Eating Disorder

In conjunction with National Eating Disorders Awareness Week, February 26 through March 4, Arkansas Children’s Hospital urges families to watch for signs of an eating disorder. This year the theme for the annual observation is “Be comfortable in your genes,” emphasizing that a person’s size and shape are genetic and poor eating habits can severely damage their health.

Millions of Americans are reading food labels these days; some are trying to eat healthier while others hope to avoid being overweight. Our society’s obsession with weight stems from a number of factors; the growing number of obese Americans, images of celebrities who are unrealistically thin and the millions of people who fall in between those categories and suffer from a poor self-image or lack of self-esteem. While our attention on obesity can be helpful, the concern over body image also can get out of control, sometimes leading to unhealthy eating disorders that can be life-threatening.  Eating disorders affect people of all ages, from children in kindergarten to their grandparents. Approximately 10 million girls and women struggle with some type of eating disorder, as do one million boys and men.

“An eating disorder develops as a result of a combination of several factors, some of which include genes, biochemical changes in the brain, specific personality traits such as obsessive compulsive tendencies and/or perfectionist tendencies, family dynamics and socio-cultural expectations regarding weight and appearance,” says Maria Portilla, M.D., medical director of the Adolescent Eating Disorder Clinic at Arkansas Children’s Hospital and associate professor of Pediatrics at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences College of Medicine. “Patients with eating disorders usually have an unrealistic view of themselves and focus a lot of their attention on their weight and appearance.  Since this is a mental health illness, the patient needs treatment with a mental health professional.”

Portilla says eating disorders diagnosed in the Adolescent Center at Arkansas Children’s Hospital include anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and other disorders that don’t place the patient in either of the first two categories. Those who have an eating disorder may see themselves as overweight, when in reality they are dangerously thin and malnourished.  The symptoms of anorexia nervosa, one of the more common eating disorders, include excessive weight loss, excessive exercise, avoiding fats and carbohydrates or avoiding meals altogether, fatigue, fainting or depression.  Signs of bulimia nervosa include eating large amounts of food in a short time period followed by purging, excessive exercise after a meal, staying in the bathroom for long periods of time after a meal, a frequent sore throat or an obsession with food or weight.

“An adolescent or adult with an eating disorder needs treatment, preferably with a team of professionals that are communicating on a regular basis,” says Portilla. “These professionals should include a mental health professional, such as a psychologist and psychiatrist, and a physician with expertise in eating disorders who can evaluate and follow the medical complications. Typically, these physicians are pediatricians, family practice physicians or internists.” A healthy weight and body image can be achieved through proper diet and physical exercise, keeping in mind that adolescents and adults who are unrealistically thin are damaging their own psychological and physical health. It is estimated that 20 percent of those who have an eating disorder will die, secondary to medical complications, from malnutrition or due to suicide.

A little shove from the workplace may actually be the ticket to weight loss, a new review of studies from US show.

According to Michael Benedict, MD, and colleagues at UC, employer-based programs for weight loss are modestly effective at helping workers take off extra pounds.

“Worksite-based programs do tend to result in weight loss for the people that participate in them,” says Benedict, co-author of the study and researcher in the department of internal medicine.

The review appears in the July-August issue of the American Journal of Health Promotion.

Benedict and colleagues looked at 11 studies published since 1994 to determine their results.

Most of the programs involved education and counseling designed to improve diet and increase physical activity and lasted anywhere from two to 18 months. Forty-six percent of the studies involved low-intensity interventions, 18 percent were moderate intensity and 36 percent were high intensity.

Benedict says that intensity may be an important factor when it comes to weight loss. He added that programs incorporating face-to-face contact with subjects more than once a month appeared to be more effective than other programs.

In comparison, participants in higher intensity programs lost an average of 2.2 pounds to almost 14 pounds, while non-participants ranged from a loss of 1.5 pounds to a gain of 1.1 pounds.

“Most employed adults in the U.S. spend nearly half of their waking hours at their place of employment,” Benedict says. “Worksite based programs have great potential to positively impact our current obesity epidemic.

However, Benedict says it was difficult to draw conclusions about weight-loss maintenance.

“Participants in these programs may lose weight, but it is unclear what happens after the fact, as weight maintenance has not been studied,” he says.

There is also minimal data to show how much money employers could save if they start worksite weight-loss programs. Benedict says many employers want to know that implementing these programs will lead to a positive return on investment.

Studies have shown that other worksite health interventions targeting high risk employees, like smokers and people with hypertension, may benefit employers financially within only a few years.

“These programs have the potential to have a tremendous public health impact,” he says. “However, more high quality research is needed.”

Diet and Weight Loss

There are various diet programs and plans in the media that we hear all the time such as Atkins diet, South Beach Diet, Zone Diet, Cabbage Diet and more. However, it is important to look to see how much nutrients each diet program provides while helping to lose weight or maintain good weight loss. See below an interesting statistics about calcium rich diet.

