with complete information on SEP (household income, head of household occupational social class and area deprivation) and self-reported sedentary time (television viewing and other sitting during non-school times). Accelerometer-measured total sedentary time was measured in a subsample (N=587). We examined multivariable associations between SEP (including a composite SEP score) and sedentary time using generalised linear models, adjusting for age, sex, body mass index, physical activity, accelerometer wear time and mutually adjusting for the other SEP indicators.
Results: Participants in the highest SEP category spent 16 min/day less (95% CI 6 to 25, p=0.003) watching TV than participants in the lowest SEP category; yet they spent 7 (2 to 16, p=0.010) and 17 (5 to 29, p<0.000) min/day more in non-TV sitting and total (accelerometry-measured) sedentary time, respectively. Associations across individual SEP components varied in strength. Area deprivation was not associated with sedentary time.
Conclusions: Low SEP is linked with higher television times but with lower total (accelerometer-measured) sedentary time, and non-TV sitting during non-school time in children and adolescents. Associations between sedentary time and SEP differ by type of sedentary behaviour. TV viewing is not a good proxy for total sedentary time in children.
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Perceived Weight Discrimination and Obesity
Angelina Sutin & Antonio Terracciano
PLoS ONE, July 2013
Abstract:
Weight discrimination is prevalent in American society. Although associated consistently with psychological and economic outcomes, less is known about whether weight discrimination is associated with longitudinal changes in obesity. The objectives of this research are (1) to test whether weight discrimination is associated with risk of becoming obese (Body Mass Index≥30; BMI) by follow-up among those not obese at baseline, and (2) to test whether weight discrimination is associated with risk of remaining obese at follow-up among those already obese at baseline. Participants were drawn from the Health and Retirement Study, a nationally representative longitudinal survey of community-dwelling US residents. A total of 6,157 participants (58.6% female) completed the discrimination measure and had weight and height available from the 2006 and 2010 assessments. Participants who experienced weight discrimination were approximately 2.5 times more likely to become obese by follow-up (OR = 2.54, 95% CI = 1.58-4.08) and participants who were obese at baseline were three times more likely to remain obese at follow up (OR = 3.20, 95% CI = 2.06-4.97) than those who had not experienced such discrimination. These effects held when controlling for demographic factors (age, sex, ethnicity, education) and when baseline BMI was included as a covariate. These effects were also specific to weight discrimination; other forms of discrimination (e.g., sex, race) were unrelated to risk of obesity at follow-up. The present research demonstrates that, in addition to poorer mental health outcomes, weight discrimination has implications for obesity. Rather than motivating individuals to lose weight, weight discrimination increases risk for obesity.
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Overeating in all-you-can-eat buffet: Paying before versus paying after
Erez Siniver, Yosef Mealem & Gideon Yaniv
Applied Economics, Fall 2013, Pages 4940-4948
Abstract:
A widespread meal-serving system commonly blamed for contributing to the obesity epidemic is the all-you-can-eat buffet, where customers can help themselves to as much food as they wish to eat in a single meal for a fixed entry price. We set forth the hypothesis that buffet restaurants' practice of collecting the price in advance, rather than at the end of the meal, encourages overeating. Viewing advance payment as a token of disrespectful treatment, we first establish this result theoretically by extending two recent and competing models on buffet behaviour to take account of the customer's treatment experience. We then report the results of two experiments conducted in a sushi restaurant which support our hypothesis. The experiments reveal, ceteris paribus, that paying for the buffet meal after eating reduces sushi consumption by about 4.5 units, as compared to paying before eating. The result bears a straightforward and simple policy implication: To help reduce obesity, buffet restaurants should be banned from collecting the price in advance.
