Scientist shows link between diet and onset of mental illness

Scientist Shows Link Between Diet and Onset of Mental Illness


ScienceDaily (Dec. 13, 2010) — Changes in diet have been linked to a reduction of abnormal behaviors in mentally ill people or animals, but a Purdue University study shows that diet might also trigger the onset of mental illness in the first place.



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Serotonin
Neurotransmitter
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Essential nutrient

Joseph Garner, an associate professor of animal sciences, fed mice a diet high in sugar and tryptophan that was expected to reduce abnormal hair-pulling. Instead, mice that were already ill worsened their hair-pulling behaviors or started a new self-injurious scratching behavior, and the seemingly healthy mice developed the same abnormal behaviors.
"This strain of mouse is predisposed to being either a scratcher or a hair-puller. Giving them this diet brought out those predispositions," said Garner, whose results were published in the December issue of the journal Nutritional Neuroscience. "They're like genetically at-risk people."
Garner studies trichotillomania, an impulse-control disorder in which people pull out their hair. The disorder, which disproportionately occurs in women, is thought to affect between 2 percent and 4 percent of the population.
Mice that barber, or pull their hair out, have been shown to have low levels of serotonin activity in the brain. That neurotransmitter is known to affect mood and impulses. Garner hypothesized that increasing serotonin activity in the brain might cure or reduce barbering and possibly trichotillomania.
Serotonin is manufactured in the brain from the amino acid tryptophan, which is consumed in diets. The problem is that tryptophan often doesn't make it across the barrier between blood and the brain because other amino acids can get through more easily and essentially block the door for tryptophan.
Garner modified a mouse diet to increase simple carbohydrates, or sugars, and tryptophan. The sugars trigger a release of insulin, which causes muscles to absorb those other amino acids and gives tryptophan a chance to make it to the brain.
Using eight times as much sugar and four times as much tryptophan, Garner observed a doubling of serotonin activity in the brain. But the mice that barbered did not get better.
"We put them on this diet, and it made them much, much worse," Garner said.
A second experiment divided the mice into three groups: those that were seemingly normal, others that had some hair loss due to barbering and a group that had severe hair loss. All the mice soon got worse, with conditions escalating over time.
"Three-quarters of the mice that were ostensibly healthy developed one of the behaviors after 12 weeks on the new diet," Garner said.
Some of the mice developed ulcerated dermatitis, a fatal skin condition thought to be caused by an unidentified pathogen or allergen. Garner saw that the only mice that contracted the condition were the scratchers.
"What if ulcerated dermatitis, like skin-picking, another common behavioral disorder, is not really a skin disease at all?" Garner said. "We now have evidence that it may be a behavioral disorder instead."
When taken off the new diet, the negative behaviors stopped developing in the mice. When control mice were switched to the new diet, they started scratching and barbering.
Garner's study raises questions of how diet might be affecting other behavioral or mental illnesses such as autism, Tourette syndrome, trichotillomania and skin-picking. He said that before now, a link between diet and the onset of mental disorders hadn't been shown.
"What if the increase of simple sugars in the American diet is contributing to the increase of these diseases?" Garner said. "Because we fed the mice more tryptophan than in the typical human diet, this experiment doesn't show that, but it certainly makes it a possibility."
Garner next wants to refine the experiments to better imitate human dietary habits, including the amount of tryptophan people consume. Internal Purdue funding paid for his work.Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

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The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by Purdue University, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.




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Brett D. Dufour, Olayiwola Adeola, Heng-Wei Cheng, Shawn S. Donkin, Jon D. Klein, Edmond A. Pajor, Joseph P. Garner. Nutritional up-regulation of serotonin paradoxically induces compulsive behavior. Nutritional Neuroscience, 2010; 13 (6): 256 DOI: 10.1179/147683010X12611460764688

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High activity staves off pounds, especially for women

High Activity Staves Off Pounds, Especially for Women


ScienceDaily (Dec. 14, 2010) — People will gain significantly less weight by middle age -- especially women -- if they engage in moderate to vigorous activity nearly every day of the week starting as young adults, according to new Northwestern Medicine research.