According to a recent study in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, researchers at Creighton University found that girls who followed a calcium rich diet, including dairy foods and calcium-fortified foods, did not experience greater increases in body weight or body mass index compared with girls on their usual diet.

The research also showed that average calcium intake for girls 9 to 13 years old is 69 percent of the recommended level and only 55 percent for girls ages 14 to 18.

According to the study, girls who consumed the calcium rich diet “significantly improved their overall nutritional intake” increasing their consumption of protein, vitamins A and D, phosphorus, potassium and magnesium, in addition to calcium.

Since at least 40 percent of the body’s bone mass is formed during adolescence, help your kids make smart choices that include calcium-rich foods like milk and dark-green leafy vegetables.

Red Wine Diet?

Red wine and red grapes contain a chemical, called resveratrol, that can offset some of the effects of gluttony, say researchers from the National Institute on Aging, Harvard Medical School, USA. Resveratrol does not seem to be able to get rid of the obesity, but it can lower glucose levels, help your liver and improve your heart.

Studies had already indicated that resveratrol slows down the aging process in some non-mammalian animals. In this study, the scientists wanted to see what the effects of resveratrol might be on mammals.

They had lab rats which were fed 60% calories coming from fat. The rats were obese, had insulin resistance and cardiovascular diseases. The rats were divided into two groups. One group continued to eat 60% of calories from fat, while the other group had the same diet, but with resveratrol added to it.

The rats receiving resveratrol had lower glucose levels, their hearts became healthier, as did their liver tissue. The scientists also noticed that the rats that consumed resveratrol were more nimble on their feet, compared to the other group.

Even though the resveratrol-fed mice did not lose any weight, their health became as good as that of a mouse on a normal diet. Although the non-resveratrol fed mice continued to have a short lifespan, the resveratrol-fed mice lived as long as mice on a normal diet.

The scientists believe resveratrol may activate SIRT1, a gene associated with longevity.

If what happened to the mice could happen to humans, resveratrol could help prevent obese people from developing Type 2 Diabetes, heart disease, cancer and some other illnesses, say the researchers.

Fals Diet Promises

Anyone who reads the newspaper, reads magazines, watches television or listens to the radio knows that dieting is big business. Consumers are bombarded with messages about fad diets that seem to come and go. Spending on weight loss products reached $43 billion in recent years. Some may help you lose weight in the short term, but most are a waste of hard-earned money. If they worked, the majority of Americans would not be overweight. For National Nutrition Month 2007, the American Dietetic Association says the most effective long-term way to achieve a healthful lifestyle is to be 100% Fad Free?.

As easy as it is to be lured by promises of a quick fix, the reality is that there isn’t one. There is no super food, super pill or super diet that will make us thin. How can we spot fads?

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Beware of offers promising a quick fix.
Watch out for gimmicks asking you to buy additional products such as ‘supplements’.
If a diet plans asks you to avoid an entire group of foods, such as carbohydrates, beware. It is extremely difficult and maybe dangerous to exclude an entire food group.
If the plan offers proof that it works based on personal experiences rather than science, forget it. Words like miraculous, breakthrough, revitalize, detoxify, cure, quick or secret formula are red flags.

If fad diets aren’t the answer, what is a desperate, discouraged dieter to do? Very simply, eat a little less and move a little more. A very small 100-calorie per day margin can swing your weight by 10 pounds per year! This means that if you take in 100 calories more than you need every day for a year, you will gain about 10 pounds in that year.

Conversely, if you take in 100 calories less than you need every day for a year, you will lose about 10 pounds in a year. This 100-calorie margin change can be accomplished painlessly and without your even noticing. What does 100 calories look like?

4 Hershey kisses
5 tablespoons of coffee creamer
14 potato chips
8 ounces of soda
1 tablespoon of mayonnaise
2 tablespoons of cream cheese
8 ounces of lemonade
10 French fries

Cutting out any of these items is certainly possible and won’t make you feel deprived. In fact, cutting 200 or even 300 calories per day will likely go unnoticed. As you can see drastic measures aren?t necessary to manage weight.

The Marion County Health Department promotes healthy nutrition through a variety of educational programs. Health department Registered Dieticians (RD) specialize in personalizing weight management. Registered Dietitians excel in understanding the causes of weight gain and are prepared to help individuals incorporate a healthy diet and physical activity into a daily routine. The health department also provides counseling support to families with children who have been identified as being at risk for being overweight or underweight. Local elementary schools incorporate healthy nutrition information in their curriculums to encourage children to try new fruits and vegetables with support from the health department.

The Nutrition Services program also administers the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program to eligible participants in Marion County. Through WIC, individuals are identified as ‘nutritionally at risk’ and are provided with nutrition education and healthy supplemental foods. WIC participation continues to grow in Marion County; therefore more families are reached with healthy nutrition and physical activity information.

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