Increasing leisure-time activity and reducing sedentary behaviors such as watching television will both independently attenuate genetic predisposition to obesity, a new study reveals [1].

"We cannot change genes, but we can do something to change the influence of genes, by doing some exercise and by reducing our sedentary behavior, primarily by watching television less," lead author Dr Qibin Qi (Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA) told heartwire. Qi presented the results of the research today at EPI|NPAM 2012, the Epidemiology and Prevention/Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism Scientific Sessions 2012.

Qi says he and his team's work is the first to study the modifying effect of TV watching, "which is the most common sedentary behavior," on genetic predisposition to obesity based on a risk score. They also examined the effects of physical exercise on this score.

Because they found independent effects of the two behaviors, Qi says he "wants to emphasize the importance of both." And he says those who increased physical activity didn't necessarily reduce TV viewing time. So an additional goal is to try to get people to exercise while watching TV, "at least stand up and move around," he suggests.

Activity attenuates effect size for BMI; TV viewing increases it

Qi said statistics show that people in Europe and the US watch, on average, four to five hours of TV per day. It is already known that the greater the daily duration of television viewing, the higher the risk of obesity and related disease, independent of physical activity, he noted.

He and his colleagues set out to examine whether leisure-time TV watching and physical activity modify the genetic predisposition to elevated adiposity in women and men, using data from the Nurses' Health Study (7740 women with genotyping data) and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (4564 men with genotyping data).

They assessed body-mass index (BMI) and average weekly time spent watching TV and performing physical activity, both self-reported and validated (with an r=0.97 between reported BMI and measured BMI).

Qi explained that most previous studies on gene-lifestyle interaction and obesity have largely focused on a single locus, the fat mass and obesity-associated gene (FTO). Instead, he and his colleagues calculated a genetic predisposition score. "The novel thing we did was include 32 genes, including FTO, and we created a score that estimates the overall genetic predisposition to obesity," where each point score corresponded to each BMI-increasing allele, he noted.

The results from women and men were pooled by meta-analysis.

Overall, each BMI-increasing allele was associated with an increase of 0.13 kg/m2 in BMI. The effect size for BMI in those in the highest physical-activity quintile was attenuated compared with that in individuals in the lowest physical-activity quintile (0.08 kg/m2 vs 0.15 kg/m2; p for interaction <0.001).

In contrast, the genetic effect on BMI was more pronounced in people who spent >40 hours watching TV than in those who spent 0 to one hour per week (0.34 kg/m2 vs 0.08 kg/m2; p for interaction=0.001).

One-hour-a-day walk cuts difference between max and min score by 50%

Qi and colleagues found that each 4-METs/day increment in physical activity-equivalent to one hour per day of brisk walking-was associated with a 0.06-kg/m2 reduction in BMI (approximately 46% of the main effect of each additional BMI-increasing allele), while each two-hour/day increment in TV watching was associated with a 0.03-kg/m2 increase in BMI (23% of the main effect).

"We estimated that the difference in BMI (4 kg/m2, equivalent to 11.6 kg in body weight for a person 1.7 m tall) between individuals with a genetic predisposition score of 13 (minimum) and those with a score of 43 (maximum) could be reduced by half (2.1 kg/m2, 6.1 kg in weight) by one hour per day of brisk walking or increased by 25% by two hours per day of TV watching," they say.

"Our data suggest that both increasing exercise levels and reducing sedentary behaviors, especially TV watching, independently may mitigate genetic disposition to increased BMI."

Qi acknowledges, however, that genetic testing is not yet widespread, so in the meantime, doctors and the public should use family history of obesity to guide them. "Maybe ask about relatives who are obese, to see if there is a high genetic risk," he advises.

To prevent addicts from consuming branded syrups containing 'habit formatting' drug - codeine, the state Food and Drug Control Administration (FDCA) has suspended licences of nearly 15 chemists in Ahmedabad over the last one week.

The department has warned the chemists not to provide such syrups to people without a prescription from a registered medical practitioner.

