Increasingly, researchers in the areas of eating disorders and obesity prevention are recognizing the benefits of collaborative efforts aimed at curbing the spectrum of eating-related disturbances. Research suggests that eating disorders and overweight tend to co-occur, and that individuals cross over from one eating-related disturbance to…

Objective: The authors examined the influence of a holistic model of wellness on activity level among obese and sedentary college students. Participants: They recruited 41 participants for an 11-week program. Methods: Participants were required to record daily walking totals and complete 5 bimonthly classes where principles of holistic wellness…

For more than a decade, researchers, and increasingly the public, have focused on childhood overweight as a personal and public health problem. As the number of children who are overweight has continued to grow, consensus has emerged that schools, as the places where children spend much of their time, have a critical role to play in reversing this…

The biggest risk to children's health is one which happens incrementally as students move through the school grades and into adulthood. Obesity has reached such proportions that today's children could end up living two to five years less than they might otherwise, according to a 2005 study in the New England Journal of Medicine. According to the…

Little is known about effective eHealth recruitment methods. This paper presents recruitment challenges associated with enrolling African-American girls aged 8-10 years in an eHealth obesity prevention program, their effect on the recruitment plan, and potential implications for eHealth research. Although the initial recruitment strategy was…

Strategies to fix America's ailing health-care system seemed to fly off the presses every month in 2007. Doctors, journalists, and policymakers clamored to have their say, as did supporters and opponents of the controversial life-extension movement. These top trends, which registered in 2006 as well, and will only balloon in this election year,…

Objective: A school-based nutrition education minimal intervention (MI) was evaluated. Design: The design was experimental, with random assignment at the school level. Setting: Seven schools were randomly assigned as experimental, and 7 as delayed-treatment. Participants: The experimental group included 551 teens, and the delayed treatment group…

This study investigated the hypothesis that obese female adolescents would show evidence of greater maladjustment on objective personality indices as compared to general norms for adolescents. Findings support this hypothesis, as measured by the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI). In particular, the difficulties of the obese group…

A proper physical education program can be instrumental in prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of obesity. (MB)

A study of 11 obese adults who exercised with hand weights concludes that using the weights increases the energy demands of walking but only slightly. Research and results are presented and analyzed. (JL)

Determined Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) characteristics' association with binge-eating severity among obese women. Indicated much variability in binge severity among obese women seeking treatment. MMPI characteristics were significantly related to binge severity. As binge severity increased, so did psychological disturbance,…

Evaluated effects of competition on a bibliotherapy weight loss program offered in a clinic setting. Assigned subjects to bibliotherapy, competition, or bibliotherapy plus competition conditions. Showed the combined competition and behavioral program produced weight losses greater than those produced by either element alone, with superiority…

Provided a five-year follow-up of obese children who participated in a family-based behavioral weight control program targeting and reinforcing children and parents for weight loss. Children in the parent-plus-child group showed significantly greater weight reductions after five years than did children in control groups. (Author/ABB)

Examines whether therapist contact reinforces weight loss behaviors. Overweight clients (N=45) were assigned to conditions in which therapist contact was or was not contingent on weight loss. Weight loss was not affected by contingency, but clients who were seen contingent on not losing weight had the poorest results overall. (JAC)

Data indicate that addictive-appetitive disorders such as obesity, opiate use, and cigarette smoking are not (as most professionals believe) markedly resistant to long-term modification. Studies of nontherapeutic populations indicate that long-term self-cures of smoking, obesity, and drug use are relatively common events. (Author/GC)