Longitudinal Effects of Obesogenic Food Environments on Body Mass Index and Executive Functioning in Low-income Adolescents


Book Description

"Obesogenic food environmental factors are associated with unhealthy dietary intake and obesity among adolescents. Evidence suggests that adverse environmental factors can have a negative effect on executive functioning. The investigation of how the obesogenic food environment influences the development of executive functioning over time remains unexamined. The purpose of this study was to examine the longitudinal effect of obesogenic food environmental factors on body mass index (BMI) and executive functioning among low-income African American adolescents. Analyses were based on four waves of data collected between 1994-2014 from the Memphis New Mothers Study, a longitudinal randomized controlled trial (RCT) of low-SES women and their first-born children's health and overall well-being. Using control group data only, latent growth modeling was used to analyze whether the obesogenic food environment at age 4.5 years is associated with changes in BMI and executive functioning over three time-points and what time-varying and time-invariant variables predict these changes. Growth mixture modeling was used to identify subgroups (classes) based on individual longitudinal trajectories of impulsivity, cognitive inflexibility, and working memory performance in adolescents. In addition, binomial or multinomial regression analyses were performed to investigate the associations between the hypothesized primary predictor (mRFEI) and covariates with the participant trajectory class memberships. Results indicated that maternal smoking and alcohol use during pregnancy was associated with the rate of change over time of impulsivity scores over the 12 years of the study. Prenatal alcohol use during pregnancy was associated with cognitive inflexibility at baseline and from ages 6 to 18. Maternal education at age 6 and neighborhood disorganization at ages 6 and 18 were also associated with cognitive inflexibility. Boys had lower age 6 baseline scores and quicker rates of increased working memory changes than girls. Gestational age was associated with baseline working memory scores. Birth weight was associated with the linear change in working memory, and household income and neighborhood disorganization were also associated with working memory in youth ages 12 and 18. Contrary to the study's hypotheses, the obesogenic food environment at age 4.5 did not explain the variance in boys' and girls' BMI categories, executive functioning at baseline, or variance in change over time for the overall sample. Growth mixture modeling enabled identification of the following distinct trajectory classes of executive functioning: (1) impulsivity: moderate-stable and moderate-increasing; (2) cognitive inflexibility: low-stable, very high-stable, and moderate-stable; (3) working memory: deficient-stable, low-stable, and moderate-stable. For impulsivity, results indicated no significant associations between the chosen predictors or covariates with class membership. For cognitive inflexibility, using the moderate-stable class as the reference group, higher maternal pre-pregnancy BMI was associated with membership in the low-stable and very high-stable classes. Also, neighborhood disorganization was associated with membership of the low-stable cognitive inflexibility class, but not the very high-stable class. For working memory, mRFEI scores were statistically associated with membership in the low-stable working memory class versus the moderate-stable working memory class (reference group), suggesting that working memory trajectories may be negatively affected by early exposure to obesogenic environments. Although obesogenic food environment was associated only with working memory trajectory class membership, other neighborhood indices were associated with specific trajectories in executive functioning, but not children's BMI. Also, maternal behaviors during pregnancy were associated with executive functioning trajectories. To further advance the knowledge and understanding about environmental risk factors on executive functioning in youth, more nuanced measures of obesogenic environment and addition of eating behaviors would be necessary. Nevertheless, the current insights support designing nutritional and cognitive developmental programming and educational interventions to ensure that adolescents receive adequate nutrition for cognitive health."--Pages xvi-xviii.




Associations Between Eating Behaviors, Diet Quality and Body Mass Index Among Adolescents


