PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Girls with eating disorders regain healthy fatty acid levels when their weight normalizes

2012-07-18
(Press-News.org) A study of teenage girls with eating disorders has shown that reduced essential fatty acid levels returned to normal once the girls increased their weight to a healthy level.

The research, published in the August issue of Acta Paediatrica, suggests that it is not necessary to give omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid supplements to adolescent girls with eating disorders.

"Essential fatty acid status is altered in eating disorders that result in weight loss" explains co-author Dr Ingemar Swenne from Uppsala University Children's Hospital. "This is important because deficiencies in polyunsaturated omega-3 essential fatty acids have been implicated in the development of depression and other mental health issues."

Dr Swenne teamed up with child psychiatrist Dr Agneta Rosling, to analyse the red blood cells of 24 adolescent girls who had suffered from eating disorders and had lost an average of 10kgs. Their average age at the start of the one-year study was 14.3 years.

The researchers compared the results from the eating disorders group with 39 normal weight girls from local schools.

Key findings included:

The girls in the eating disorder group had an average body mass index of 15 at the start of the study and this had risen to 19 at the one-year follow- up. This compared to the 21.2 recorded in the control group of the same age.

Seventeen of the girls had anorexia nervosa and the remaining seven were classified as having an unspecified eating disorder.

Twelve had depression at the start of the study, but this had fallen to two at follow-up. Only two were menstruating at the start of the study, but this had risen to 16 at follow-up.

The girls in the eating disorder group showed marked differences in the levels of fatty acids in their blood cells at the start of the study, compared to the girls in the control group. In particular they had lower levels of essential omega-3 fatty acids.

Once the girls' weight normalised, the differences between the two groups became less marked and the girls in the eating disorder group regained more healthy omega-3 fatty acid levels.

"It is clear from our study that once the girls attending the Eating Disorders Unit received adequate nutrition, normalised their eating behaviours and gained weight, their metabolism and endocrine function improved" concludes co-author Dr Agneta Rosling.

"This was sufficient to ensure that their essential fatty acid status improved and, in particular, their omega-3 levels recovered to a more healthy level.

"We believe that this research indicates that providing girls with eating disorders with omega-3 supplements is unnecessary if they normalise their eating behaviour and weight."

###

Note to editors

Omega-3 essential fatty acid status is improved during nutritional rehabilitation of adolescent girls with eating disorders and weight loss. Swenne et al. Acta Paediatrica. 101, pp. 858-861. (2012). DOI:10.1111/j.1651-2227.2012.02684.x

Acta Paediatrica is a peer-reviewed monthly journal at the forefront of international paediatric research. It covers both clinical and experimental research in all areas of paediatrics including: neonatal medicine, developmental medicine, adolescent medicine, child health and environment, psychosomatic paediatrics and child health in developing countries. http://wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/APA

About Wiley: Founded in 1807, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. has been a valued source of information and understanding for more than 200 years, helping people around the world meet their needs and fulfill their aspirations. Wiley and its acquired companies have published the works of more than 450 Nobel laureates in all categories: literature, Economics, Physiology or Medicine, Physics, Chemistry, and Peace. Our core businesses publish scientific, technical, medical, and scholarly journals, encyclopedias, books, and online products and services; professional/trade books, subscription products, training materials, and online applications and Web sites; and educational materials for undergraduate and graduate students and lifelong learners. Wiley's global headquarters are located in Hoboken, New Jersey, with operations in the U.S., Europe, Asia, Canada, and Australia. The Company's Web site can be accessed at http://www.wiley.com. The Company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbols JWa and JWb.

END



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Scientists find new way to induce programmed cell death, or apoptosis

2012-07-18
Researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Weizmann Institute of Science have developed a technique to cause apoptosis, or programmed cell death, that could lead to new approaches to treating cancer. Apoptosis is an essential defense mechanism against the spread of abnormal cells such as cancer. It is a complex process that occurs through networks of proteins that interact with each other. Cancer cells usually avoid this process due to mutations in the genes that encode the relevant proteins. The result is that the cancer cells survive and take over while ...

What it takes to be the perfect invading parasite

2012-07-18
Scientists from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) are the first to document the characteristics of invading parasites, using malaria in New Zealand bird species. The study, published today in Ecology Letters, identifies the factors influencing the success of parasites unintentionally introduced to new environments. Avian malaria is a disease caused by species of parasites, of the genus Plasmodium, which infects birds. Just like human malaria, it is spread by mosquitoes, and the parasites spend part of their lives in red blood cells of birds. Avian malaria is common ...

In search of the key word

2012-07-18
Human beings have the ability to convert complex phenomena into a one-dimensional sequence of letters and put it down in writing. In this process, keywords serve to convey the content of the text. How letters and words correlate with the subject of a text is something Eduardo Altmann and his colleagues from the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems have studied with the help of statistical methods. They discovered that what denotes keywords is not the fact that they appear very frequently in a given text. It is that they are found in greater numbers only ...

Marijuana use doubles risk of premature birth

2012-07-18
A large international study led by University of Adelaide researchers has found that women who use marijuana can more than double the risk of giving birth to a baby prematurely. Preterm or premature birth - at least three weeks before a baby's due date - can result in serious and life-threatening health problems for the baby, and an increased risk of health problems in later life, such as heart disease and diabetes. A study of more than 3000 pregnant women in Adelaide, Australia and Auckland, New Zealand has detailed the most common risk factors for preterm birth. ...

