According to an article appearing this week in the San Francisco Chronicle, individuals working in the food industry often have eating issues. In recent weeks, at least three preeminent food figures, including Frank Bruni, restaurant critic for The New York Times, have published books about their personal struggles with eating disorders.

This pattern doesn't surprise therapists. Dr. David Kessler, author of a new book titled The End of Overeating, comments: "Food becomes a preoccupation. ... We're all wired to focus on the most salient stimuli. For some of us it can be sex, alcohol or gambling."

Dr. Debra Safer, a psychiatrist at Stanford Medical Center, comments: My belief is that you would have to have a proclivity toward overeating in the first place. ...Then the field might act as a magnet. ... One of the ways to deal with the preoccupation of food, but not allow yourself to eat, is to go into the food industry."
Dr. Safer bases her theories on an experiment performed during World War II in Minnesota. In the Minnesota Starvation Experiment, conducted by renowned scientist Ancel Keys at the University of Minnesota, 36 conscientious objectors volunteered to go hungry so scientists could gain insight into civilians who had been starved during the war.

Study participants became obsessed with watching others eat, immersed themselves in food literature and even took to collecting kitchen utensils. Currently, eating disorders experts believe that these reactions were physiological and the same as behavior exhibited by many anorexics.

(Source: www.sfgate.com)

Labels: eating disorder, food industry, food

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Researchers at the University of Florida have found evidence that processed or refined foods with lots of calories can induce addictive behaviors, similar to those that result from drug use.

Dr. William S. Jacobs/UF Associate Professor of Medicine, comments on his observations of individuals who compulsively consume refined foods: "They overeat. They simply cannot control their use. They have craving, they have intense desire. When they do eat, they have loss of control over their ability to eat or not eat."

Dr. Jacobs and associates have observed that eating behaviors in some individuals who consume processed foods even meet existing criteria for substance abuse disorder. Many of these individuals can only overcome food addiction with formal treatment. Some health and nutrition experts have raised legal issues about the sale of refined foods in stores and restaurants. Dr. Jacobs comments on these concerns: "Certainly, we know fine restaurants and top chefs manipulate the content and presentation of their foods to make particularly their desserts better and get us to come back to their restaurants."

(Source: news.ufl.edu)

Labels: food, university of florida

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Researchers from the U.S. National Cancer Institute have found a link between a high-fat diet and pancreatic cancer. Pancreatic cancer, which has a high fatality rate, is the fourth-leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States.

Rachael Z. Stolzenberg-Solomon, from the institute's cancer epidemiology and genetics division, commented on the findings, saying that the new study "found an association between high fat intake and pancreatic cancer risk - specifically, high fat from animal foods. ... These findings are in line with the dietary guidelines for Americans to reduce the amount of fat they eat. ... Reducing fat may reduce the risk of pancreatic cancer."

The study incorporated data on more than half a million people (approximately 308,000 men and 217,000 women) who participated in the National Institutes of Health-AARP Diet and Health Study. Participants initially completed a questionnaire in 1995 and 1996, and then participated in an average of six years of follow-up.

Researchers found that men who ate the most fat from animal sources were 53 percent more likely to develop pancreatic cancer, compared with men who ate the least fat. In addition, women who consumed the most fat from animal sources had a 23 percent higher risk of developing pancreatic cancer compared to women who ate the least fat. Overall, people who consumed high amounts of saturated fats had a 36 percent higher risk for pancreatic cancer.

Eric J. Jacobs, strategic director of pharmacoepidemiology at the American Cancer Society, commented on the findings, saying that the study "provides important evidence that a diet high in animal fat may increase risk of one of the leading causes of cancer death. ... While further confirmatory research about animal fat and pancreatic cancer is still needed, results of this study support the American Cancer Society's recommendations to limit red meat and emphasize plant foods to help reduce risk of a variety of cancers."

(Source: www.forbes.com)

Labels: eating disorder, cancer, food

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Some experts are promoting high-calorie, high-fat comfort foods as a way to help anorexic girls battle the eating disorder. Dr. Angela Celio Doyle, a University of Chicago clinical associate, comments on the new theory: "It is difficult to eat large amounts of low-calorie foods and get the calories needed to restore health, so turning to milkshakes and macaroni and cheese can be quite helpful. ... Many individuals attempting to gain weight after a period of malnourishment will need anywhere between 3,000 and 5,000 calories a day."

Recovering anorexics usually have very little stomach capacity, as their stomachs have shrunk over time as a result of never being full. Therefore calorie-dense foods, which provide maximum nutrition with minimum volume, may offer a way to deliver more nourishment more quickly.

A well-known eating disorder clinic in Evanston, Illinois, is putting this idea into practice. Registered dietician Oehme Soule encourages her patients to nourish themselves to help them recover and to help them learn new behaviors. She comments: "I say to them, 'First we'll get you nourished so you can think because I can't teach you to eat on a starving brain.' ... Fats have twice as many calories as protein or carbohydrates so it's a much faster route to nourishing. And if they can't eat, I can't teach them how to eat."

(Source: news.medill.northwester.edu)

Labels: eating disorder, anorexia, food

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