Temporality in British young women's magazines: food, cooking and weight loss.

OBJECTIVE: The present study examines seasonal and temporal patterns in food-related content of two UK magazines for young women focusing on food types, cooking and weight loss. DESIGN: Content analysis of magazines from three time blocks between 1999 and 2011. SETTING: Desk-based study. SUBJECTS: Ninety-seven magazines yielding 590 advertisements and 148 articles. RESULTS: Cluster analysis of type of food advertising produced three clusters of magazines, which reflected recognised food behaviours of young women: vegetarianism, convenience eating and weight control. The first cluster of magazines was associated with Christmas and Millennium time periods, with advertising of alcohol, coffee, cheese, vegetarian meat substitutes and weight-loss pills. Recipes were prominent in article content and tended to be for cakes/desserts, luxury meals and party food. The second cluster was associated with summer months and 2010 issues. There was little advertising for conventional foods in cluster 2, but strong representation of diet plans and foods for weight loss. Weight-loss messages in articles focused on short-term aesthetic goals, emphasising speedy weight loss without giving up nice foods or exercising. Cluster 3 magazines were associated with post-New Year and 2005 periods. Food advertising was for everyday foods and convenience products, with fewer weight-loss products than other clusters; conversely, article content had a greater prevalence of weight-loss messages. CONCLUSIONS: The cyclical nature of magazine content - indulgence and excess encouraged at Christmas, restraint recommended post-New Year and severe dieting advocated in the summer months - endorses yo-yo dieting behaviour and may not be conducive to public health.

Disorders of fuel metabolism: medical complications associated with starvation, eating disorders, dietary fads, and supplements.

Disorders of fuel metabolism as they relate to abnormal fuel intake,abnormal fuel expenditure, and dietary supplements are the focus of this article. The emergency physician should be aware of the medical complications that can occur as a result of starvation states,eating disorders, fad diets, hypermetabolic states, and ergogenic aids. Knowledge and understanding of the complications associated with these disorders will facilitate the diagnosis and management of patients who present to the emergency department with any of the disorders reviewed.

Pandemic obesity and the contagion of nutritional nonsense.

The United States is the epicenter of an obesity pandemic. As more countries acculturate to a Western lifestyle, rates of obesity and its sequelae are rising steadily in both adults and children. In response, a variety of weight-loss diets emphasizing alternative distributions of macronutrient classes have been promoted with considerable success. Among the most popular is the so-called "Atkins Diet," in which carbohydrate restriction is touted as the key to weight loss. Despite claims, however, evidence that weight loss is enhanced by means other than caloric restriction is lacking. Also lacking is evidence that fad diets produce sustainable weight loss. Most important, fad diets generally ignore or refute what is known about fundamental associations between dietary pattern and human health. Cancer, cholera, and AIDS induce rapid weight loss, highlighting the potential incompatibility of weight loss by any means with health. Available data suggest that long-term weight loss is most consistently achieved by adherence to a fat-restricted diet abundant in grains, vegetables, and fruit, along with regular physical activity, a lifestyle notably conducive to the promotion of overall health. Fad diets, potential harms of which are well characterized, should be presumed "guilty" of incompatibility with human health until or unless proved otherwise; the burden of proof should reside with proponents. In the interim, the clinical and public health communities should work to empower individuals with knowledge needed to reconcile weight control with health promotion; support policies that mitigate obesogenic environmental conditions; and offer unified resistance to the contagion of dietary propaganda.

Dietary protein and weight reduction: a statement for healthcare professionals from the Nutrition Committee of the Council on Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Metabolism of the American Heart Association.

