Aspectos psicobiológicos do comportamento alimentar

Psychometric characteristics of the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire-18 and eating behavior in undergraduate students

PURPOSE

To assess the psychometric characteristics of the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire-18 (TFEQ-18) and to estimate the prevalence of cognitive restraint (CRes), uncontrolled eating (UE), and emotional eating (EE) among Brazilian undergraduate students.

METHODS

A total of 775 students completed TFEQ-18 (62.1% females; total mean age = 20.9 years [SD = 2.8]; females mean age: 20.8 years [SD = 2.8]; males mean age: 21.2 years [SD = 2.7]). Total sample was randomly separated in test/validation samples. An assessment of psychometric characteristics was conducted to each subsample with confirmatory factor analysis considering the indices: chi-square per degree of freedom ratio (χ²/df), Comparative Fit Index (CFI), Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI), and Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA). The mean score of each TFEQ-18 factor was estimated. The prevalence of CRes, UE, and EE was calculated with 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) and compared by sex and weight status.

RESULTS

The psychometric characteristics of the TFEQ-18 were adequate in both samples (test/validation: χ²/df = 3.58/2.86; CFI = 0.938/0.958; TLI = 0.928/0.951; RMSEA = 0.081/0.069). The prevalence of students with moderate to exacerbated scores of CRes, UE, and EE was 34.4% (95%CI  31.1-37.7%), 35.6% (95%CI 32.2-39.0%), and 43.1% (95%CI 39.6-46.6%), respectively. There were no statistically significant differences in prevalence according to sex or weight status.

CONCLUSIONS

The TFEQ-18 presented adequate psychometric characteristics and indicated a high prevalence of CRes, UE, and EE among the students. This research emphasizes the importance of investigating aspects of eating behavior to best direct clinical and educational strategies for reducing the risk of adopting unhealthy eating behaviors among undergraduate students.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE

Level V, cross-sectional descriptive study.

Mastication in children and adolescents with overweight or obesity: a systematic review

ABSTRACT Studies have shown that changes in mastication are related to overweight in children and adolescents as these changes influence the increase in food consumption. The objective of this article was to characterize, through a systematic review, the mastication in children and adolescents with overweight or obesity. For this, two independent authors performed a systematic review of the electronic databases: Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online, Scopus, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health, Web of Science and Latin American and Caribbean Literature in Health Sciences. Masticatory characteristics were considered as primary outcomes; the methods of analyzing mastication, the physical characteristics of the foods/materials used in the analyses and the fasting time were considered as secondary outcomes. This review was prepared in accordance with the items of the preferential reports for systematic analysis and meta-analysis. The systematic review protocol was submitted to the International Prospective Registry of Systematic Reviews. Nine articles were included in this review. The reviewed articles suggest that children and/or adolescents with overweight or obese present masticatory damages because they have worse masticatory performance and altered orofacial myofunctional characteristics.

Avaliação do paladar de idosos e sua relação com estado nutricional e hábitos alimentares

Objetivos: avaliar a prevalência de disgeusia (distorção ou diminuição do paladar) e a associação com o estado nutricional e as práticas alimentares em um grupo de idosos, assim como identificar os gostos mais afetados e preservados.Métodos: estudo transversal com amostra recrutada no Centro de Lazer para idosos no município de Porto Alegre, RS. Avaliou-se o paladar, através de tiras gustativas (“tastestrips”), e o estado nutricional, através do Índice de Massa Corporal. As práticas alimentares foram investigadas através de questionário. Para análise estatística utilizou-se os testes qui-quadrado e ANOVA, com nível de significância de p <0,05.Resultados: foram avaliados 62 idosos (84% feminino, média de 70±7,6 anos), prevalência de disgeusia foi 19,4% (n=12), detectou-se 58% de sobrepeso (n=36), 40,5% de eutrofia (n=25) e 1,5% de baixo peso (n=1), não sendo encontrada associação entre alteração de paladar e estado nutricional (p=0,397). Cerca de 55% dos idosos apresentaram consumo elevado de sódio. Não houve diferença na média de pontos para o gosto ácido entre os idosos que temperam a salada com limão ou vinagre e os que não o fazem (p=0,054 e p=0,935, respectivamente). A média de pontos para o gosto salgado não diferiu entre os que preparam as refeições com temperos ricos em sódio e os que não os utilizam (p=0,055). O doce foi o gosto mais preservado, enquanto o ácido mostrou-se mais reduzido.Conclusões: apesar de evidências contrárias, não se identificou impacto das alterações de paladar sobre o estado nutricional e as práticas alimentares. Ainda assim, novos estudos que incluam essas variáveis se fazem necessários.