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Women particularly benefitted from high activity over 20 years, gaining an average of 13 pounds less than those with low activity; while men with high activity gained about 6 pounds less than their low-activity peers. High activity included recreational exercise such as basketball, running, brisk walking or an exercise class or daily activities such as housework or construction work.
"Everyone benefits from high activity, but I was surprised by the gender differences," said lead author Arlene Hankinson, M.D., an instructor in preventive medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. "It wasn't that activity didn't have an effect in men, but the effect was greater in women. Now women should be especially motivated."
The study will be published Dec. 14 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
There could be several reasons for the gender difference, Hankinson said. Women are less likely than men to overestimate their activity, according to previous studies. "Men may not be getting as much activity as they report," Hankinson explained.
In addition, men in the high-activity group compensated by eating more than their low-activity counterparts, which could have led to more weight gain. The highly active women didn't eat more than low-activity women in the study.
There were many ways to achieve the study's definition of high-activity levels, Hankinson noted. One way was 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity a week.
The study participants -- 1,800 women and nearly 1,700 men -- are part of the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) Study, a multi-center, longitudinal and population-based observational study designed to describe the development of risk factors for coronary heart disease in young black and white adults.
"This paper is another example of how the CARDIA study has contributed to our knowledge about the importance of initiating healthy habits early in life and vigilantly maintaining them," said paper coauthor Stephen Sidney, M.D., associate director for clinical research at the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research. "Common medical problems such as heart disease, diabetes and obesity have their origins in childhood and can generally be prevented by maintaining a normal weight, not smoking, exercising regularly and eating a healthy diet throughout life."
Hankinson's research is the first to measure the impact of high activity over 20 years between young adulthood and middle age and to frequently examine participants (seven times) over that period. Study participants are more likely to remember and accurately report their behavior with regular exams, she said.
Previous studies, Hankinson said, looked at a single exercise intervention's effect on weight for a short period of time or examined participants in longer studies at only two points in time -- the beginning and the end.
"We wanted to see if people's activity levels during their youth were enough to help them keep weight off in middle age, or if they needed to up the ante," Hankinson said. "It's difficult to avoid gaining weight as you age. Our metabolic rate goes down. We develop conditions or have lifestyles that make it harder to maintain a high level of activity."
"The study reinforces that everyone needs to make regular activity part of their lifestyles throughout their lives," she said. "Not many people actually do that." The active group in the study comprised only 12 percent of the participants.
Lower levels of activity had a negligible effect on weight gain in the study. "High activity was the only kind that made a significant difference," Hankinson noted.
The CARDIA study is supported by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Insitute. The participants were 18 to 30 years at the beginning of the study and 38 to 50 at the end. They are currently undergoing a 25-year follow-up examination at ages 43 to 53 years.
Participants were recruited from four geographic areas in the United States: Chicago, Minneapolis, Birmingham, Ala., and Oakland, Calif.Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

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Arlene L. Hankinson, Martha L. Daviglus, Claude Bouchard, Mercedes Carnethon, Cora E. Lewis, Pamela J. Schreiner, Kiang Liu, Stephen Sidney. Maintaining a High Physical Activity Level Over 20 Years and Weight Gain. JAMA, 2010;304(23):2603-2610 DOI: 10.1001/jama.2010.1843

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Soda taxes: Weight loss benefit linked to household income

Soda Taxes: Weight Loss Benefit Linked to Household Income


ScienceDaily (Dec. 15, 2010) — Imposing higher taxes on sodas and other sweetened drinks may generate a lot of money -- but would lead to only minimal weight loss among most people and would have no effect on weight among consumers in the highest and lowest income groups, according to new research from Duke-National University of Singapore (NUS) Graduate Medical School.