Book Description

"The prevalence of overweight and obesity are high in the U.S. and affect the population across all sociodemographic groups. Research shows that eating behaviors influence dietary intake as well as weight status, but both are complex processes that are influenced by a variety of biological, personal, behavioral, and environmental factors. Typically, adolescence is characterized by increased intakes of high-energy foods and beverages, higher obesity rates, as well as increasing prevalence of unhealthy weight management practices compared to younger age groups. Despite the obesogenic epidemic and high prevalence of unhealthy diets among adolescents, little is known about how eating behaviors, such as disinhibition and restraint, function in relation to weight and dietary outcomes in this age group. The purpose of the current research was to examine the associations between the two dysregulated eating behaviors, disinhibition and restraint, in relation to BMI and overall diet quality in a sample of adolescents. Subjects were 16-year olds participating in a longitudinal study that examines self-regulation as a predictor of cardiometabolic risks among adolescents. Disinhibition and restraint were measured using the subscales of the Three- Factor Eating Questionnaire (TFEQ). Dietary intake was assessed from 24 hour-dietary recalls that were used to calculate the Healthy Eating Index-2010 (HEI). Two separate hierarchical linear regression analyses were performed to test whether restraint moderated the associations between disinhibition and overall diet quality and BMI-for-age percentile. After adjusting for race and SES, the interaction effect between disinhibition and restraint fell short of statistical significance in the model that predicted BMI-for-age percentile (b=-.231 p=.176). There was a main effect of disinhibition on BMI-for-age percentiles (b=1.754, p=.012) such that individuals reporting higher scores for disinhibition had greater BMI-for-age percentiles. There was also a significant main effect of restraint on BMI-for-age percentile (b=.961, p=.038) so as the scores for restraint increased, so did BMI-for-age percentile. HEI-2010 scores were significantly associated with restraint scores (p=.009). Post-hoc probing revealed that at a high level of restraint, the association between disinhibition and HEI scores was non-significant (B=-.669, p=0.136). At low levels of restraint, there was a trend towards positive association between disinhibition and HEI-2010 score; however, this was statistically non-significant (B=1.073, p=0.069). In conclusion, the present study suggests that high levels of restraint independently predict both better diet quality and lower BMI-for-age percentiles, while disinhibition predicts only higher BMI-for-age percentiles among adolescents. Future studies should examine other factors, such as dieting status, to better understand these relationships in this target population."--Abstract from author supplied metadata.




Obesogenic Environments


Book Description

In a world where obesity has now reached epidemic proportions, a thorough understanding of the underlying causes of the problem is essential if society, public health initiatives and government policies are to successfully address the issue. The obesogenic environment describes all the possible influences that our environment presents which encourage overweight and obesity in individuals and populations. Beginning with an overarching introduction to obesity and its implications for health and wellbeing, the book will move on to consider such crucial areas as eating behaviours and food environments, physical activity and the environment, the urban environment, methods, policy and future research directions. Brings together expertise from across a range of disciplines Written by a truly multidisciplinary team of international authors Presents some of the most innovative thinking in the battle against obesity This groundbreaking book brings together for the first time the knowledge of experts with backgrounds in nutrition and dietetics, policy, epidemiology, environmental sciences, medical sciences, town planning and urban design, transport, geography and physical activity in order to offer a multidisciplinary approach to public health, suggesting new and exciting ways to shape our environment to better support healthful decisions.




Reversing the Obesogenic Environment


Book Description

Reversing the Obesogenic Environment describes the factors that contribute to an environment that leads to obesity, including public policy, the built environment, food supply and distribution, family and cultural influences, technology, and the media. It also offers tools that help professionals start to reverse the obesity epidemic.




Obesity Prevention


Book Description

Over the years, approaches to obesity prevention and treatment have gone from focusing on genetic and other biological factors to exploring a diversity of diets and individual behavior modification interventions anchored primarily in the power of the mind, to the recent shift focusing on societal interventions to design "temptation-proof" physical, social, and economic environments. In spite of repeated calls to action, including those of the World Health Organization (WHO), the pandemic continues to progress. WHO recently projected that if the current lifestyle trend in young and adult populations around the world persist, by 2012 in countries like the USA, health care costs may amount to as much as 17.7% of the GDP. Most importantly, in large part due to the problems of obesity, those children may be the first generation ever to have a shorter life expectancy than that of their parents. Obesity Prevention presents the most current research and proposals for addressing the pandemic. Past studies have focused primarly on either genetic or behavioral causes for obesity, however today's research indicates that a strongly integrated program is the best prospect for success in overcoming obesity. Furthermore, focus on the role of society in establishing an affordable, accessible and sustainable program for implementing these lifestyle changes is vital, particularly for those in economically challenged situations, who are ultimately at the highest risk for obesity. Using studies from both neuroscience and behavioral science to present a comprehensive overview of the challenges and possible solutions, The brain-to-society approach to obesity prevention focuses on what is needed in order to sustain a healthy, pleasurable and affordable lifestyle. Explores the "brain-to-society" approach to obesity prevention, focusing on an integrative approach to addressing the obesity pandemic Presents both the nueroscientific and the behavioral factors that impact eating habits Identifies the challenges and suggests solutions for altering attitudes toward food on both an individual and a societal level




Examining the Association Between Executive Functioning and Eating Behaviors in Adolescents from Low-income Backgrounds