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Sebastian Bauhoff
Economics & Human Biology, forthcoming
Abstract:
School nutrition policies aim to eliminate ubiquitous unhealthy foods and beverages from schools to improve adolescent dietary behavior and reduce childhood obesity. This paper evaluates the impact of an early nutrition policy, Los Angeles Unified School District's food-and-beverage standards of 2004, using two large datasets on food intake and physical measures. I implement cohort and cross-section estimators using "synthetic" control groups, combinations of unaffected districts that are reweighted to closely resemble the treatment unit in the pre-intervention period. The results indicate that the policy was mostly ineffective at reducing the prevalence of overweight or obesity 8-15 months after the intervention but significantly decreased consumption of two key targets, soda and fried foods. The policy's impact on physical outcomes appears to be mitigated by substitution toward foods that are still (or newly) available in the schools.
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The impact of sleep deprivation on food desire in the human brain
Stephanie Greer, Andrea Goldstein & Matthew Walker
Nature Communications, August 2013
Abstract:
Epidemiological evidence supports a link between sleep loss and obesity. However, the detrimental impact of sleep deprivation on central brain mechanisms governing appetitive food desire remains unknown. Here we report that sleep deprivation significantly decreases activity in appetitive evaluation regions within the human frontal cortex and insular cortex during food desirability choices, combined with a converse amplification of activity within the amygdala. Moreover, this bi-directional change in the profile of brain activity is further associated with a significant increase in the desire for weight-gain promoting high-calorie foods following sleep deprivation, the extent of which is predicted by the subjective severity of sleep loss across participants. These findings provide an explanatory brain mechanism by which insufficient sleep may lead to the development/maintenance of obesity through diminished activity in higher-order cortical evaluation regions, combined with excess subcortical limbic responsivity, resulting in the selection of foods most capable of triggering weight-gain.
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Leah Cahill et al.
Circulation, 23 July 2013, Pages 337-343
Background: Among adults, skipping meals is associated with excess body weight, hypertension, insulin resistance, and elevated fasting lipid concentrations. However, it remains unknown whether specific eating habits regardless of dietary composition influence coronary heart disease (CHD) risk. The objective of this study was to prospectively examine eating habits and risk of CHD.
Methods and Results: Eating habits, including breakfast eating, were assessed in 1992 in 26 902 American men 45 to 82 years of age from the Health Professionals Follow-up Study who were free of cardiovascular disease and cancer. During 16 years of follow-up, 1527 incident CHD cases were diagnosed. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate relative risks and 95% confidence intervals for CHD, adjusted for demographic, diet, lifestyle, and other CHD risk factors. Men who skipped breakfast had a 27% higher risk of CHD compared with men who did not (relative risk, 1.27; 95% confidence interval, 1.06-1.53). Compared with men who did not eat late at night, those who ate late at night had a 55% higher CHD risk (relative risk, 1.55; 95% confidence interval, 1.05-2.29). These associations were mediated by body mass index, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, and diabetes mellitus. No association was observed between eating frequency (times per day) and risk of CHD.
Conclusions: Eating breakfast was associated with significantly lower CHD risk in this cohort of male health professionals.
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Valeria Skafida
Sociology of Health & Illness, July 2013, Pages 906-923
Abstract:
The general consensus in the research to date is that family meals are linked to healthier eating habits in children, compared to not eating with the family. Yet, few studies explore what it is about commensality which leads to better food choices among children. Using a representative Scottish sample of five-year-old children, this research explores the extent to which family meal occurrence, meal patterns regarding where, when and with whom children eat and perceived meal enjoyment predict the quality of children's diets after controlling for indicators of maternal capital that influence both meal rituals and taste preferences. Eating the same food as parents is the aspect of family meals most strongly linked to better diets in children, highlighting the detrimental effect in the rise of ‘children's food'. Although theoretical and empirical work pointed to the important health advantage in children eating together with parents, the results suggested that eating together was a far less important aspect of family meals. In evaluating the importance of the family meal, this article redirects attention away from issues of form and function towards issues of food choice. Policy implications and the importance for public health to recognise the way eating habits are defined by and reproduce social and cultural capital are discussed.