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The study, led by Eric Finkelstein, PhD, associate professor of health services at Duke-NUS, looked at the differential impact on calories and weight of a 20 percent and 40 percent tax on sodas and other sweetened beverages (SSBs) among different income groups.
The research, appearing in the Archives of Internal Medicine, comes at a time when health policy makers are considering additional taxes on sweetened drinks as a means of improving health and raising revenue to offset budget deficits. Some studies show that excess consumption of sugary drinks leads to weight gain and contributes to the epidemic of obesity in the U.S.
The researchers relied on information in a database of U.S. households that tracked their store-bought food and beverage purchases over the course of a year. The database includes information on household size, demographics and the cost and quantities of foods and beverages purchased by brand and UPC code.
The research team examined store-bought purchases of carbonated and non-carbonated drinks, including sodas, diet carbonated beverages, sports/energy drinks, fruit drinks, fruit juice and skim and whole milk and used statistical techniques to quantify how changes in prices affected household buying habits.
Unlike prior analyses, the study calculated both weight losses resulting from reductions in soda purchases as a result of the tax and weight gains due to switching to other beverages. "If consumers switch from Coke to Diet Coke or water there would be no offsetting gains, Finkelstein said. "If they switch to other high calorie drinks, the effects of the tax would be diluted."
Researchers estimated that were the government to impose a sales tax that raised the price of SSBs purchased by 20 percent, this would generate about $1.5 billion per year in tax revenue in the U.S.; a tax that raised prices by 40 percent would generate $2.5 billion per year, at a cost to the average household of about $28.
Study coauthor Chen Zhen, PhD, a research economist at RTI International, says these taxes are regressive in the sense that the tax paid as a percentage of household income is greater for lower income households than for higher income households. "However, because poor households purchase far more generic brands that are significantly cheaper, they pay a smaller share of the total tax revenue." The study found that the tax paid by lower income households would end up accounting for 20 percent of total tax revenue whereas those in each of the two middle income and high income groups would contribute 25 and 30 percent of the total, respectively.
But would these taxes reduce weight? Results show that because of switching from SSBs to other beverages, the effect on total calories and weight is relatively small. A tax that raises SSB prices by 20 percent generates a daily average reduction of 6.9 calories. Over the course of a year, this equates to no more than 0.7 pounds per household member. A 40 percent tax would reduce daily calories by 12.5 calories and generate annual weight losses of up to 1.3 pounds per person per year.
"Although small, given the rising trend in obesity rates, especially among youth, any strategy that shows even modest weight loss should be considered," Finkelstein said. He further noted that due to data limitations this analysis is limited to SSBs purchased from stores. "Extending the tax to restaurants and vending machines would generate more tax revenue and perhaps greater weight losses."
The researchers also found that nearly all of the weight losses were generated from middle income groups. "Higher income groups can afford to pay the tax so they are unaffected, and lower income groups likely avoid the effects of the tax by purchasing generic versions, waiting for sales, buying in bulk, or by other cost-saving strategies," Finkelstein said. However, he notes that there may be a secondary benefit of the tax, even for lower income households, if the revenue is used to fund obesity prevention efforts.
When it comes to whether he supports such a tax, Finkelstein noted that because of generous subsidies to farmers, high fructose corn syrup, the prime ingredient in SSBs, is cheaper than it would be otherwise. "Therefore, either removing the subsidies or implementing a tax that increases prices on products that contain this ingredient is justifiable," he said. He noted, however, that removing the subsidy altogether, as opposed to taxing specific products such as SSBs would have the strongest effect on containing rising rates of obesity.
Colleagues who contributed to the study include James Nonnemaker, from RTI International, Research Triangle Park, NC; and Jessica Todd, from the Economic Research Service of the US Department of Agriculture.
The study was sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

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The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by Duke University Medical Center.




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Eric A. Finkelstein, Chen Zhen, James Nonnemaker, Jessica E. Todd. Impact of Targeted Beverage Taxes on Higher- and Lower-Income Households. Arch Intern Med., 2010;170(22):2028-2034. DOI: 10.1001/archinternmed.2010.449

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Improving children's diets using behavior change video games shows promise

Improving Children's Diets Using Behavior Change Video Games Shows Promise


ScienceDaily (Dec. 13, 2010) — Obesity in youngsters has risen dramatically in recent decades. Fruit and vegetable (FV) consumption and increased water intake can lower the risk of obesity, as can increased physical activity, but it is not always easy to convince children to eat better and exercise more. In a new study published in the January 2011 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, researchers found that video games designed to encourage these behaviors were effective.



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"Escape from Diab" (Diab) and "Nanoswarm: Invasion from Inner Space" (Nanoswarm) are epic video games specifically designed to lower risks of type 2 diabetes and obesity by changing youth diet and physical activity behaviors. Designed by Archimage, Inc., and funded by a Small Business Initiative Research Grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases of the National Institutes of Health, Diab and Nanoswarm are based on social cognitive, self-determination, and persuasion theories.
"Diab and Nanoswarm were designed as epic video game adventures, comparable to commercial quality video games. These games incorporated a broad diversity of behavior change procedures woven in and around engrossing stories. The games motivated players to substantially improve diet behaviors," according to lead investigator Tom Baranowski, PhD, Professor of Pediatrics, U.S. Department of Agriculture/Agricultural Research Service supported Children's Nutrition Research Center, Baylor College of Medicine. "Serious video games hold promise, but their effectiveness and mechanisms of change among youth need to be more thoroughly investigated."
Children playing these video games increased FV consumption by about 2/3 serving per day, but did not increase water consumption or moderate to vigorous physical activity, or improve body composition. Despite the increase, FV and water consumption and physical activity remained below the minimum recommendations.
In this randomized clinical trial, 153 children ages 10 to 12 years, were divided into a treatment group (103 children) and a control group (50). Complete data were obtained on 133 subjects. The treatment group first played Diab and then Nanoswarm. The control group played diet and physical-activity knowledge-based games on popular websites. Each group was assessed at the start of the trial, immediately after Diab, immediately after Nanoswarm, and again two months later. Height, weight, waist size, and triceps skin-fold thickness were measured. Physical activity was monitored for at least 4 days by accelerometer-based data from each child at each assessment. Food consumption was measured using 24 hour dietary recalls conducted by registered dietitians.Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

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The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by Elsevier Health Sciences, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.




