NEWSBREAKS INCLUDE:
* Social Origins of Obesity
* Telehealth and Obesity Treatment
* Cocoa Flavanols or Multivitamins affect on Cognition?
OBESITY AND SOCIAL FACTORS
Genetics and environment are both known to affect obesity, but the effects of social factors on food intake and physical activity, and their potential effects on obesity are poorly understood. A new review examines some of the social origins of obesity. Since human beings live in social contexts, new research suggests that excessive body fatness may be due to prolonged exposure to social adversity, especially if social challenges are present early in life, when cell biology is at peak malleability. Indeed, evidence has accumulated over many decades linking different types of social adversity, such as poverty, low socioeconomic status, neglect, maltreatment, and abuse with higher rates of obesity, especially in highly industrialized, affluent countries. The authors conclude that social adversity, when combined with genetic predisposition, thereby substantially contributes to highly effective transmission of obesity from parents to offspring. It also contributes to obesity development within current generations. Prevention efforts may benefit from mitigating multiple types of social adversity in individuals, families, and communities, notably poverty and financial strain, and by improving education levels.
Source: The social origins of obesity within and across generationscErik Hemmingsson, Paulina Nowicka, Stanley Ulijaszek, Thorkild I. A. Sorensen Obesity Reviews https://doi.org/10.1111/obr.13514
OBESITY TREATMENT BY TELEHEALTH?
Can the internet help in weight loss?? This is a question Dr Janette Christensen and her collaborators in Denmark asked in trying to help individuals who were overweight and suffering from type 2 diabetes. They performed a randomized clinical trial to see if they could reduce complications for patients diagnosed with type 2 diabetes using a telehealth lifestyle-coaching program (Liva) The goal was to see if it led to long-term (24 months) weight loss from baseline to 24 months compared to usual care. In the randomized controlled trial, 340 participants living with obesity with or without type 2 diabetes were enrolled and randomized via an automated computer algorithm to an intervention group (n = 200) or to a control group (n = 140). The telehealth lifestyle-coaching program comprised an initial one-hour face-to-face motivational interview followed by asynchronous telehealth coaching, and behavioral change techniques used were enabled by individual live monitoring. Low completion rates in the study were partly due to coronavirus disease 2019. Among the 136 participants (40%), n = 81 from the intervention group and n = 55 from the control group, who completed the 24-month follow-up. after 24 months, mean body weight and body mass index were reduced significantly for completers in both groups. However, the weight loss was almost twice as much for those in the control group, although the difference was not significant between groups -4.4 (CI -6.1; -2.8) kg versus -2.5 (CI -3.9; -1.1) kg, P = 0.101. Hemoglobin A1c was also significantly reduced in the intervention group -3.1 (CI -5.0; -1.2) mmol/mol, but not in the control group -0.2 (CI -2.4; -2.0) mmol/mol, but there was no significant between group difference (P = 0.223). It appeared that telehealth lifestyle coaching did improve long-term weight loss (> 24 months) for obese people with and without type 2 diabetes compared to usual care, but it will be important to repeat the studies now that Coronavirus is on the wane and participation rates can be expected to be higher.
Source: Journal of Telemedicine and TelecareVolume 28, Issue 10, December 2022, Pages 764-770
https://doi.org/10.1177/1357633X221123411
COCOA FLAVANOLS, MULTIVITAMINS AND COGNITION
Dementias affect more than 46 million people worldwide and are all too common in older adults. Many older persons turn to dietary supplements in the hope that they will positive effects, but to date there is little evidence that they improve outcomes. A new study examined the effects of cocoa flavanols which are found in high levels in unprocessed cocoa after some observational studies suggested beneficial effects. In addition the effects previously have been based on observational studies, rather than clinical trials. Also the effects of multivitamin supplements on cognition in older adults were studied, since results have been mixed in the few short clinical trials (less than 12 months) and a single longer trial that included older male physicians that had been done in the past. In the new study, Drs. Laura Baker and Mark Espeland at Wake Forest University School of Medicine examined more than 2,200 participants, ages 65 and older, with an average age of 73 years, who enrolled in the COSMOS study from August 2016 to August 2017. The study participants were given a cocoa extract supplement and/or a multivitamin-mineral supplement daily for 3 years, or an inactive placebo for comparison. They completed a battery of cognitive tests over the phone at the beginning of the study and once a year afterward. The researchers evaluated their global cognition (on a wide range of cognitive measures), memory, and executive function (on attention, planning, and organization). There was no difference in global cognition between those who took cocoa extract and those who did not. However, participants taking the multivitamin had higher global cognition scores than those who didn't, and the improvement was most pronounced in those with a history of cardiovascular disease. Significant improvements with daily multivitamin use were also seen in memory and executive function. Cocoa extract had no effect on either.
The results with the multivitamins, while promising, are still preliminary, and only applied to certain subgroups of the participants. Further research is needed-stay tuned!
Source:Alzheimers Dementia 2022 Sep 14.doi: 10.1002/alz.12767