Basically, a bunch of Yalers went to various McDonalds, Burger King, Au Bon Pain, and Starbucks restaurants in and around New York. They then counted customers and would mark down each time somebody looked at nutrition information. A “look” would count as walking up to the poster on the wall, picking up a pamphlet, or using the in-store computer. Of the 4,311 surveyed, only 6 looked. Now whether or not the methodology was bulletproof, the basic underlying message is the same and brings into focus the potential of widespread government policy in curbing obesity in the US.

This is going to have large implications given the number of localities and states looking to follow in New York City’s footsteps by requiring calorie content to be posted on menu boards. A strategy that has definitely worked on me and resulted in personal, sustained behavior change–though, I definitely do miss those Venti White Mochas with whip sometimes.

The real difficulty here would be implementing a system of effectively displaying full nutrition content in restaurants. Ironically, McDonald’s does this very well. All the products I’ve ordered at the McDonalds have a basic nutrition table printed directly on it. Not the entire thing, but the things we really need to pay attention to: fat (saturated and unsaturated), sodium, etc. However, this would be a really big problem in restaurants with a wider range of products. It’ll be interesting to see where this study leads in real life application.

[Photo courtesy of Orbz via Flickr.]

While many, including myself, oppose the use of the BMI as a defacto-definitive measure of obesity, its use as a preliminary tool is vital. It is easily and accurately calculated by  the general public, it can be quickly assessed and the data is quickly useable by health professions, and for those in the highest risk populations, it is an effective predictor of shortened lifespan. Until an equally effective and more accurate measure comes around, we’ve got to remember the enemy of the good and make do with what we have.

[Image is from incurable hippie via flickr.]

A new study in the New England Journal of Medicine by Sacks et al. reports that it doesn’t really matter what diet you’re on as long as you’re on a diet. Atkins, South Beach, lemon water, whatever diet? The type of macronutrient consumption means very little.

This is the largest controlled study of weight loss I’ve ever read (N=800), and even though it’s pretty common sense–a calorie is a calorie is a calorie no matter how you eat it–I still thought some aspects were really interesting. They essentially took a bunch of overweight people, cut their calories by 750 and put them on four different diets based loosely on popular hype-diets. Everybody in each group lost weight at 6 months. By 1 year, everybody gained weight. By the end of the 2 year study, everybody was down (albiet at a lower amount than at the 6 month).

What this really shows is human nature. We get really fired up about the new diet and stick with it for 6 months, lose a lot of weight, and then relax a bit and “enjoy life” some more gaining the weight back. The take home message is essentially to cut back your overall caloric intake and stick with it.

Small sustained life changes will provide the best results in the end.

Another interesting aspect was the huge deviation within groups.

“The effect of any particular diet group is minuscule, but the effect of individual behavior is humongous,” Dr. Sacks said. “We had some people losing 50 pounds and some people gaining five pounds. That’s what we don’t have a clue about. I think in the future, researchers should focus less on the actual diet but on finding what is really the biggest governor of success in these individuals.”

I’d be really interested to look at the data for this study. Specifically, demographics of each group and break down weight loss by that. It’d also be really interesting if they had any psychometric data. Is there a quantifiable relationship between certain personality traits and weight loss? Do certain traits adhere better to certain diet plans? Personalized diet plans according to your own personality traits–this is a billion dollar industry waiting to boom.

Very interesting.

[Image by consumatron.]

Turns out Mom may have been on to something when she enacted the “Chew at least 30 times before swallowing” rule…

A new report in the British Medical Journal investigates whether behaviors like eating quickly or eating until full are associated with being overweight. The study took place in Japan, which has seen a shocking rise in obesity in recent years, and adjusts for other factors. Even after adjustment, they found that both eating quickly and eating until full had strong associations with being overweight and doing both behaviors had a supra-additive effect.

The independent aspects aren’t exactly groundbreaking but being able to perform the statistical analyses to find the additive effect is what really gets to the heart of it here. Further evidence (as if more was necessary) that obesity cannot be pinned entirely on genetics and that behavioral changes greatly affect health outcomes in obese poulations (both positively and negatively).

All that is just a fancy way to say:
1) Always chew your food at least 30 times before swallowing.
2) You’re really full before you know you’re full so don’t eat so much.

Thanks, Mom. Right again.

[Image is the Bacon Explosion found at BBQ Addicts.]