Tag: eating

Categories : Diet and Nutrition PaediatricsTags :

Parents’ Eating Behaviour Influences how Their Children Respond to Food

On By ModernMedia
Photo by Vanessa Loring on Pexels

Young children often display similar eating behaviour as their parents, with a parent’s own eating style influencing how they feed their children, research at Aston University has shown.

The work, published in the journal Appetite, suggests that parents can help to shape healthy eating behaviour in their children both by how they themselves eat, as well as how they feed their children.

A team led by Professor Jacqueline Blissett at Aston University, asked parents to assess their own eating behaviour and looked for associations between those behaviours and those of their children.

The team grouped parents into four eating styles – ‘typical eating’, ‘avid eating’, ‘emotional eating’ and ‘avoidant eating’. Typical eaters, who made up 41.4% of the sample, have no extreme behaviours. Avid eaters (37.3%) have high food approach traits such as eating in response to food cues in the environment and their emotions, rather than hunger signals. Emotional eaters (15.7%) also eat in response to emotion but do not enjoy food as much as avid eaters. Avoidant eaters (5.6%) are extremely selective about food and have a low enjoyment of eating.

The direct links between child and parent behaviour were particularly clear in parents with avid or avoidant eating behaviours, whose children tended to have similar eating behaviour. Parents who had avid or emotional eating styles were more likely to use food to soothe or comfort a child, who then in turn displayed avid or emotional eating traits. Where parents with avid or emotional eating traits provided a balanced and varied range of foods, the child was less likely to display the same behaviour.

The research follows on from previous work by the team, which identified the four main types of eating behaviour in children and linked parental feeding practices to those traits.

Dr Abigail Pickard, the lead researcher on the project, said:

“Parents are a key influence in children’s eating behaviour but equally, parents have the perfect opportunity to encourage a balanced diet and healthy eating from a young age in their children. Therefore, it is important to establish how a parent’s eating style is associated with their children’s eating style and what factors could be modified to encourage healthy relationships with food.”

She and the team will now look at developing an intervention to support parents to use other ways to regulate emotions, model healthy eating, and create a healthy home food environment. This could help to prevent less favourable eating behaviours being passed down the generations from parent to child.

Source: Aston University

Categories : Diet and NutritionTags :

People Struggle to Maintain Healthy Habits During the Festive Season

On By ModernMedia

The holiday season is a time for joy and celebration but many Americans admit the endless flurry of activities make it difficult to eat healthy, exercise and get adequate rest, according to a new survey from The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.

Two-thirds of those surveyed said they overindulge in food, nearly 45% said they take a break from exercise and more than half report feeling tired and have less time for themselves. Plus, a third admit they drink more alcohol during the holidays.

“Holiday travel, activities with friends and family, and trying to get a bunch of things done can cause people to lose track of their healthy habits,” said Barbara Bawer, MD, family medicine physician at Ohio State Wexner Medical Center and clinical assistant professor of family and community medicine at The Ohio State University College of Medicine.

“If one healthy habit drops off, it can affect other areas very quickly.”

To make it through the holiday season with healthy habits intact, Bawer suggests trying to stick to a normal routine as much as possible while giving yourself some grace.

“Once you’re out of a routine, which typically happens around the holidays, it’s really hard to get back on track partly because the motivation is no longer there,” said Bawer.

When the invitations start to pile up and decadent menus feels tempting, Bawer offers this advice, “Remember that it’s OK to say no.”

To keep healthy habits in check, try the following:

Diet: When it comes to sustaining healthy eating habits, it’s important to plan ahead. If you have an evening event, don’t starve yourself all day. Eat a high protein, low carb meal earlier in the day so you don’t overeat.

You can indulge with a favorite dish or dessert but it’s OK to say no to sampling every entrée or treat so you’re not eating excess calories at each event.

Exercise: Try to keep the same exercise schedule. If an obligation prevents you from going to a fitness centre or going for a run, be flexible. It’s OK to say no to the gym and consider doing an activity with family and friends that keeps you moving like going for a walk or playing a game of basketball.

Sleep: Go to sleep and wake up at your normal times, even when travelling. Limit the use of supplements like melatonin, as long-term use can disrupt healthy sleep-wake cycles. It’s OK to say no to some invitations if you feel like you’re going to overextend yourself.

Alcohol: People may drink more during the holidays but binge drinking is never a healthy choice. Binge drinking is when a man consumes five drinks or a woman consume four drinks in one setting. It’s OK to say no to excessive drinking. If you do drink, try to stick to the recommended two drinks for men or one drink for women. Avoid drinking on an empty stomach and drink plenty of water.

“Small, consistent changes and slowly adding to them can help you reach your health goals,” Bawer said.

Survey results and methodology This survey was conducted on behalf of The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center by SSRS on its Opinion Panel Omnibus platform. The SSRS Opinion Panel Omnibus is a national, twice-per-month, probability-based survey. Data collection was conducted from Oct. 20-23 among a sample of 1 007 respondents. The survey was conducted via web (n = 977) and telephone (n = 30) and administered in English. The margin of error for total respondents is +/-3.6 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. All SSRS Opinion Panel Omnibus data are weighted to represent the target population of U.S. adults ages 18 or older.

Source: Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center

Categories : GastrointestinalTags :

1 in 10 Suffer Abdominal Pain After Meals

On By ModernMedia
Photo by Vanessa Loring from Pexels

Around 11% of the global population frequently experience abdominal pain when they eat meals, according to a large online survey.

The research, presented at UEG Week Virtual 2021, found that was pain associated with eating is most common in those aged 18 to 28, with 15% of that age group affected. A gender split was seen, with 13% of women and 9% of men reporting eating-linked pain.

People experiencing frequent abdominal meal-related pain were also more likely to experience bloating, feeling full too soon, constipation and diarrhoea. The same group also had more severe psychological distress and non-gastrointestinal somatic symptoms.

A total of 36% of the people with frequent (>50% of the time) meal-related pain reported suffered from anxiety compared with 25% in the occasional (10-40% of the time) symptoms group and 18 % in those who never experienced meal-related pain. Those with frequent attacks also reported higher rates of depression (35%) compared to 24% in the occasional  symptom group and 17% in the group that never had meal-related pain.
The findings came from an online survey of 54 127 people across 26 countries.
Esther Colomier, study author and a joint PhD researcher at KU Leuven, Belgium, and the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, explained, “The take home message from this study is that people who experience meal-related abdominal pain more frequently experience other gastrointestinal symptoms and more regularly fulfil criteria for disorders of the gut brain interactions (DGBIs, formerly known as functional gut disorders), including common conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), bloating and abdominal distension.”

“They also have a higher burden of psychological and somatic symptoms, such as back pain or shortness of breath, which are associated with major distress and functioning problems. These symptoms cause distress and disruption in daily life”, she added.

Lower gastrointestinal symptoms such as constipation and diarrhoea were experienced in 30% of those who reported frequent meal-related pain, versus 20% in the group who reported occasional symptoms and 10 % in the no symptoms at all group. The same applied for bloating and abdominal distension symptoms, which were reported as often as once a week in the group who experienced frequent meal pain, compared to two or three days a month in the group with occasional pain and one day a month in the group who experienced no symptoms.

Esther Colomier concluded, “Considering meal-related symptoms in future diagnostic criteria for DGBIs should be encouraged. In clinical practice, assessing meal association in all patients with DGBIs could be of major importance for improving and individualising treatment. Here, patients could benefit from a multidisciplinary care approach, including dietary and lifestyle advice, psychological support and pharmacological therapy.

Source: EurekAlert!