Implementation of a Family Support Grant to Subsidize Caregiving Needs and Support Attendance at American Society for Nutrition's Annual Professional Scientific Conference.

Attendance at professional society meetings facilitates networking, collaboration, and success in academic/scientific fields. Insufficient funds, support, or resources for caregiving can inhibit attendance for parents/caretakers, who may become professionally disadvantaged by not attending professional society conferences. The American Society for Nutrition (ASN) offered a family support grant for caregiving needs during the annual conference (maximum: $750); however, the perceived impact of caregiving funds on attendance outcomes is unknown.

Traffic Light Diets for Childhood Obesity: Disambiguation of Terms and Critical Review of Application, Food Categorization, and Strength of Evidence.

Traffic light labeling (TLL) of foods is a strategy often included in multicomponent behavioral interventions (MBIs) for childhood obesity. Traffic light labels categorize foods as "green" (no restrictions), "yellow" (moderation), and "red" (consume minimally). The body of research investigating the effects of TLL conflates the labeling itself with MBIs that include TLL as one component.

Overstated Claims of Efficacy and Safety. Comment On: "Optimal Nutritional Status for a Well-Functioning Immune System Is an Important Factor to Protect Against Viral Infections". 2020, , 1181.

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Eating versus skipping breakfast has no discernible effect on obesity-related anthropometric outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Eating or skipping breakfast for weight interests scientific and lay communities. Our objective was to systematically review and meta-analyze causal effects of eating versus skipping breakfast on obesity-related anthropometric outcomes in humans. Six databases were searched for obesity- and breakfast-related terms (final search: 02 JAN 2020).

The Effectiveness of MyPlate and Paleolithic-based Diet Recommendations, both with and without Exercise, on Aerobic Fitness, Muscular Strength and Anaerobic Power in Young Women: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of recommending a MyPlate or a Paleolithic-based diet, both with and without exercise, on aerobic fitness, strength, and anaerobic power over eight weeks. Participants (n=20) were randomized to one of four groups, (1) a MyPlate diet (MP), (2) Paleolithic-based diet (PD), (3) MyPlate and exercise (MP + Ex), and (4) Paleolithic-based diet and exercise (PD + Ex). The exercise included two days of unsupervised aerobic and resistance exercise.

High Intensity Interval- vs Moderate Intensity- Training for Improving Cardiometabolic Health in Overweight or Obese Males: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Purpose: To compare the effects of six weeks of high intensity interval training (HIIT) vs continuous moderate intensity training (MIT) for improving body composition, insulin sensitivity (SI), blood pressure, blood lipids, and cardiovascular fitness in a cohort of sedentary overweight or obese young men. We hypothesized that HIIT would result in similar improvements in body composition, cardiovascular fitness, blood lipids, and SI as compared to the MIT group, despite requiring only one hour of activity per week compared to five hours per week for the MIT group.

Methods: 28 sedentary overweight or obese men (age, 20 ± 1.

Best (but oft-forgotten) practices: designing, analyzing, and reporting cluster randomized controlled trials.

Cluster randomized controlled trials (cRCTs; also known as group randomized trials and community-randomized trials) are multilevel experiments in which units that are randomly assigned to experimental conditions are sets of grouped individuals, whereas outcomes are recorded at the individual level. In human cRCTs, clusters that are randomly assigned are typically families, classrooms, schools, worksites, or counties. With growing interest in community-based, public health, and policy interventions to reduce obesity or improve nutrition, the use of cRCTs has increased.

Increased fruit and vegetable intake has no discernible effect on weight loss: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: A common dietary recommendation for weight loss, especially in lay public outlets, is to eat more fruit and vegetables (F/Vs). Without a compensatory reduction in total energy intake, significant weight loss would be unlikely.

Objective: We aimed to synthesize the best available evidence on the effectiveness of the general recommendation to eat more F/Vs for weight loss or the prevention of weight gain.

Weighing the Evidence of Common Beliefs in Obesity Research.

Obesity is a topic on which many views are strongly held in the absence of scientific evidence to support those views, and some views are strongly held despite evidence to contradict those views. We refer to the former as "presumptions" and the latter as "myths." Here, we present nine myths and 10 presumptions surrounding the effects of rapid weight loss; setting realistic goals in weight loss therapy; stage of change or readiness to lose weight; physical education classes; breastfeeding; daily self-weighing; genetic contribution to obesity; the "Freshman 15"; food deserts; regularly eating (versus skipping) breakfast; eating close to bedtime; eating more fruits and vegetables; weight cycling (i.

Added sugars in the diet are positively associated with diastolic blood pressure and triglycerides in children.

Background: Hypertension and dyslipidemia have traditionally been associated with dietary sodium and fat intakes, respectively; however, they have recently been associated with the consumption of added sugars in adults and older adolescents, but there is no clear indication of how early in the life span this association manifests.

Objective: This study explored the cross-sectional association between added sugar (sugars not naturally occurring in foods) consumption in children, blood pressure (BP), and fasting blood lipids [triglycerides and total, low-density lipoprotein, and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol].

Design: BP, blood lipids, and dietary intakes were obtained in a multiethnic pediatric sample aged 7-12 y of 122 European American (EA), 106 African American (AA), 84 Hispanic American (HA), and 8 mixed-race children participating in the Admixture Mapping of Ethnic and Racial Insulin Complex Outcomes (AMERICO) study-a cross-sectional study conducted in the Birmingham, AL, metro area investigating the effects of racial-ethnic differences on metabolic and health outcomes.

Genetic admixture and obesity: recent perspectives and future applications.

The process of the colonization of the New World that occurred centuries ago served as a natural experiment, creating unique combinations of genetic material in newly formed admixed populations. Through a genetic admixture approach, the identification and genotyping of ancestry informative markers have allowed for the estimation of proportions of ancestral parental populations among individuals in a sample. These admixture estimates have been used in different ways to understand the genetic contributions to individual variation in obesity and body composition parameters, particularly among diverse admixed groups known to differ in obesity prevalence within the United States.

Belief beyond the evidence: using the proposed effect of breakfast on obesity to show 2 practices that distort scientific evidence.

Background: Various intentional and unintentional factors influence beliefs beyond what scientific evidence justifies. Two such factors are research lacking probative value (RLPV) and biased research reporting (BRR).

Objective: We investigated the prevalence of RLPV and BRR in research about the proposition that skipping breakfast causes weight gain, which is called the proposed effect of breakfast on obesity (PEBO) in this article.

Myths, presumptions, and facts about obesity.

Background: Many beliefs about obesity persist in the absence of supporting scientific evidence (presumptions); some persist despite contradicting evidence (myths). The promulgation of unsupported beliefs may yield poorly informed policy decisions, inaccurate clinical and public health recommendations, and an unproductive allocation of research resources and may divert attention away from useful, evidence-based information.

Methods: Using Internet searches of popular media and scientific literature, we identified, reviewed, and classified obesity-related myths and presumptions.

Short-term consumption of sucralose, a nonnutritive sweetener, is similar to water with regard to select markers of hunger signaling and short-term glucose homeostasis in women.

Nonnutritive sweeteners have been used to lower the energy density of foods with the intention of affecting weight loss or weight maintenance. However, some epidemiological and animal evidence indicates an association between weight gain or insulin resistance and artificial sweetener consumption. In the present study, we hypothesized that the nonnutritive sweetener sucralose, a trichlorinated sucrose molecule, would elicit responses similar to water but different from sucrose and sucrose combined with sucralose on subjective and hormonal indications of hunger and short-term glucose homeostasis.