Food Eating And Obesity

Presents the State-of-the-Art in Fat Taste Transduction A bite of cheese, a few potato chips, a delectable piece of bacon – a small taste of high-fat foods often draws you back for more. But why are fatty foods so appealing? Why do we crave them? Fat Detection: Taste, Texture, and Post Ingestive Effects covers the many factors responsible for the sensory appeal of foods rich in fat. This well-researched text uses a multidisciplinary approach to shed new light on critical concerns related to dietary fat and obesity. Outlines Compelling Evidence for an Oral Fat Detection System Reflecting 15 years of psychophysical, behavioral, electrophysiological, and molecular studies, this book makes a well-supported case for an oral fat detection system. It explains how gustatory, textural, and olfactory information contribute to fat detection using carefully designed behavioral paradigms. The book also provides a detailed account of the brain regions that process the signals elicited by a fat stimulus, including flavor, aroma, and texture. This readily accessible work also discusses: The importance of dietary fats for living organisms Factors contributing to fat preference, including palatability Brain mechanisms associated with appetitive and hedonic experiences connected with food consumption Potential therapeutic targets for fat intake control Genetic components of human fat preference Neurological disorders and essential fatty acids Providing a comprehensive review of the literature from the leading scientists in the field, this volume delivers a holistic view of how the palatability and orosensory properties of dietary fat impact food intake and ultimately health. Fat Detection represents a new frontier in the study of food perception, food intake, and related health consequences.

Although the exact prevalence of overweight and obesity are dependent upon the definition used, these conditions are generally accepted to be widespread and increasing problems by health authorities and the public in most western nations. The proportion of the UK and US populations which are overweight or obese, by any measure, has substantially risen over the past decade, and similar increases have been observed in other western nations as well as rapidly modernizing societies (Hodge et a/. , 1996). The physiological, psychological, and social! environmental fac tors which may be implicated in the aetiology, maintenance, and treat ment of these conditions have been the subject of an extraordinary volume of human and animal research, scientific conferences, and techni cal and popular literature. This book focuses specifically on the role of food and eating in overeat ing and obesity, emphasizing the relationships between people and food which may give rise to positive energy balance, and the potential contri butions of specific components, foods, or groups of foods. The intent is to integrate the psychobiological and cognitive psychological aspects of appetite, food preferences, and food selection with physiological and metabolic outcomes of eating behaviours. The ingestion of a particular quality and quantity of food is a voluntary behaviour, and that act, its determinants, features and sequelae are explored here, considering wider academic thought but guided by potential practical implications.

This book is written for providers of broad training backgrounds, and aims to help those who care for people with EDs, overweight and obesity provide evidence-based care. The goal of the book is to provide these providers with a straightforward resource summarizing the current standard of care. However, it goes further by also introducing the concept of food addiction (FA) as a model to understand some forms of overeating. This book discusses the pros and cons of embracing FA and reviews the evidence for and against the validity and utility of FA. By doing so, the chapters convey a “middle ground” approach to help people with obesity, BED, and bulimia nervosa plus FA symptomatology who also want to lose weight. The text discusses FA by reviewing several of the main ongoing controversies associated with the construct. It reviews both the clinical and neuroscientific evidence that some individuals’ eating behavior mirrors that seen in substance use disorders (SUD), such as how their relationship with food appears to be “addictive”. Chapters also discuss how many of the mechanisms known to underlie SUDs appear to drive overeating in animal models and humans. Finally, the text argues that the similarities between the brain mechanisms of addictive disorders and overeating behavior has the potential to open up new avenues for current treatment and treatment development. Food Addiction, Obesity and Disorders of Overeating: An Evidence-Based Assessment and Clinical Guide is suited for both medical and mental health practitioners, including physicians in primary care or psychiatry, nurses, psychologists, social workers, medical students and medical residents. It could also be utilized by researchers in obesity and ED fields, stimulating ideas for future research and study design.