High-protein diets have recently been proposed as a "new" strategy for successful weight loss. However, variations of these diets have been popular since the 1960s. High-protein diets typically offer wide latitude in protein food choices, are restrictive in other food choices (mainly carbohydrates), and provide structured eating plans. They also often promote misconceptions about carbohydrates, insulin resistance, ketosis, and fat burning as mechanisms of action for weight loss. Although these diets may not be harmful for most healthy people for a short period of time, there are no long-term scientific studies to support their overall efficacy and safety. These diets are generally associated with higher intakes of total fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol because the protein is provided mainly by animal sources. In high-protein diets, weight loss is initially high due to fluid loss related to reduced carbohydrate intake, overall caloric restriction, and ketosis-induced appetite suppression. Beneficial effects on blood lipids and insulin resistance are due to the weight loss, not to the change in caloric composition. Promoters of high-protein diets promise successful results by encouraging high-protein food choices that are usually restricted in other diets, thus providing initial palatability, an attractive alternative to other weight-reduction diets that have not worked for a variety of reasons for most individuals. High-protein diets are not recommended because they restrict healthful foods that provide essential nutrients and do not provide the variety of foods needed to adequately meet nutritional needs. Individuals who follow these diets are therefore at risk for compromised vitamin and mineral intake, as well as potential cardiac, renal, bone, and liver abnormalities overall.

[Clinical investigation of oral submucous fibrosis].

In the Xiang Tan city of the Hunan Province 3015 adult of betel were examined intra-orally. Twenty-nine cases of oral submucous fibrosis were found. Other five cases were collected from out-patient department of the hospital. There were thirty-four cases altogether. In the control group, no case was found. The patients of submucous fibrosis were not chewers of tobacco. Four cases of leukoplakia has been found in them. There was not, however, a single case of oral cancer. The clinical investigation supports that chewing of betel is an important etiological factor of oral submucous fibrosis.

[Sociocultural aspects of child nutrition--food faddism]. / Sozio-kulturelle Aspekte der Kinderernährung--Food Faddism.

Today pediatricians are confronted with an increasing number of unconventional feeding practices. Most frequently encountered are the various forms of vegetarian diets. These as well as numerous other unconventional foods may result in a failure to thrive when fed to children routinely. Since in general it is not possible to influence the families' eating practices, physicians should know the risks of unconventional diets, such as hypoproteinemia, calcium deficiency and deficiencies of vitamin B12 and vitamin D and the respective clinical symptoms. Predominantly young people decide to change their life-style, unconventional eating practices being part of it.

Food consumption and height/weight status of Dutch preschool children on alternative diets.

The effects of alternative dietary practices on nutrient intake and height/weight status were studied in three groups of Dutch preschool children: 33 vegetarians, 26 anthroposophics, and 33 macrobiotics. Fifty children on omnivorus diets composed the control group. The children fed vegetarian and anthroposophic diets were somewhat lighter and shorter than the children on omnivorous diets but were within normal limits. The children fed macrobiotic diets were significantly lighter and shorter. Results of the 5-day weighing record method used to measure food consumption were compared with the Dutch Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs), which recommend higher protein and lower iron for children than the RDAs for the U.S. The diets of the anthroposophically and vegetarian-fed children were most similar and conformed better to the Dutch RDAs than the diets of the omnivorously and macrobiotically fed children. The omnivorously fed children had intakes of iron and polyunsaturated fat below the Dutch RDAs and intakes of mono- and disaccharides and cholesterol above the Dutch RDAs. The intakes of calcium, riboflavin, and vitamin D recorded for the macrobiotically fed children were substantially below the Dutch RDAs. The vitamin D content of the diets of all four groups was low; however, most of the omnivorously fed children used vitamin D supplements, and the other three groups of children were sent out in the sun as much as possible. A high risk for rickets existed in the combination of periods of bad weather and a low intake of both calcium and vitamin D.

Unconventional eating practices and their health implications.

The authors discuss a number of unconventional or faddist foods and eating practices and their health implications. Among the topics included are vegetarianism, Zen macrobiotic diets, fast foods, junk foods, megavitamins and their toxicity, health foods, fad diets in infancy, and elimination diets.

Food faddism in pediatrics.

An understanding of the nutritional requirements of healthy, growing infants and children is required to guide parents in appropriate feeding practices which are consistent with their chosen life styles. Among the several prevalent types of food faddism are some that are not harmful or can beneficial, such as breast-feeding, others than can be of long-term benefit but that have limitations in infants and children, and others that can affect infants and children adversely. Those wishing to feed their children unconventional diets should have such diets carefully evaluated to avoid deficiencies of essential nutrients.