Recent research conducted in the United Kingdom has shown that dietary choices can have a long term effect on your mental health. Researchers compared 3,486 civil servants in London based on surveys they completed about their eating habits and a follow-up survey on mood completed five years later. Participants were divided into two categories: the “whole food” group ate a diet rich in vegetables, fruits, and fish, while the “processed food” group ate a high percentage of sweetened desserts, fried foods, processed meat, refined grains, and high-fat dairy products. The research also took into account other habits that effect overall health such as exercise and smoking.
The link between what we eat and mental health: The participants in the “processed food” group were 58 percent more likely to develop depression, while those with a “whole foods” diet were 26 percent less likely to develop depression. Interestingly, the researchers were cautious to draw any specific conclusions based on these correlations.
Can there actually be a positive associated with obesity? While there are countless obesity-related health concerns, there just may be one positive – you are less likely to successfully commit suicide.
According to a new study at Harvard School of Public Health, there were about 12 suicides per 100,000 adults in 2004 and 2005. However, with every three percent increase in obesity in any given state, there were three fewer suicides per 100,000 adults. This even took into account the fact that states with higher rates of obesity also had higher rates of gun ownership, adults who smoke, and lower rates of household income.
Recently I wrote about how the lack of home-cooked meals has led to bad food choices for families. Now comes a study from The Institute of Child Health in the UK that found families with working mothers tended to more often have unfit children.
The study examined more than 12,500 five-year-olds and found that those who had working mothers were less active and more likely to eat unhealthy food.
An estimated 60 percent of UK mothers with children up to five-years old work. Those children whose mothers were employed, even part-time, were more likely to consume sweetened drinks between meals.
A little effort goes a long way when it comes to weight loss. And that goes for your kids, as well. A new study examined the consequences of family health programs on very obese children. They found that even modest weight loss had significant health benefits.
According to the researchers, there hasn’t been much research done on these kinds of programs for severely obese children.
“Modest weight loss is associated with real health benefits. That’s the take-home message, it’s worth doing,” says Dr. Marsha D. Marcus of the University of Pittsburgh, one of the authors of the study.
Friends can be your worst enemy when it comes to trying to keep control of your waistline. Even if they aren’t overtly using peer pressure to coax you into eating unhealthily, they can be doing so through their own actions.
Most of us know them: people who can eat and eat and not gain an ounce. That fraternity gets a little smaller after 30 when everyone’s metabolism begins to slow. But, while they still maintain this seemingly impossible dietary feat, they do so at the expense of the rest of us.
That’s because according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research, thin friends who eat a lot may unwittingly make you eat more in the process. Call it subliminal peer pressure.
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