Journal Reference:

Tom Baranowski et al. Video Game Play, Child Diet, and Physical Activity Behavior Change - A Randomized Clinical Trial. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, Volume 40, Issue 1 (January 2011) DOI: 10.1016/j.amepre.2010.09.029

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Scientist shows link between diet and onset of mental illness

Scientist Shows Link Between Diet and Onset of Mental Illness


ScienceDaily (Dec. 13, 2010) — Changes in diet have been linked to a reduction of abnormal behaviors in mentally ill people or animals, but a Purdue University study shows that diet might also trigger the onset of mental illness in the first place.



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Serotonin
Neurotransmitter
Seasonal affective disorder
Essential nutrient

Joseph Garner, an associate professor of animal sciences, fed mice a diet high in sugar and tryptophan that was expected to reduce abnormal hair-pulling. Instead, mice that were already ill worsened their hair-pulling behaviors or started a new self-injurious scratching behavior, and the seemingly healthy mice developed the same abnormal behaviors.
"This strain of mouse is predisposed to being either a scratcher or a hair-puller. Giving them this diet brought out those predispositions," said Garner, whose results were published in the December issue of the journal Nutritional Neuroscience. "They're like genetically at-risk people."
Garner studies trichotillomania, an impulse-control disorder in which people pull out their hair. The disorder, which disproportionately occurs in women, is thought to affect between 2 percent and 4 percent of the population.
Mice that barber, or pull their hair out, have been shown to have low levels of serotonin activity in the brain. That neurotransmitter is known to affect mood and impulses. Garner hypothesized that increasing serotonin activity in the brain might cure or reduce barbering and possibly trichotillomania.
Serotonin is manufactured in the brain from the amino acid tryptophan, which is consumed in diets. The problem is that tryptophan often doesn't make it across the barrier between blood and the brain because other amino acids can get through more easily and essentially block the door for tryptophan.
Garner modified a mouse diet to increase simple carbohydrates, or sugars, and tryptophan. The sugars trigger a release of insulin, which causes muscles to absorb those other amino acids and gives tryptophan a chance to make it to the brain.
Using eight times as much sugar and four times as much tryptophan, Garner observed a doubling of serotonin activity in the brain. But the mice that barbered did not get better.
"We put them on this diet, and it made them much, much worse," Garner said.
A second experiment divided the mice into three groups: those that were seemingly normal, others that had some hair loss due to barbering and a group that had severe hair loss. All the mice soon got worse, with conditions escalating over time.
"Three-quarters of the mice that were ostensibly healthy developed one of the behaviors after 12 weeks on the new diet," Garner said.
Some of the mice developed ulcerated dermatitis, a fatal skin condition thought to be caused by an unidentified pathogen or allergen. Garner saw that the only mice that contracted the condition were the scratchers.
"What if ulcerated dermatitis, like skin-picking, another common behavioral disorder, is not really a skin disease at all?" Garner said. "We now have evidence that it may be a behavioral disorder instead."
When taken off the new diet, the negative behaviors stopped developing in the mice. When control mice were switched to the new diet, they started scratching and barbering.
Garner's study raises questions of how diet might be affecting other behavioral or mental illnesses such as autism, Tourette syndrome, trichotillomania and skin-picking. He said that before now, a link between diet and the onset of mental disorders hadn't been shown.
"What if the increase of simple sugars in the American diet is contributing to the increase of these diseases?" Garner said. "Because we fed the mice more tryptophan than in the typical human diet, this experiment doesn't show that, but it certainly makes it a possibility."
Garner next wants to refine the experiments to better imitate human dietary habits, including the amount of tryptophan people consume. Internal Purdue funding paid for his work.Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

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The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by Purdue University, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.




Journal Reference:

Brett D. Dufour, Olayiwola Adeola, Heng-Wei Cheng, Shawn S. Donkin, Jon D. Klein, Edmond A. Pajor, Joseph P. Garner. Nutritional up-regulation of serotonin paradoxically induces compulsive behavior. Nutritional Neuroscience, 2010; 13 (6): 256 DOI: 10.1179/147683010X12611460764688

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More fruits and vegetables unlikely to protect against cancer, study suggests

More Fruits and Vegetables Unlikely to Protect Against Cancer, Study Suggests


ScienceDaily (Dec. 13, 2010) — There is no convincing evidence that eating more fruit and vegetables can reduce chances of developing cancer, although they are important for maintaining a healthy diet.



