Trial on the Effect of Media Multi-tasking on Attention to Food Cues and Cued Overeating
Attention Concentration DifficultyObesity1 moreChildhood obesity is a critical public health problem in the United States. One factor known to contribute to childhood obesity is excess consumption. Importantly, excess consumption related to weight gain is not necessarily driven by hunger. For example, environmental food cues stimulate brain reward regions and lead to overeating even after a child has eaten to satiety. This type of cued eating is associated with increased attention to food cues; the amount of time a child spends looking at food cues (e.g., food advertisements) is associated with increased caloric intake. However, individual susceptibility to environmental food cues remains unknown. It is proposed that the prevalent practice of media multi-tasking-simultaneously attending to multiple electronic media sources-increases attention to peripheral food cues in the environment and thereby plays an important role in the development of obesity. It is hypothesized that multi-tasking teaches children to engage in constant task switching that makes them more responsive to peripheral cues, many of which are potentially harmful (such as those that promote overeating). The overarching hypothesis is that media multi-tasking alters the attentional networks of the brain that control attention to environmental cues. High media multi-tasking children are therefore particularly susceptible to food cues, thereby leading to increased cued eating. It is also predicted that attention modification training can provide a protective effect against detrimental attentional processing caused multi-tasking, by increasing the proficiency of the attention networks. These hypotheses will be tested by assessing the pathway between media-multitasking, attention to food cues, and cued eating. It will also be examined whether it is possible to intervene on this pathway by piloting an at-home attention modification training intervention designed to reduce attention to food cues. It is our belief that this research will lead to the development of low-cost, scalable tools that can train attention networks so that children are less influenced by peripheral food cues, a known cause of overeating. For example, having children practice attention modification intervention tasks regularly (which could be accomplished through user-friendly computer games or cell phone/tablet apps) might offset the negative attentional effects of media multi-tasking.
Sense2Stop:Mobile Sensor Data to Knowledge
StressSmoking Cessation1 moreThe aim of this research is to build systems that can recognize when people are stressed and then provide them with relaxation prompts in the moment to reduce their likelihood of being stressed, smoking, or overeating in the near future. Using these systems should help smokers be more effective in their attempts to quit by reducing their tendency to lapse when they are stressed or experiencing other negative moods or behaviors.
Impact of Exercise on the Metabolic Consequences of Overeating
HealthyThe primary purpose of this study is to examine the effects of 1-week of overeating on important clinical metabolic health outcomes (e.g., glucose tolerance, blood lipid profile, and blood pressure) and factors regulating the structure and metabolic function of fat tissue. This study will determine how regular exercise during this overeating period impacts these responses.
Fat Cell Size and Overfeeding and Etopic Study
Over EatingIt has been shown that large fat cells are associated with more risks for insulin resistance and more cardiovascular risk factors such as high cholesterol or triglycerides.
Location Specific Differences in Intestinal Brake Activation
Ileal BrakeSatiety3 moreThe appearance of intact macronutrients in the small intestine can result in the activation of an intestinal brake; a negative feedback mechanism from different parts of the intestine to the stomach, the small intestine and to the central nervous system. These processes inhibit food processing, appetite sensations and food intake, and furthermore they increase feelings of satiety and satiation. The researchers will investigate the effects of intraduodenal, intrajejunal and intralileal infusion of casein (protein) on ad libitum food intake, satiation and in vivo release of the gut satiety peptides CCK, PYY and GLP-1 and glucose and insulin.
Body Composition Changes During Overfeeding Plus Resistance Training
Weight GainResistance Training1 moreThis study will examine the relationship between the rate and composition of mass gain during overfeeding plus resistance training, investigate the validity of multiple assessment methods for quantifying body composition changes during this period, and evaluate the effects of subject presentation on the interpretation of body composition changes.
How Does 4 Weeks of Increased Fast Food Intake Affect Metabolism?
Hyper-AlimentationHealthyObjective: To study the effect of fast food-based hyper-alimentation on liver enzymes and hepatic triglyceride content (HTGC)and metabolism. Design: Prospective interventional study with parallel control group. Setting University Hospital of Linköping, Sweden. Participants: 12 healthy men and six healthy women with a mean (SD) age of 26 (6.6) years and a matched control group. Intervention: Subjects in the intervention group aimed for a body weight increase of 5-15% by eating at least two fast food-based meals a day with the goal to double the regular caloric intake in combination with adoption of a sedentary lifestyle for four weeks. Main outcome measures: Weekly changes of serum aminotransferases and HTGC measured by proton nuclear magnetic resonance-spectroscopy at baseline and after the intervention.
Digestion of Foods Consumed in Africa
Obesity and Other HyperalimentationAs populations become urbanized in Africa, the change to a more Westernized diet has been associated with rise in obesity and related metabolic syndrome diseases. The current study shows that in the West African Sahel, these replacement starchy staple foods have fast gastric emptying compared to traditional sorghum and millet foods; and implies that the latter could be beneficial in lowering glycemic response, providing energy from a meal over a longer time, and providing a satiety effect. Knowledge of this attribute of sorghum and millet foods could be useful to improve their image in West African cities to increase their consumption and to improve markets for local smallholder farmers.
The Impact of Snacks Which Vary Nutritionally in Their Satiating Potential on Measures of Appetite...
Lack of SatietyHyperphagiaThe current study will examine the effect of almond consumption (0.9g/kg dose) compared to an energy and weight matched comparator food or no food on measures of appetite control including appetite sensations, energy intake and food hedonics.
Cognitive Processes Study in Obese Women With and Without Eating Disorders
Hyperalimentation and ObesityThe P300 is one of the cognitive wave of the Event-Related Potential (ERP) that is used to investigate the cognitive process. The P300 component are accepted as electro-physiological markers of neuropsychiatric disorders like alcoholism or drug addiction. Recent scientific data suggest that eating disorders, leading to weight gain and obesity, will be similar of those of drug addiction: it is the incentive sensitization theory that implicates the dopaminergic reward system. The aim of this cross-sectional study is to investigate the alteration of P300 auditory ERP in obese women with eating disorders in comparison with obese and lean women without eating disorders.