Non-dieting Women Research Articles

Effects of High-Protein and High-Carbohydrate Diets on Body Weight Were Similar in Healthy Young Vietnamese Women With Normal Body Weight

Recently, attention has been paid to the effects of certain nutrients on body weight. High-protein (HP) diets are recommended, and high-carbohydrate (HC) diets are discouraged. However, HP is costly, and recently, some adverse effects of prolonged HP diets have been reported, involving risk factors for coronary artery, kidney, bone, and liver disease and other effects. Given this background, the question arises whether an HP diet is appropriate for healthy young people with normal body mass indices, and so we compared it with an HC diet in such individuals. We recruited 20 healthy women subjects with normal body weight and formed 10 pairs matched by energy intake, physical activity, height, weight, living conditions, and other factors. One member of each pair was then randomly assigned to 1 of 2 groups—HP (approximately 30% energy from protein, 40% from carbohydrate, and 30% from fat) or HC (approximately 55% energy from carbohydrate, 15% from protein, and 30% from fat)—for 4 weeks. They were provided all food and drinks in 3-day cycle menus for 28 days. Diets provided basal and ad libitum components. Physical activity level was monitored everyday by a pedometer. The pedometers were worn everyday aside from sleeping and bathing. Body weight was measured before and after the intervention. During the 4-week intervention period, the HP group's protein intake was significantly higher at 30.1% energy than that of the HC group at 15.1% energy (P < .001). The HP group's carbohydrate intake was 41.1% energy, and that of the HC group was 56.3% energy; they were significantly different (P < .001). Daily energy, lipid, and fiber intakes were similar among the 2 groups (1558 and 1551 kcal, 49.4 and 49.5 g, and 8.9 and 8.9 g, respectively). Changes in body weight during the intervention period were similar in the HP and HC groups, being 0.00 ± 3.43 and 0.04 ± 0.65 kg, respectively (P > .05). In healthy young Vietnamese women with a normal body mass index, those who consumed the HP and HC diets were similar in their energy intakes and changes in body weight, indicating that neither an HP nor an HC diet had any advantage or disadvantage in weight control in healthy young nondieting women.

"Cutting Down on Sugar" by Non-Dieting Young Women: An Impact on Diet Quality on Weekdays and the Weekend.

Restricted sugar intake is an important part of a healthy lifestyle and may contribute to the prevention of diet-related diseases. The aim of the study was to investigate whether declared sugar restriction is reflected in actual sucrose intake and diet quality of young non-dieting women, with differentiation between the weekend and weekdays. A convenient sample of 192 non-dieting women aged 20–30 years old was recruited. The sample was divided into two groups based on each woman’s declaration: “restricting sugar” (RS, n = 76) and “not restricting sugar” (nRS, n = 116). Comparisons between groups were made separately for seven days of the week, five weekdays and two weekend days without and with an adjustment for 2000 kcal of energy. Relative differences (RD, in %) in mean diet nutritional values between groups were calculated, where RD (%) = (RS − nRS) × 100/nRS, and were verified with a two-tailed t-test. In the seven-day diet of the RS group, in comparison to the nRS group, a lower daily intake of sucrose (by 22%) and MUFA (by 8%) and a higher content of most nutrients (by 7–38%) was found. No significant differences were observed in energy intake between RS and nRS women over the course of seven days, including weekdays and the weekend. Daily intake for the weekend, in comparison to weekdays, in RC and nRC women was higher with respect to energy (by 530 and 512 kcal, i.e., 37% and 34%, respectively), sucrose (44% and 23%, respectively), and most nutrients (by 17–98% and 16–42%, respectively). However, after the adjustment for 2000 kcal of energy, the daily intake of most nutrients in the weekend was lower (by 6–30% and 3–27%, in RS and nRS groups, respectively), than during weekdays. The intention to restrict sucrose has improved diet quality by decreasing sucrose intake and increasing the content of most nutrients, but had no effect on energy intake throughout the week. The quality of the women’s diet during the weekend was compromised, regardless of restricting or not restricting sugar. Encouragement to restrict sugar intake throughout the week and control the food intake during the weekend may be an effective strategy for young women to maintain a healthy diet.