Why do so many people become overweight and obese and why do they find it so difficult to lose weight? In this second edition of his influential book on Dieting, Overweight and Obesity, Wolfgang Stroebe – who developed the goal conflict model of eating – explores the physiological, environmental and psychological influence on weight gain and examines how these processes are affected by genetic factors. Like the first edition, the book takes a social-cognitive approach to weight regulation and discusses how exposure to environmental cues can set-off overeating in chronic dieters. In addition to extensively revising and updating the chapters of the first edition, this second edition features three new chapters. The chapter on successful restrained eating reviews personality factors as well as recent experimental research on impulse control. The chapters on psychological treatment of obesity and on primary prevention describe and evaluate the various treatment and prevention approaches and the research conducted to assess their efficacy. This book is essential reading for students, researchers and clinicians interested in an up-to-date review of the field of eating research and a new theoretical approach to the study of overweight and obesity.

Obesity is one of the most pressing health issues affecting our country. This unique volume is the first to apply behavioral economicsóthe integration of psychological and economic knowledgeóto the study of eating behavior. The text demonstrates how this discipline can be used to understand why it so difficult for individuals to control their eating habits, and helps readers use this knowledge to create and improve public health nutrition programs and policies. The text examines dietary choices and obesity through a multidisciplinary lens of biological, psychological, and social factors, and draws from the disciplines of behavioral economics, nutrition, public health, and health promotion. Based on the premise that humans are hardwired to make judgment errors and need a ìnudgeî to make decisions in their best interests, the book argues that increasing consumer well-being requires changing an individualís personal environment. It describes the power of irrational forces that compete with sensible judgment in regard to food choices, and provides strategies for improving decisions and health habits. Highly accessible, the text will be of interest to students, professors, and practitioners in nutrition-related health programs, as well as to public health policy makers. Key Features: Assesses the social determinants that affect nutrition choices, including food availability, nutrition education, income, culture, and other key factors Demonstrates how flawed decisions and self-control difficulties can affect eating behavior Provides a valuable framework for improving public health through understanding and changing the way individuals make food decisions Explains the link between obesity rates and economics of food choice (fast food, food marketing, and social factors) Provides strategies and tools to help people improve their decision-making and health habits

During the past decade, tremendous growth has occurred in the use of nutrition symbols and rating systems designed to summarize key nutritional aspects and characteristics of food products. These symbols and the systems that underlie them have become known as front-of-package (FOP) nutrition rating systems and symbols, even though the symbols themselves can be found anywhere on the front of a food package or on a retail shelf tag. Though not regulated and inconsistent in format, content, and criteria, FOP systems and symbols have the potential to provide useful guidance to consumers as well as maximize effectiveness. As a result, Congress directed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to undertake a study with the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to examine and provide recommendations regarding FOP nutrition rating systems and symbols. The study was completed in two phases. Phase I focused primarily on the nutrition criteria underlying FOP systems. Phase II builds on the results of Phase I while focusing on aspects related to consumer understanding and behavior related to the development of a standardized FOP system. Front-of-Package Nutrition Rating Systems and Symbols focuses on Phase II of the study. The report addresses the potential benefits of a single, standardized front-label food guidance system regulated by the Food and Drug Administration, assesses which icons are most effective with consumer audiences, and considers the systems/icons that best promote health and how to maximize their use.

Obesity is a major public health challenge. More than one-third of the U.S. adult population is considered obese, a figure that has more than doubled since the mid-1970s. Among children, obesity rates have more than tripled over the same period. Not only is obesity associated with numerous medical complications, but it incurs significant economic cost. At its simplest, obesity is a result of an energy imbalance, with obese (and overweight) people consuming more energy (calories) than they are expending. During the last 10-20 years, behavioral scientists have made significant progress toward building an evidence base for understanding what drives energy imbalance in overweight and obese individuals. Meanwhile, food scientists have been tapping into this growing evidence base to improve existing technologies and create new technologies that can be applied to alter the food supply in ways that reduce the obesity burden on the American population. Leveraging Food Technology for Obesity Prevention and Reduction Effort examines the complexity of human eating behavior and explores ways in which the food industry can continue to leverage modern food processing technologies to influence energy intake. The report also examines the opportunities and challenges of altering the food supply-both at home and outside the home-and outlines lessons learned, best practices, and next steps.

Scholars from various disciplines address the ethical perspective of changing food habits in general, and the promotion of healthy eating in particular.