Electro-Acupuncture Alleviates Cisplatin-Induced Anorexia in Rats by Modulating Ghrelin and Monoamine Neurotransmitters

Anorexia is common in patients with cancer, mostly as a side effect of chemotherapy. The effect of electro-acupuncture (EA) on ameliorating cancer-related symptoms have been studied in animal models and in clinical trials. The aim of this study was to determine optimal conditions for the application of EA to alleviate anorexia, followed by the study of molecular mechanisms affecting its therapeutics. Anorexia was induced in male Wistar rats by injecting cisplatin, which was then followed by EA treatment at CV12, the acupuncture point located in the center of the abdominal midline. Body weight and food intake were measured daily throughout the duration of the study. The levels of monoamine neurotransmitters in the plasma were quantitatively analyzed by HPLC-ECD. Gastrointestinal hormone concentrations were elucidated with ELISA kits. RT-qPCR was performed to evaluate the mRNA expression of ghrelin (GHRL), neuropeptide Y (NPY), and pro-opiomelanocortin. The expression of c-Fos in the nucleus tractus solitarii was detected using western blotting analysis. The optimal conditions of EA to alleviate anorexia in rats was determined to be 1 unit for intensity and 10 Hz for frequency. EA treatment at CV12 reduced the levels of plasma monoamine neurotransmitters 5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid, dopamine, and norepinephrine; as well as stimulated the expression of GHRL and NPY to alleviate cisplatin-induced anorexia in rats. EA stimulation at CV12 could be used to treat cisplatin-induced anorexia in rats.

Nutritional status and food pattern of adolescents

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate anthropometric data, body composition and food intake of teenagers.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper involves a cross-sectional study with 132 teenagers aged 15 to 19 years old from a public school of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Anthropometric measurements, body composition, food intake and sport practice were obtained. The authors performed Student’s t-test, X2 or Fisher’s exact tests and Pearson’s correlation to evaluate anthropometric variables, nutritional status and sport practice.

Findings

Regarding the nutritional status, 81.8 per cent of the teenagers were of normal weight, 10.6 per cent were overweight and 7.6 per cent were obese. Female teenagers had higher values of body fat analyzed by skinfold thickness, fat mass, fat mass index and body fat percentage, while male had higher lean mass evaluated by fat-free mass and fat-free mass index. For both genders, it was observed that there was low intake of fruits and vegetables and daily intake of sweets, soda, salt snacks and fast food like sandwiches and pizza. Only 54.5 per cent of teenagers reported performing physical exercise and there was association between sedentary lifestyle with higher intake of sweets and soft drink.

Originality/value

This paper summarized several methods to assess nutritional status and body composition of teenagers.

Eating approach of bereaved individuals: A protocol proposal

ABSTRACT Objective The objective of this manuscript was to discuss the care inherent to the methodological procedures for food research in bereavement situations, proposing the use of a conduct protocol. Methods The protocol for food research in bereavement is presented, based on the critical review of literature and the experience with food surveys applied to bereaved people. Results The conduct protocol is divided into three moments corresponding to the meetings and the steps of approach are discussed in these care services. This research seeks to problematize this investigation, outlining the phases of coping with bereavement that involve greater adherence, from these individuals, to food surveys. Conclusion The conduct protocol guiding the investigation of eating habits of bereaved individuals provides information that allows the professional to evaluate the influence of bereavement on food in addition to allowing a greater adherence of these individuals to the survey.