Using virtual reality to study food cravings

Food cravings (FCs) are associated with overeating and obesity and are triggered by environmental cues. The study of FCs is challenged by difficulty replicating the natural environment in a laboratory. Virtual reality (VR) could be used to deliver naturalistic cues in a laboratory. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether food related cues delivered by VR could induce greater FCs than neutral VR cues, photographic food cues, or real food. Sixty normal weight non-dieting women were recruited; and, to prevent a floor effect, half were primed with a monotonous diet (MD). Experimental procedures involved delivering neutral cues via VR and food related cues via VR, photographs, and real food in counterbalanced order while measuring subjective (self-report) and objective (salivation) FCs. FCs produced by VR were marginally greater than a neutral cue, not significantly different from picture cues, and significantly less than real food. The modest effects may have been due to quality of the VR system and/or measures of FC (i.e., self-report and salivation). FC threshold among non-dieting normal weight women was lowered with the use of a MD condition. Weight loss programs with monotonous diets may inadvertently increase FCs making diet compliance more difficult.

Negative affect-induced food intake in non-dieting women is reward driven and associated with restrained–disinhibited eating subtype

In humans the presence of negative affect is thought to promote food intake, although widespread variability surrounds this issue. Susceptibility to negative affect-induced eating may depend on trait eating behaviours, notably ‘emotional eating’, ‘restrained eating’ and ‘disinhibited eating’, but the evidence is not consistent. In the present study, 30 non-obese, non-dieting women were given access to palatable food while in a state of negative or neutral affect, induced by a validated autobiographical recall technique. As predicted, food intake was higher in the presence of negative affect; however, this effect was moderated by the pattern of eating behaviour traits and enhanced wanting for the test food. Specifically, high restraint and high disinhibition in combination with higher scores on emotional eating and food wanting was able to predict negative-affect intake (adjusted R 2 = .61), suggesting that individuals who are both restrained and vulnerable to disinhibited eating are particularly susceptible to negative-affect food intake via stimulation of food wanting. Identification of traits that predispose individuals to overconsume and a more detailed understanding of the specific behaviours driving such overconsumption may help to optimise strategies to prevent weight gain.

Reactivity to smoking- and food-related cues in currently dieting and non-dieting young women smokers

There is some evidence to suggest that young women dieters who smoke experience greater cigarette cravings in the presence of food-related related cues. The aim of this experiment was to examine reactivity to both smoking-related and water cues by dieting and non-dieting women smokers in the presence or absence of food cues. Eighteen female undergraduates attended two sessions (food present and food absent). At each session, participants were presented with a cigarette and water cue in a counterbalanced order. Pre- and post-cue measures included the brief version of the Questionnaire for Smoking Urges, heart rate and self-reported mood. All smokers showed enhanced reactivity (increased craving and heart rate) to smoking versus water cues. For dieters there was a larger increase in cigarette craving and heart rate in response to the smoking-related cues in the presence of food compared with the absence of food, whereas for non-dieters there was a smaller increase in cigarette craving and heart rate in response to the smoking-related cues in the presence of food compared with the absence of food. Mood and appetite ratings were not significantly affected by either cue type or session. The results suggest that cue reactivity to smoking-related cues is modulated by the presence of incentive stimuli relevant to the individual.

Metacognition in patients with anorexia nervosa, dieting and non‐dieting women: a preliminary study

To explore metacognition in women with anorexia nervosa (AN), dieting and non-dieting women. A cross-sectional study between groups design compared women with AN (n = 15), normal dieters (n = 17) and non-dieters (n = 18). A semi-structured interview was used to explore presence and content of explicit metacognitions and use of metacognitive control strategies. Explicit metacognitions and metacognitive control strategies were present in all three groups of women. There were group differences in amount and function of metacognitive activity and trends in the qualitative data suggested participants with AN believed that their thoughts were abnormal and uncontrollable. They used six metacognitive strategies more than control groups and were less successful at using thought re-appraisal and attending to body and others. Half of participants with AN reported using these strategies to deliberately make themselves feel worse. It is suggested that metacognitive activity may play a role in the maintenance of AN, particularly in reinforcing negative self-evaluations.

