JUNK FOOD
A child's ability to control over-eating is too often overpowered by junk food marketing regardless of what a parent might attempt to do to encourage healthy eating, a study has found.
Australian researchers at the University of Wollongong say the study, published in journal Appetite, strengthens the case for greater regulation of food industry marketing to children.
The study, of 160 children aged between seven and 12, measured their food consumption after exposure to television and online advertising for six straight days.
Food consumption of all children increased after they were exposed to promotions for unhealthy food and drinks.
Interestingly, the increase was greatest among those whose parents reported that they used controlling feeding practices in the home.
These practices include pressuring children to eat everything on their plate and restricting the types of food that children are allowed to eat, such as not allowing them any access to unhealthy foods.
Children who self-regulated their eating had a smaller increase in food consumption than the children who were less able to self-regulate.
But even these children who had better self-regulation were still overwhelmed by the food marketing and ate significantly more in after food marketing exposure.
The research paper's lead author, PhD student Jenny Norman says the effects of advertising overrode any child's ability to regulate themselves.
"Essentially, what the study indicates is that as a parent you are damned if you do, damned if you don't. Your child appears to be at the mercy of whatever food industry messages they are seeing," said Ms Norman.
MENOPAUSE
Being underweight or overweight could affect the age at which women experience menopause.
A University of Queensland study of 24,000 women found underweight women were at higher risk of early menopause, while overweight and obese women were more likely to experience late menopause.
The average age of menopause was about 51 years, while underweight women had more than double the risk of experiencing early menopause compared to those with normal BMI (body mass index), according to the research.
Overweight and obese women had more than 50 per cent higher risk of experiencing late menopause.
These associations were stronger for women who were underweight or obese at least five years prior to the onset of menopause, said lead researcher Dongshan Zhu.
Ms Zhu, a PhD candidate at UoQ, says the findings warrant more specific research given the timing of menopause is associated with a range of health outcomes in women.
Early menopause has been linked to a higher risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes and osteoporosis, while late menopause increased the risk of breast and endometrial cancers.
"The link between obesity and late onset of menopause could be explained by a number of factors, including hormone levels and genetics, but more specific research is needed," said Zhu.
PUBERTY
UK research has for the first time shown early puberty could alone be a risk factor for being overweight, with girls who have their first period earlier more likely to become obese later in life.
The researchers at Imperial College London say their findings, published in the International Journal of Obesity, strengthen existing evidence of a link between the onset of puberty and a woman's body mass in adulthood.
"Previous studies have shown there is an association, but we didn't know whether early puberty caused obesity in adulthood, or was simply associated with it. In our latest study we've generated evidence to support that it is a causal effect," said senior author Dr Dipender Gill.
For the study, researchers used genetic variants as a tool to look at the effect of the onset of puberty (known as age at menarche), measured as the age of a girl's first period, among more than 180,000 women.
More than 122 genetic variants were identified that were strongly associated with the onset of puberty - with the women's age at first period obtained via questionnaire.
Using data from the UK Biobank, the research team then looked for the effect of the genetic variants related to age at menarche with BMI (body mass index) - general measure of obesity - in a second set of 80,000.
Initial analysis revealed a link between these genetic variants and BMI, with those women who had variants associated with earlier puberty having an increased BMI.
This association was confirmed in a third group of 70,000 women.
"We're not saying that it's a genetic effect, but rather that by using these genetic variants as a proxy for earlier puberty, we are able to show the effect of earlier puberty without the impact of external factors that might confound our analysis," said Dr Gill.
One possible explanation could be the physical effects of hormonal changes during puberty, such as increased fat deposition in breast tissue.