Recognition of phenylthiocarbamide (PTC) in taste test is related to blood group B phenotype, females, and risk of developing food allergy: a cross-sectional Brazilian-based study

Anti-nutritional factors, including hemagglutinins, are natural substances that reduce nutritional bioavailability and/or generate adverse physiological effects. Most are bitter toxic compounds, but present chemo-protective properties at low concentrations. Responses to phenylthiocarbamide (PTC) allow for an evaluation of humans' perception of bitter taste, a perception that has evolutionary advantages. Therefore, we hypothesized that relationships between food preference, dietary exposures and disease risk could reflect possible associations not only with the recognition threshold for the bitter taste of PTC, but also with ABO/Rh blood group phenotypes. To test this hypothesis, 375 volunteers of both genders, aged 16-49 years, were recruited. Data were obtained from laboratory tests and questionnaires. PTC test followed literature; blood typing used commercially available sera. Allele frequencies calculated from phenotypes were: T=0.51, t=0.49 (PTC); I^A=0.22, I^B=0.08, i=0.70 (ABO); D=0.57, d=0.43 (Rh). Associations with the recognition threshold for bitter taste were found for blood group B, females, and risk of developing food allergy for bitter taste at PTC dilution 1 (the highest concentration) (OR=3.862; 95%CI=1.387-10.756; p=0.016); for each more diluted PTC solution, the chance of food allergy fell 25.2% (95%CI = 0.764-0.836), while for each more concentrated solution the chance of food allergy increased 20.1% (p=0.000). There were also nominally significant differences among PTC tasting, ABO/Rh, genders and age-groups in relation to food preferences. Results demonstrated that the ability to recognize PTC in taste test is related to blood group B, females, and risk of developing food allergy, thus confirming the research hypothesis, and presenting original and important associations.

Escala de Atitudes em Saúde e Estética: construção e validação

O objetivo principal deste estudo foi mensurar atitudes de universitários em relação à saúde e à estética corporais. Utilizou-se a Teoria das Representações Sociais, na abordagem dimensional. Para tanto, foi construída e validada uma Escala de Atitudes em Saúde e Estética - EASE. Participaram 500 universitários dos cursos de Educação Física, Medicina, Nutrição e Moda de Santa Catarina. Observou-se que os estudantes têm atitude levemente positiva frente à saúde e à estética do corpo. Conclui-se que a EASE consiste num instrumento válido para mensuração dessas atitudes, podendo complementar avaliações de pacientes com transtornos dismórficos corporais e obesidade.

Mastigação e dietas alimentares para redução de peso

OBJETIVO: conhecer as orientações sobre mastigação fornecida por acadêmicos de Nutrição a pacientes submetidos à dieta para redução de peso e verificar os padrões mastigatórios de indivíduos que tenham recebido tais orientações. MÉTODOS: aplicação de questionário a 30 acadêmicos sobre as orientações ministradas no caso de perda de peso e de protocolo de avaliação da mastigação em 30 pacientes em dieta alimentar. Os dados foram coletados em três clínicas escolas da Grande Vitória e analisados por meio do Teste exato de Fisher a um nível de significância de 5%. RESULTADOS: dentre os acadêmicos 83,3% realizam freqüentemente orientação sobre mastigação, sendo que 60,0% sobre velocidade/número de ciclos mastigatórios. Todos os casos atendidos são orientados por 63,3% dos pesquisados e 93,3% acreditam na influência da mastigação na redução de peso, sendo para 73,3% decorrente do alcance da saciedade. Quanto aos encaminhamentos para o fonoaudiólogo 96,7% nunca realizaram, tendo 53,3% deixado de informar o motivo. Com relação aos pacientes verificou-se adequação da mastigação, tendo, entretanto 50,0% apresentado estado de conservação dentária ruim; 79,8% preferência por mastigação unilateral e 50% partido o alimento com a mão. Em todos os casos os pacientes receberam as orientações no início do tratamento, sendo que apenas 46,7% as colocam sempre em prática. Nenhuma associação estatística apresentou valor significante. CONCLUSÃO: a maioria dos acadêmicos de Nutrição realiza orientações sobre o processo mastigatório. Quanto aos pacientes, verificou-se a adequação do processo mastigatório, apesar da grande maioria partir o alimento com a mão e preferir um dos lados para mastigar.