The experience of ‘feeling fat’ in women with anorexia nervosa, dieting and non‐dieting women: an exploratory study

To provide a preliminary, systematic exploration of some features associated with the experience of 'feeling fat'. Women with anorexia nervosa (N = 16), women who were dieting (N = 15) and non-dieting women (N = 17) took part in a semi-structured interview. Feeling fat was common in all three groups of women. It was associated with distress, negative emotions, internal and external body sensations, images in a range of modalities, negative self beliefs and a first memory of feeling fat. Differences specifically characteristic of those with anorexia nervosa were identified, including feeling fatter, greater associated distress, more negative emotions, greater 'emotional' belief in cognitions, a richer experience, an earlier first memory, greater strength of negative self beliefs and a link to restricting behaviour. Some qualitative data are reported. The experience of feeling fat can be 'unpacked' in a way that may be useful in cognitive therapy for those with anorexia nervosa.

Using imagery to identify and characterise core beliefs in women with bulimia nervosa, dieting and non-dieting women

Women with bulimia nervosa (BN), dieters and non-dieting control participants were questioned about spontaneous imagery linked to concern with food and eating, weight and shape. The downward arrow technique was used to access any associated negative or core beliefs, which were examined for belief, distress and content. A semi-structured interview with open and closed questions was used. Negative self (core) beliefs were successfully accessed, and responses to the interview items had good test–retest and good inter-rater reliability. Patients with BN reported significantly more negative self (core) beliefs than those in the other two groups. Only a very small number of core beliefs about other people or the world in general were reported. Emotional belief ratings appeared to be higher overall than rational belief ratings. Patient's negative self-beliefs contained themes of “self-value”, followed by “failure”, “self-control” and “physical attractiveness”, in descending order of frequency. The findings are discussed in relation to existing research, and implications for cognitive theories of bulimia nervosa and clinical practice are briefly discussed.

A Preliminary Study of Negative Self-Beliefs in Anorexia Nervosa: A Detailed Exploration of Their Content, Origins and Functional Links to “Not Eating Enough” and Other Characteristic Behaviors

Objective: The study explored the semantic content and origins of negative self-beliefs, and their functional links to “not eating enough” and other behaviors, in participants with anorexia nervosa (AN). Method: Fifteen women meeting DSM-IV criteria for AN were compared with 17 dieting and 18 non-dieting women matched on age and number of years of education. The main outcome measure was a semi-structured interview. Results: Six themes were identified in the beliefs of participants with AN. These were, in order of decreasing frequency, powerlessness (present in all but three AN participants), failure, defectiveness, unattractiveness, worthlessness and emptiness. Importantly, powerlessness and failure beliefs were consistently present independent of Beck Depression Inventory-II scores. The negative early life experiences associated with these beliefs had high distress and responsibility ratings. Participants with AN reported that they employed specific behaviors, particularly ‘not eating enough,’ and ‘placating others,’ to try to reduce the cognitive and emotional impact of their negative self-beliefs. Discussion: The findings are discussed in relation to the role of powerlessness and the function of “not eating enough” in cognitive theory and therapy for AN.

The big five and self-esteem among overweight dieting and non-dieting women

Overweight is one of the most frequent phenomena, which poses serious health risks, emotional disturbances and esthetic and social problems in the Western world. This study investigated personality differences between women with normal weight, dieting overweight women and non-dieting overweight women. Thirty women with normal weight (NW), 30 overweight women who participated in diet groups (OWD), and 30 overweight women who did not participate in such groups (OWND) filled in a demographic questionnaire, Costa and McCrae's [Costa, P. T. Jr., & McCrae, R. R. (1992). NEO PI-R: Professional manual. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.] NEO-FFI, and Rosenberg's [Rosenberg, M. (1965). Society and the adolescent self-image. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.] Self-Esteem questionnaire. The results indicate that the OWND are significantly more neurotic and less open, conscientious, agreeable, and extravert than the other two groups. Self-esteem of the OWND is also lower than both OWD and NW. Contrary to hypothesis, OWD and NW do not significantly differ from each other with respect to both the Big Five and self-esteem.