FDCA commissioner H G Koshia said codeine is an element which is extracted from opium and which has delirious impact on human body. He said that recently the department's intelligence wing had conducted investigation in various areas like Sabarmati, Jamalpur, Behrampura, Odhav and Maninagar. And there they found many chemists selling cough syrups having codeine without mandatory prescription from a registered medical practitioner.

"Syrups having codeine in it are drugs of Schedule 'H', for which the doctor's prescription is must. But many people get addicted to it as many chemists sell it in open without fulfilling the statutory condition. So, we've carried out the exercise to prevent this," said Koshia.

According to Koshia, the department has also freezed around 10 lakh bottles of syrups containing codeine, worth Rs 4 crore, of different drug manufacturing companies.

He said under the provisions of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, it is mandatory for drug manufacturers to prominently put the generic name of the respective drugs on their product. "But these companies are found manufacturing syrups without putting the generic name prominently on the bottles. So, we have prohibited their 10 lakh bottles and issued them notice," Koshia said.
He said the exercise was launched after discovering that Corex - a cough syrup brand - was found as one of the top-10 drugs in demand in the country in an authorised survey.

"Corex is a cough syrup and Gujarat is a dry state. So, it can be presumed that there won't be too many patients of cough. However, our intelligence officers have come to a conclusion that people are consuming it even without the illness due to the habit formatting codeine in it," Koshia said.

Parents with obese children can help their kids lose weight by dropping pounds themselves, according to a new study.

More than restocking the fridge or parenting styles, researchers from California found that a parent's own weight is the most influential factor and key contributor to the successful weight loss of an obese child.

"Parents are the most significant people in a child's environment, serving as the first and most important teachers," said study co-author Kerri Boutelle of the University of California, San Diego in a statement. "They play a significant role in any weight-loss program for children, and this study confirms the importance of their example in establishing healthy eating and exercise behaviors for their kids."

For their study, researchers examined the effectiveness of three types of parenting skills among 142 families. Kids ranged between the ages of 8 and 12 and were either overweight or obese.

Their conclusion? Parents serving as role models and shed weight themselves proved to be the most inspiring and motivational method for their own children -- more than making changes to the home food environment or enrolling kids in physical activities, researchers said.

But the latest parent-child obesity study runs counter to another analysis published in 2010 in which researchers concluded that parental influence on their child's eating behavior is limited.

If you struggle to curb your chocolate cravings or can't resist one more biscuit, forget working on your willpower. It could be time to look for another job.

Women who are over-worked or bored with their career are more likely to comfort eat, a Finnish study has found.

Fed-up females seek solace in emotional eating and 'uncontrolled eating' or in other words, not stopping until the last biscuit has gone from the packet.

The study, reported in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, found women who reported work burnout were more likely to develop an 'emotional' eating habit.

Study leader Nina Nevanpera, of the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, said: 'Those experiencing burnout may be more vulnerable to emotional eating and uncontrolled eating and have a hindered ability to make changes in their eating behavior.'

'We recommend that burnout should be treated first and that burnout and eating behavior should be evaluated in obesity treatment.'

The findings are based on 230 women aged 30 to 55 who were part of a clinical trial looking at healthy lifestyle changes. All were employed, and at the start of the trial they completed surveys on job burnout and eating habits.

Overall, 22 per cent of the women had some degree of work burnout. As a group, they scored higher on measures of emotional eating and uncontrolled eating.

On top of that, women who did not have job burnout at the study's start tended to cut down on uncontrolled eating over one year. But, on average, the burnout group failed to make that change.

'Work permeates our lives,' said Sherry Pagoto, from the University of Massachusetts Medical School, who was not involved in the study.

'People may be in a job where they're unhappy, or a marriage where they're unhappy, and eating can become one of the few pleasures in their lives.'

There was no obvious effect of burnout on the women's weight, however. At the outset, half of the women reporting work burnout were normal weight - compared with a third of women reporting no burnout.