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Buy What Is Advertised on Television? Evidence from Bans on Child-Directed Food Advertising
Rui Huang & Muzhe Yang
Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, forthcoming
Abstract:
The authors examine whether the Children's Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CFBAI), the food industry's self-regulatory program that restricts child-directed advertising, has been effective in reducing children's advertising exposure and in changing household purchasing behaviors. During 2006-2008, Hershey's, Mars, and Cadbury Adams implemented their CFBAI pledges. The current findings indicate that CFBAI implementation reduced purchasing frequency by households with children of Cadbury Adams's bubble gum (by 80%) but not Hershey's or Mars chocolate. This seems to have resulted from Cadbury Adams's eliminating advertising to all age groups, whereas children continued to be exposed at high levels to Hershey's and Mars chocolate advertising on general programs. The authors conclude that restricting (only) child-directed advertising may not effectively reduce advertising exposure to children, but reducing advertising exposure can significantly lessen household purchasing.
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Andrew Lepp et al.
International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, June 2013
Background: Today's cell phones increase opportunities for activities traditionally defined as sedentary behaviors (e.g., surfing the internet, playing video games). People who participate in large amounts of sedentary behaviors, relative to those who do not, tend to be less physically active, less physically fit, and at greater risk for health problems. However, cell phone use does not have to be a sedentary behavior as these devices are portable. It can occur while standing or during mild-to-moderate intensity physical activity. Thus, the relationship between cell phone use, physical and sedentary activity, and physical fitness is unclear. The purpose of this study was to investigate these relationships among a sample of healthy college students.
Methods: Participants were first interviewed about their physical activity behavior and cell phone use. Then body composition was assessed and the validated self-efficacy survey for exercise behaviors completed. This was followed by a progressive exercise test on a treadmill to exhaustion. Peak oxygen consumption (VO2 peak) during exercise was used to measure cardiorespiratory fitness. Hierarchical regression was used to assess the relationship between cell phone use and cardiorespiratory fitness after controlling for sex, self-efficacy, and percent body fat. Interview data was transcribed, coded, and Chi-square analysis was used to compare the responses of low and high frequency cell phone users.
Results: Cell phone use was significantly (p = 0.047) and negatively (β = -0.25) related to cardio respiratory fitness independent of sex, self-efficacy, and percent fat which were also significant predictors (p < 0.05). Interview data offered several possible explanations for this relationship. First, high frequency users were more likely than low frequency users to report forgoing opportunities for physical activity in order to use their cell phones for sedentary behaviors. Second, low frequency users were more likely to report being connected to active peer groups through their cell phones and to cite this as a motivation for physical activity. Third, high levels of cell phone use indicated a broader pattern of sedentary behaviors apart from cell phone use, such as watching television.
Conclusion: Cell phone use, like traditional sedentary behaviors, may disrupt physical activity and reduce cardiorespiratory fitness.
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When Do Transparent Packages Increase (or Decrease) Food Consumption?
Xiaoyan Deng & Raji Srinivasan
Journal of Marketing, July 2013, Pages 104-117
Abstract:
Transparent packages are pervasive in food consumption environments. Yet prior research has not systematically examined whether and how transparent packaging affects food consumption. The authors propose that transparent packaging has two opposing effects on food consumption: it enhances food salience, which increases consumption (salience effect), and it facilitates consumption monitoring, which decreases consumption (monitoring effect). They argue that the net effect of transparent packaging on food consumption is moderated by food characteristics (e.g., unit size, appearance). For small, visually attractive foods, the monitoring effect is low, so the salience effect dominates, and people eat more from a transparent package than from an opaque package. For large foods, the monitoring effect dominates the salience effect, decreasing consumption. For vegetables, which are primarily consumed for their health benefits, consumption monitoring is not activated, so the salience effect dominates, which ironically decreases consumption. The authors' findings suggest that marketers should offer small foods in transparent packages and large foods and vegetables in opaque packages to increase postpurchase consumption (and sales).
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The Impact of Macroeconomic Conditions on Obesity in Canada
Ehsan Latif
Health Economics, forthcoming
Abstract:
The paper used longitudinal Canadian data from the National Population Health Survey to estimate the impact of macroeconomic conditions measured by provincial unemployment rate on individual obesity and BMI. To control for individual-specific unobserved heterogeneity, the study utilized the conditional fixed effect logit and fixed effects models. The study found that unemployment rate had a significant positive impact on the probability of being severely obese. The study also found that unemployment rate significantly increased BMI. However, the study did not find any significant impact of unemployment rate on the probability of being overweight or obese.