Infants' recognition of speech more sophisticated than previously known, NYU researchers find

2012-07-18
The ability of infants to recognize speech is more sophisticated than previously known, researchers in New York University's Department of Psychology have found. Their study, which appears in the journal Developmental Psychology, showed that infants, as early as nine months old, could make distinctions between speech and non-speech sounds in both humans and animals. "Our results show that infant speech perception is resilient and flexible," explained Athena Vouloumanos, an assistant professor at NYU and the study's lead author. "This means that our recognition of speech ...

Marriage has different meanings for blacks and whites

2012-07-18
EAST LANSING, Mich. — Black people who are married don't appear to live any longer than black couples who simply live together, suggesting marriage doesn't boost longevity for blacks the way it does for whites, according to a large national study led by Michigan State University. "This finding implies that marriage and cohabitation have very different meanings for blacks and whites," said MSU sociologist Hui Liu, the study's lead researcher. The study, in the Journal of Marriage and Family, is the first to document mortality differences between cohabiters and married ...

Study suggests moderate drinking lowers risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis in women

2012-07-18
A follow-up study of more than 34,000 women in Sweden has shown that moderate drinkers, in comparison with abstainers, were at significantly lower risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis (RA), an often serious and disabling type of arthritis. RA is known to relate to inflammation, and it is thought that this inflammation is blocked to some degree by the consumption of alcohol. In this study, women who consumed at least 4 drinks per week (with a drink being defined as containing 15 grams of alcohol) had 37% lower risk of developing RA than subjects reporting never drinking ...

World record: Scientists from northern Germany produce the lightest material in the world

2012-07-18
A network of porous carbon tubes that is three-dimensionally interwoven at nano and micro level – this is the lightest material in the world. It weights only 0.2 milligrams per cubic centimetre, and is therefore 75 times lighter than Styrofoam, but it is very strong nevertheless. Scientists of Kiel University (KU) and Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH) have named their joint creation "Aerographite". The scientific results were published as the title story in the scientific journal Advanced Materials on July, 3rd. Today (Tuesday, July 17th) it is presented to the public. The ...

Frog calls inspire a new algorithm for wireless networks

2012-07-18
Males of the Japanese tree frog have learnt not to use their calls at the same time so that the females can distinguish between them. Scientists at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia have used this form of calling behaviour to create an algorithm that assigns colours to network nodes – an operation that can be applied to developing efficient wireless networks. How can network nodes be coloured with the least possible number of colours without two consecutive nodes being the same colour? A team of researchers at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia have found a ...

Triggers study evaluates regular staff, ICU specialists

2012-07-18
BOSTON – A system of care focused on the detection and systematic assessment of patients with clinical instability can yield similar outcomes as rapid response teams staffed with trained intensive care specialists, a Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center study has found. The analysis of 177,347 patients over a 59-month period was published online in Critical Care Medicine, the journal of the Society of Critical Care Medicine. Rapid Response Teams have become an important part of hospital care in recent years, sending critical care-trained responders to the bedside of decompensating ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Pink skies

Monkeys are world’s best yodellers - new research

Key differences between visual- and memory-led Alzheimer’s discovered

% weight loss targets in obesity management – is this the wrong objective?

An app can change how you see yourself at work

NYC speed cameras take six months to change driver behavior, effects vary by neighborhood, new study reveals

New research shows that propaganda is on the rise in China

Even the richest Americans face shorter lifespans than their European counterparts, study finds

Novel genes linked to rare childhood diarrhea

New computer model reveals how Bronze Age Scandinavians could have crossed the sea

Novel point-of-care technology delivers accurate HIV results in minutes

Researchers reveal key brain differences to explain why Ritalin helps improve focus in some more than others

Study finds nearly five-fold increase in hospitalizations for common cause of stroke

Study reveals how alcohol abuse damages cognition

Medicinal cannabis is linked to long-term benefits in health-related quality of life

Microplastics detected in cat placentas and fetuses during early pregnancy

Ancient amphibians as big as alligators died in mass mortality event in Triassic Wyoming

Scientists uncover the first clear evidence of air sacs in the fossilized bones of alvarezsaurian dinosaurs: the "hollow bones" which help modern day birds to fly

Alcohol makes male flies sexy

TB patients globally often incur "catastrophic costs" of up to $11,329 USD, despite many countries offering free treatment, with predominant drivers of cost being hospitalization and loss of income

Study links teen girls’ screen time to sleep disruptions and depression

Scientists unveil starfish-inspired wearable tech for heart monitoring

Footprints reveal prehistoric Scottish lagoons were stomping grounds for giant Jurassic dinosaurs

AI effectively predicts dementia risk in American Indian/Alaska Native elders

First guideline on newborn screening for cystic fibrosis calls for changes in practice to improve outcomes

Existing international law can help secure peace and security in outer space, study shows

Pinning down the process of West Nile virus transmission

UTA-backed research tackles health challenges across ages

In pancreatic cancer, a race against time

Targeting FGFR2 may prevent or delay some KRAS-mutated pancreatic cancers

[Press-News.org] Girls with eating disorders regain healthy fatty acid levels when their weight normalizes