Working memory performance and preoccupying thoughts in female dieters: Evidence for a selective central executive impairment

The study aimed to extend previous research into the impaired cognitive performance of spontaneous dieters by employing the Double Span Memory Task to investigate the relationship between weight-loss dieting and performance simultaneously on the three subsystems of working memory. A sample of 33 dieting and 33 non-dieting women were presented with increasingly longer sequences of common objects, displayed successively in different, randomly chosen locations of a 4 x 4 grid. Participants were then asked to name the objects (phonological loop), point to the locations (visuospatial sketch pad), or both (central executive). Participants also completed self-report measures of preoccupying cognitions, dietary restraint, depressed affect, and verbal intelligence. Current dieters performed more poorly than non-dieters on combined recall, but not on the single recall of objects or locations. They also scored more highly on self-rated preoccupying cognitions. Dieting to lose weight selectively impairs central executive functioning, rather than the storage capacity of the two slave systems. This dieting-related central executive deficit is at best partly attributable to the preoccupying thoughts about food, weight, and body shape accompanying dieting.

Reduction of food cravings through concurrent visuospatial processing.

Two experiments adopted a working memory approach to evaluate the effectiveness of visuospatial tasks as a technique for reducing food cravings. Dieting and non-dieting women were asked to form images of both food-related and nonfood items, induced by either pictures (Experiment 1) or verbal cues (Experiment 2). They were required to concurrently perform one of three tasks that load on the visuospatial sketch pad of working memory: saccadic eye movements, dynamic visual noise, or spatial tapping. In support of the working memory model of limited visuospatial capacity, concurrent visuospatial activity reduced the vividness of food-related images which, in turn, reduced the intensity of the associated craving. The same pattern of results was observed across dieters and non-dieters and for all stimulus types. Visuospatial tasks may provide a useful technique for the treatment of food craving episodes in both nonclinical and clinical populations.

Information About the Fat Content of Preloads Influences Energy Intake in Healthy Women

Objective This study tested the hypothesis that the perceived fat content of a preload (a required first course) influences subsequent food and energy intake.Subjects and design Forty-eight healthy, nondieting women (24 restrained, 24 unrestrained) were given a fixed amount (350g) of three different yogurts (low-fat, low-calorie; low-fat, high-calorie; high-fat, high-calorie), or no yogurt, followed by lunch (30minutes after the yogurt preload was served) and dinner (4.5 hours later). Each subject was tested in all four conditions in a counterbalanced design. Half of the subjects received accurate information, in the form of a label, about the fat content of the yogurts, which did not necessarily correspond to energy content; the other half received no information.Analyses Energy intake, the percentage of macronutrients in the meals, and subjective sensations of hunger and satiety were analyzed.Results No effect of restraint was noted in the intake analyses. A significant information-by-preload interaction (P<.05) was found. Subjects who had information consumed more energy at lunch after eating a preload labeled low fat than after eating a preload with similar energy content but labeled high fat. The opposite response was seen in women who did not receive information. When energy consumed at dinner was included in the analyses, overall intake was still significantly greater in the women who received information and ate a low-fat preload. No differences were found in the percentage of macronutrients selected or in subjective sensations after consumption of any of the preloads.Conclusions Messages about the fat content of a food can influence energy intake in healthy women. J Am Diet Assoc. 1995; 95:993-998.