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Effects of dietary glycemic index on brain regions related to reward and craving in men
Belinda Lennerz et al.
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, forthcoming
Background: Qualitative aspects of diet influence eating behavior, but the physiologic mechanisms for these calorie-independent effects remain speculative.
Design: With the use of a randomized, blinded, crossover design, 12 overweight or obese men aged 18-35 y consumed high- and low-GI meals controlled for calories, macronutrients, and palatability on 2 occasions. The primary outcome was cerebral blood flow as a measure of resting brain activity, which was assessed by using arterial spin-labeling functional magnetic resonance imaging 4 h after test meals. We hypothesized that brain activity would be greater after the high-GI meal in prespecified regions involved in eating behavior, reward, and craving.
Results: Incremental venous plasma glucose (2-h area under the curve) was 2.4-fold greater after the high- than the low-GI meal (P = 0.0001). Plasma glucose was lower (mean ± SE: 4.7 ± 0.14 compared with 5.3 ± 0.16 mmol/L; P = 0.005) and reported hunger was greater (P = 0.04) 4 h after the high- than the low-GI meal, respectively. At this time, the high-GI meal elicited greater brain activity centered in the right nucleus accumbens (a prespecified area; P = 0.0006 with adjustment for multiple comparisons) that spread to other areas of the right striatum and to the olfactory area.
Conclusions: Compared with an isocaloric low-GI meal, a high-GI meal decreased plasma glucose, increased hunger, and selectively stimulated brain regions associated with reward and craving in the late postprandial period, which is a time with special significance to eating behavior at the next meal.
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Sociodemographic Differences in the Comprehension of Nutritional Labels on Food Products
Sarah Sinclair, David Hammond & Samantha Goodman
Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, forthcoming
Objective: To examine comprehension of nutrition labels across sociodemographic groups using a measure of health literacy.
Methods: Cross-sectional survey of a community sample of adults including an adapted version of the Newest Vital Sign for Canadian Nutrition Facts table on prepackaged grocery products, including numerical conversion questions for calorie content and percent daily value.
Results: Approximately two thirds of participants were able to correctly identify calorie content and percent daily value from the nutrition label. Participants with higher education and higher income, those aged ≤ 64 years, and those who look at nutritional facts or calories were significantly more likely to estimate the correct calorie content. Participants were significantly more likely to correctly identify percent daily value if they reported higher education, higher income, and white ethnicity.
Conclusions and Implications: Approximately one third of participants could not comprehend basic information on Canadian nutrition labels. Lower socioeconomic status was associated with poorer performance.
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Marital Status and Body Weight, Weight Perception, and Weight Management among U.S. Adults
Lori Klos & Jeffery Sobal
Eating Behaviors, forthcoming
Abstract:
Married individuals often have higher body weights than unmarried individuals, but it is unclear how marital roles affect body weight-related perceptions, desires, and behaviors. This study analyzed cross-sectional data for 4,089 adult men and 3,989 adult women using multinomial logistic regression to examine associations between marital status, perceived body weight, desired body weight, and weight management approach. Controlling for demographics and current weight, married or cohabiting women and divorced or separated women more often perceived themselves as overweight and desired to weigh less than women who had never married. Marital status was unrelated to men's weight perception and desired weight change. Marital status was also generally unrelated to weight management approach, except that divorced or separated women were more likely to have intentionally lost weight within the past year compared to never married women. Additionally, never married men were more likely to be attempting to prevent weight gain than married or cohabiting men and widowed men. Overall, married and formerly married women more often perceived themselves as overweight and desired a lower weight. Men's marital status was generally unassociated with weight-related perceptions, desires, and behaviors. Women's but not men's marital roles appear to influence their perceived and desired weight, suggesting that weight management interventions should be sensitive to both marital status and gender differences.