One reason might be education, Nevanpera said. Women with work burnout generally had a higher education level, and education, in turn, was linked to lower weight.

Still, she added, emotional eating is a potential risk factor for becoming heavy in the future. And it's not particularly healthy, since stressed-out people are more likely to reach for chocolate or fast food than an apple.

Professor Pagoto agreed that addressing sources of stress in general was important, adding that big stress triggers in life may make it difficult to lose weight and keep it off.

When people are not overweight, emotional eating is still not a good idea, she said.

'"It's reinforcing a habit that's not healthy.'

A new study of police officers has found that just 60 seconds of all out physical exertion in a threatening situation can seriously damage the memories of those involved for many details of the incident.

Police officers, witnesses and victims of crime suffer loss of memory, recognition and awareness of their environment if they have had to use bursts of physical energy in a combative encounter, according to scientists.


Researchers, led by Dr Lorraine Hope of the University of Portsmouth, found that less than 60 seconds of all out exertion, as might happen when an officer is forced to chase-down a fleeing suspect or engage in a physical battle with a resistant criminal, can seriously impair their ability to remember details of the incident or even identify the person who was involved.

Even officers in top condition are not immune to the rapid drain of physical prowess and cognitive faculties resulting from sustained hand-to-hand combat.

The findings are a stark warning to police officers, police chiefs and the courts, according to Dr Hope, a Reader in applied cognitive psychology of the university's Department of Psychology.

"Police officers are often expected to remember in detail who said what and how many blows were received or given in the midst of physical struggle or shortly afterwards. The results of our tests indicate it may be very difficult for them to do this," she said.

"As exhaustion takes over, cognitive resources tend to diminish. The ability to fully shift attention is inhibited, so even potentially relevant information might not be attended to. Ultimately, memory is determined by what we can process and attend to.

"The legal system puts a great deal of emphasis on witness accounts, particularly those of professional witnesses like police officers. Investigators and courts need to understand that an officer who cannot provide details about an encounter where physical exertion has played a role is not necessarily being deceptive or uncooperative. An officer's memory errors or omissions after an intense physical struggle should not unjustly affect his or her credibility," she noted.

Researchers recruited 52 police officers (42 males, 10 females) in Winnipeg, Canada, with an average of eight years on the job. All officers were fit and healthy and engaged in regular exercise.

During an initial briefing, the officers were given background information about a recent spate of armed robberies in the city. The briefing included details of how the robberies were conducted and witness descriptions of the perpetrators.

Half of the officers then engaged in a full force physical attack on a 300lb hanging water bag and the others (a control group) were assigned as observers.

The next part of the test required the officers to approach a trailer that a "known criminal" was suspected of occupying. On entering the trailer, the officer found themselves in a realistic living area where a number of weapons, including an M16 carbine, a revolver, a sawn off shotgun and a large kitchen knife were visible.

After a short delay, the "target individual" emerged from another room and shouted aggressively at the officer to get out of his property. The individual was not armed, but several of the weapons were within easy reach.

Dr Hope found those who had been asked to exert themselves physically remembered less about the target individual and made more recall errors compared to the control group of observers. The officers who had been exerted also recalled less about the initial briefing information and what they did report was less accurate. They also reported less about an individual they encountered incidentally while en route to the trailer.

While more than 90 per cent of non exerted observers were able to recall at least one descriptive item about him, barely one-third of exerted officers remembered seeing him at all.

Everyone remembered seeing the angry suspect in the trailer, but non exerted observers provided a significantly more detailed description of him and made half as many errors in recall as those who were exhausted.These observers were also twice as likely to correctly identify the suspect from a line up.

However, another striking aspect of the findings showed that exerted officers were able to register threat cues in the environment to the same degree at non exerted officers.

These new findings reveal that although exerted officers were able to pay attention to the threatening aspects of the scene, their ability to then process other aspects of the interaction was affected.

As a result of this, some information may only have been processed weakly or not at all resulting in an impaired memory for many details of the encounter.