Obesity In Girls Triggered By Stress Hormone, Depression
Filed under: Depression, Obesity / Weight Loss / Fitness, Pediatrics / Children's Health, Women's Health / Gynecology
Depression raises stress hormone levels in adolescent boys and girls but may lead to obesity only in girls, according to researchers. Early treatment of depression could help reduce stress and control obesity – a major health issue.
“This is the first time cortisol reactivity has been identified as a mediator between depressed mood and obesity in girls,” said Elizabeth J. Susman, the Jean Phillips Shibley professor of biobehavioral health at Penn State. “We really haven’t seen this connection in kids before, but it tells us that there are biological risk factors that are similar for obesity and depression.”
Cortisol, a hormone, regulates various metabolic functions in the body and is released as a reaction to stress. Researchers have long known that depression and cortisol are related to obesity, but they had not figured out the exact biological mechanism.
Although it is not clear why high cortisol reactions translate into obesity only for girls, scientists believe it may be due to physiological and behavioral differences — estrogen release and stress eating in girls — in the way the two genders cope with anxiety. Read more
Hungry Preschoolers Likely To Eat First Course Of Veggies
Increasing the amount of vegetables in the first course of preschool lunch could be a smart way to get children to eat more vegetables, according to Penn State nutrition researchers.
“We have shown that you can use portion size strategically to encourage children and adults to eat more of the foods that are high in nutrients but low in calories,” said Barbara J. Rolls, Helen A. Guthrie Chair of Nutritional Sciences.
Rolls and her Penn State colleagues study how varying the portions of fruit and vegetable side dishes can be used to raise vegetable consumption in children and adults.
Researchers served lunch to 51 children at a daycare center on four occasions and measured their vegetable intake. Children were provided with no carrots or 30 grams (about 1 ounce), 60 grams (about 2 ounces), or 90 grams (about 3 ounces) of carrots as the first course of their lunch.
The children had 10 minutes to eat the carrots, after which researchers served them pasta, broccoli, unsweetened applesauce, and low-fat milk.
They found that when preschool children received no first course of carrots, they consumed about 23 grams (nearly 1 ounce) of broccoli from the main course. Read more