Diet and Gender Moderate Clozapine-Related Weight Gain

This study examined patients with schizophrenia in two state hospitals treated with clozapine, with particular attention to factors that may affect weight gain. A retrospective chart review was performed for 40 subjects, all of whom had been treated for at least 6 months. Patients included 26 males and 14 females, 34 caucasians and 6 blacks, with an average age of 37.5 years. Twenty-nine patients were overweight prior to initiation of treatment with clozapine, and ten patients were placed on diets prior to clozapine treatment. Dosages at 1 and 6 month intervals were were recorded, with no evident group differences related to gender or diet status. Results indicate a significant (p =. 001) treatment x diet interaction, with nondieters gaining more weight. For the 30 nondieters, weight was higher by 7.2 pounds, with women particularly affected, and for the 10 dieters, weight was 10.0 pounds lower, with men showing greater weight loss. There was also a significant (p =. 01) treatment x sex interaction, with females gaining more weight. Nondieting men gained an average of 4.5 pounds, nondieting women gained 13.3 pounds, dieting men lost an average of 15.6 pounds, and dieting women gained. 8 pounds. Patients overweight prior to clozapine therapy were no more likely to gain significant amounts of weight than were patients of normal weight. No relationship was found between dosage and weight gain. We conclude that previous reports of weight gain with clozapine treatment have revealed inconsistent results based on varied gender composition of the subject pool. It also appears that dietary management is an important component of comprehensive treatment for patients taking clozapine.

The role of cognitions in bulimia nervosa

This research investigated several characteristics of the cognitions of 15 bulimics, 15 repetitive dieters, and 15 nonbulimic, nondieting women using an in vivo thought-sampling procedure. Following training, subjects self-monitored their thoughts every 30 min for two randomly selected days. Subjects' cognitions were rated by independent raters on content, affective tone, accuracy, and adherence to a dichotomous thinking style. Results indicated bulimics reported significantly greater proportions of eating- and weight-related thoughts than non-eating-disordered control subjects and significantly greater proportions of negative affective thoughts than repetitive dieters and non-eating-disordered control subjects. Furthermore, bulimics were significantly more likely to report distorted eating- and weight-related thoughts than the remaining groups. While bulimics were not significantly more preoccupied with thoughts of food independent of eating, thoughts of weight and body shape composed a significantly greater proportion of their eating- and weight-related thoughts than those of the remaining groups. Theoretical and clinical implications of these findings are discussed.

The specificity of satiety: The influence of foods of different macronutrient content on the development of satiety

The effects of consuming equicaloric preloads with different macronutrient contents on the development of satiety were investigated. Ten normal-weight, nondieting women fasted overnight and then rated hunger, fullness, and food preferences, and the pleasantness of the taste of food samples before and after five different preloads. The greatest changes in the pleasantness of the taste of the food occurred for the eaten food relative to the uneaten food. Macronutrient content of the preloads did not significantly influence the magnitude of these changes or the pleasantness of foods with similar nutrient contents. Therefore, no evidence of nutrient-specificity was obtained. Nutrient composition had a differential effect on hunger, fullness and food intake. Ratings of hunger decreased and fullness increased following the high starch and high protein preloads to a greater extent than after the high fat, high sucrose and mixed content preloads. When a self-selection meal was offered 2 hours after the preloads energy intake and preference for high carbohydrate and high fat food items were significantly decreased by the high protein and high starch preloads. However, no specific reduction in macronutrient intake was observed. In conclusion, differential effects of the preloads were observed in subjective ratings of hunger, fullness, preferences and subsequent food intake, but there was no indication that satiety was macronutrient-specific.

The Goldfarb Fear of Fat Scale.

These two studies introduce the Goldfarb Fear of Fat Scale (GFFS) as an assessment device for use with bulimic clients. Study I presents norms and reliability data for a high school sample, as well as pilot comparisons between anorexic and normal women. Study II demonstrates that the GFFS significantly differentiates between bulimics, repeat dieters, and non-dieting women. These results suggest that the GFFS may be utilized clinically as a diagnostic tool and indicator of change, which may assist in the early identification of bulimic individuals.

TRIIODOTHYRONINE, T.S.H., AND PROLACTIN IN OBESE WOMEN

Basal levels of thyroid-stimulating hormone and prolactin and their response to thyrotrophin-releasing hormone are normal in obese women. Serum thyroxine and triiodothyronine are also normal and do not correlate with body-weight in healthy non-dieting women. After jejunoileal bypass, serum-triio-dothyronine levels fall, and this fall appears to depend more on the reduction in calorie intake after the operation than on the reduction in body-weight per se.