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That's the conclusion of a review by an Oxford University scientist that looked at a decade of evidence on the links between fruit and vegetables and the development of cancer.
The study, published in the British Journal of Cancer, found that the only diet-related factors that definitely affect cancer risk are obesity and alcohol. Tobacco is still the single biggest cause of cancer.
Professor Tim Key of the Cancer Epidemiology Unit at Oxford University says that while there are undoubted benefits in eating fruit and vegetables, there is little hard evidence that they protect against cancer. But the evidence is indisputable that cancer is strongly linked to being overweight or obese and drinking more alcohol than the recommended daily limits.
He said: 'Fruit and vegetables are an important part of a healthy diet and a good source of nutrients. But so far the data does not prove that eating increased amounts of fruit and vegetables offers much protection against cancer.
'But there's strong scientific evidence to show that, after smoking, being overweight and alcohol are two of the biggest cancer risks.'
Overweight people produce higher levels of certain hormones than people of a healthy weight and this can contribute to an increased risk of breast cancer.
Being overweight can increase your risk of other common cancers like bowel, and also hard-to-treat forms of the disease like pancreatic, oesophageal and kidney cancer.
When alcohol is broken down by the body it produces a chemical which can damage cells increasing the risk of mouth, throat, breast, bowel and liver cancers.
Sara Hiom, director of health information at Cancer Research UK, said: 'Too few people know about the significant cancer risks associated with obesity and drinking too much alcohol. While stopping smoking remains the best way to cut your chances of developing cancer, the importance of keeping a healthy weight and cutting down on alcohol shouldn't be overlooked.
'Keeping alcohol intake to a maximum of one small drink a day for women and two small drinks per day for men and keeping weight within the healthy limits can have an enormous impact.'Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

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Journal Reference:

T J Key. Fruit and vegetables and cancer risk. British Journal of Cancer, 2010; DOI: 10.1038/sj.bjc.6606032

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Healthy diet rocks when it comes to fighting kidney stones

Healthy Diet Rocks When It Comes to Fighting Kidney Stones


ScienceDaily (Sep. 16, 2010) — Certain key ingredients of a diet designed to prevent high blood pressure can ward off kidney stones, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society Nephrology (CJASN). The results suggest how low-fat dairy products and/or plants may have potent kidney stone-fighting properties.



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The Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet -- which is high in fruits, vegetables, nuts and legumes, dairy products, and whole grains and is low in sweetened beverages and red and processed meats -- effectively lowers blood pressure. Research by Eric Taylor, MD (Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and Maine Medical Center) and his colleagues also now suggests that a DASH-style diet reduces one's risk of developing kidney stones.
The investigators studied 24-hour urine samples of 3426 individuals with and without a history of kidney stones in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (HPFS) and the Nurses' Health Studies (NHS) I and II. The study participants were part of a previous, larger study where Dr. Taylor reported that a DASH-style diet was associated with a reduced risk of kidney stone formation. HPFS and NHS I and II are large studies of the lifestyle practices and health of both male and female health care workers.
Individuals who followed a DASH-style diet excreted more urine than individuals who did not follow the diet, despite similar fluid intake. The researchers speculate that higher urinary volumes were, at least partly, a result of the higher food water content in a DASH-style diet. Also, the urine of DASH consumers contained a higher concentration of citrate, an important inhibitor of calcium stones, than the urine of others in the analysis. The study also indicated that there may be other important, and perhaps as of yet unidentified, kidney stone inhibitors in dairy products and/or plants.
Dr. Taylor's data suggest that a DASH-style diet could be important for keeping stones from reappearing in people who suffer from them. "We believe our results provide a strong rationale for a randomized trial examining the effect of a DASH-style diet on kidney stone recurrence," the authors wrote.
Study co-authors include Meir Stampfer, MD, DrPH, Gary Curhan, MD, ScD (Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and Harvard School of Public Health); and David Mount, MD (Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and VA Boston Healthcare System).

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The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by American Society of Nephrology, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.




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Eric N. Taylor, Meir J. Stampfer, David B. Mount, and Gary C. Curhan. DASH-Style Diet and 24-Hour Urine Composition. Clinical Journal of the American Society Nephrology, 2010; DOI: 10.2215/CJN.04420510

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