Harvard Dining Halls Still in Flux?
Monday July 13, 2009
I found a story from a student at Harvard talking about the issue of displaying nutritional data on everything served. He provides a fair critique of the process of removing the information - that it should have involved students more prominently. But I thought that this section was puzzling:
To be fair, the committee did invite students to contact committee members, but there should have been a more proactive outreach campaign in order to facilitate student interaction. College students ought to be provided with as much information regarding health matters as possible. Therefore, maximizing the dissemination of information ought to be made the highest priority. (emphasis mine)
After reading through a couple of times, I decided that the author is talking about how students should be brought in early to discuss any kinds of campus health issues. He was thinking globally in this paragraph. But the italicized part reflects the uniqueness of the situation here: The issue being discussed with respect to nutritional data is precisely whether students should be "provided with as much information regarding health matters as possible." Students with eating disorders can be harmed by information.
Maybe more information is better. How about posting a sign next to every piece of nutritional data that talks about the perils of eating disorders? That's extra information that students need. Is the dining hall the place to get it? And if not, is the dining hall the place to get calorie counts?
First CDC Obesity Prevention Conference
Wednesday July 8, 2009
Here it comes: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have turned their focus on obesity, apparently hoping that their first conference on the topic will ratchet up efforts to prevent it.
I'm just wondering if they'll have any voices from the eating disorder research and treatment community there. Hope so. It's those voices who can chime in saying that some efforts to prevent obesity can actually make it worse.
For example, researcher Walter Kaye, M.D., notes in a 2008 paper in the journal Physiology and Behavior that "loss of control with overeating in individuals with [bulimia nervosa] usually occurs intermittently and typically only some time after the onset of dieting behavior." Dietitians say that binge eating in those with bulimia is less prominent when they feed themselves more fully.
"Ah, but that's bulimia," you say. You're right, but research demonstrates that in general, dieting often leads to binge eating and weight gain rather than weight loss.
So here's the rub: If obesity prevention is all about telling people to eat less and "get healthy" by restricting their food intake, the efforts may create more obesity than they prevent.
More than 1 in 6 American Households Delaying Health Care
Monday July 6, 2009
Over the past year, roughly 17% of American households postponed health care. For many families, when there's a possibility of putting some kind of treatment on hold, it's been put on hold. Recessions are no fun.
It could be another reason for many not to get started in eating disorder treatment. But, as with many health problems, starting earlier in ED treatment is less expensive than starting later.
Men Face Unique ED Challenges
Saturday July 4, 2009
The problem with eating disorders being so much more common in women is that men can have a hard time knowing what they're facing. And others may not see it as easily, either. If you see a man on the street who's extremely thin, do you wonder about an eating disorder, or do you assume something else? Does this differ from how you see a very thin woman?
If a man eats more than you might expect at a sitting, he might get a pat on the back from his buddies and some admiring comments. It doesn't mean that he's not binging, though.
The question is (if the claims of some researchers are true) why men are continuing to close the gap with women. Gay men with eating disorders remain more common than straight men, but straight men are gaining on gay men as well.