Book Description

Adolescents from low-income backgrounds are a high-risk population for obesity and poor inhibitory control. Dietary restraint, the intent to restrict food intake, has also been associated with higher weight status in youth. Inhibitory control, the cognitive process that allows the inhibition of a response, such as restriction of high energy-dense (HED) foods, may vary by weight status and moderate the effect of dietary restriction on zBMI among adolescents. The overall goal of the study was to examine the interplay between inhibitory control, dietary restraint, and zBMI among 51 adolescents (ages 12-17; 54.4% female) from low-income backgrounds. Adolescents completed dietary restraint, inhibitory control, and depressive symptom measures, while a parent/primary caregiver completed demographic information. The study first aimed to explore whether inhibitory control abilities differed by weight status in adolescents from low-income backgrounds. The second aim was to examine if dietary restraint was associated with zBMI within a low-income sample of adolescents. Lastly, the study aimed to explore if inhibitory control buffered the association between dietary restraint and zBMI in adolescents from low-income backgrounds. ANCOVA, regression, and moderation analyses controlled for the covariate depressive symptoms. Inhibitory control trended towards significantly differing by weight status, F(2, 47)= 3.06, p=.056. Dietary restraint was positively associated with zBMI F(1, 48)= 12.02, p




Obesity Epidemiology


Book Description

During the past twenty years there has been a dramatic increase in obesity in the United States. An estimated thirty percent of adults in the US are obese; in 1980, only fifteen percent were. The issue is gaining greater attention with the CDC and with the public health world in general. This book will offer practical information about the methodology of epidemiologic studies of obesity, suitable for graduate students and researchers in epidemiology, and public health practitioners with an interest in the issue. The book will be structured in four main sections, with the majority of chapters authored by Dr. Hu, and some authored by specialists in specific areas. The first section will consider issues surrounding the definition of obesity, measurement techniques, and the designs of epidemiologic studies. The second section will address the consequences of obesity, looking at epidemiologic studies that focus on cardio-vascular disease, diabetes, and cancer The third section will look at determinants obesity, reviewing a wide range of risk factors for obesity including diet, physical activity and sedentary behaviors, sleep disorders, psychosocial factors, physical environment, biochemical and genetic predictors, and intrauterine exposures. In the final section, the author will discuss the analytical issues and challenges for epidemiologic studies of obesity.










Examining the Effects of a High Fat, High Sugar Diet in Adolescence on Memory and Executive Functioning in Young Adulthood


Book Description

Accumulating evidence from animal studies suggests that diets high in fats and sugar lead to poorer cognitive functioning. Importantly, animals exposed to a high fat, high sugar (HFHS) diet during adolescence show more pronounced deficits in cognitive performance than animals given this diet during adulthood, suggesting an age-specific vulnerability for diet-induced cognitive impairments. Given that the three primary sources of daily caloric intake for children and adolescents in the United States are dessert, pizza, and soda, translational research is needed to better understand the link between diet during development and cognitive function. Some studies demonstrate long-term effects of adolescent exposure to HFHS diets, highlighting a need for longitudinal research in this area. The current study sought to investigate whether unhealthy dietary habits during adolescent development predicts performance on tasks of memory and executive function using publicly available data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health study). Using three separate linear regressions, we tested whether HFHS intake in adolescence predicts memory and executive function in young adulthood using the following outcomes as dependent variables: total word recall score (immediate trial), total word recall score (delayed trial), and total number recall score. We also tested whether a robust indicator of inflammation, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), which was measured in adulthood, mediates the relationship between HFHS intake in adolescence and cognitive performance in adulthood. Finally, we tested whether physical activity in adolescence moderates the relationship between HFHS intake in adolescence and hsCRP as well as cognitive performance in adulthood. The results of the regression analyses reveal that HFHS scores in adolescence significantly and negatively predict performance on both the immediate and delayed word recall trials in adulthood, even after controlling for relevant covariates such as SES and BMI. The effect of HFHS scores on number recall scores was trending toward significance. The relationship between diet and memory was mediated by hsCRP, though HFHS scores was negatively associated with hsCRP. Physical activity did not moderate the effect of diet on hsCRP or cognitive performance. These findings support animal and human studies showing a relationship between HFHS intake and poorer cognitive performance. Importantly, the results of the current study extend the existing literature by suggesting that HFHS intake during adolescent development may affect cognitive performance later in life. Replication of this study is needed along with further research to identify possible physiological mechanisms underlying the relationship between HFHS and cognition as well as factors that modify this relationship.