[Social and political aspects of adiposis].

There is a consensus in the scientific community on the diagnostic, health, and economic implications of overweight and obesity, but therapeutic results -- with a negative energy balance as the main concept of pathogenesis -- are limited. Latest scientific studies did change the paradigm: instead of attributing obesity to patients' lack of will power, genetic disposition and environmental factors are now recognized as the main contributors to this epidemic. In consequence, unsuccessful preventive strategies have to be replaced by setting orientated those that focus much more on environmental changes promoting more physical activity and less energy intake.

[Fifty years of nutrition counseling. Remarks and perspectives].

Fifty years of nutrition information and education did not reach their goals. Nutrition-dependent diseases, obesity, and misinformation are still increasing. Cognitive information about nutrition does not induce changes in primary emotion-controlled eating habits.

Obesity in patients with craniopharyngioma: assessment of food intake and movement counts indicating physical activity.

Patients with childhood-onset craniopharyngioma (CP) often suffer from obesity. We evaluated two important etiological factors of obesity development, energy intake and physical activity. Energy intake was supposed to be high due to a disturbed hypothalamic regulation of appetite.

Validation of the flexible and rigid control dimensions of dietary restraint.

Objective: Two subscales for the Eating Inventory (Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire) are developed and validated: Rigid and Flexible control of eating behavior.

Method: Study I is an analysis of questionnaire data and a 7-day food diary of 54,517 participants in a computer-assisted weight reduction program. Study II is a study of 85 subjects used to develop a final item pool.

[Weight loss by changing eating behavior: the target goal in therapy of obesity].

Obesity develops as an interaction of genetic disposition and environmental factors (nutrition, physical activity). Mental disturbances are considered to be a consequence but not the cause of overweight. For long term weight maintenance three factors are important: normalization of fat intake, flexible control of food intake and an increase in physical activity.

Omega-3 fatty acids and low carbohydrate diet for maintenance of remission in Crohn's disease. A randomized controlled multicenter trial. Study Group Members (German Crohn's Disease Study Group).

Background: There is no established therapy for maintaining remission in patients with Crohn's disease. Following different suggestions from the literature, two potential interventions for maintaining remission were tested against placebo, using either 5 g/day of a highly concentrated omega-3 fatty acid compound or a carbohydrate-reduced diet (84 g/day).

Methods: A total of 204 patients were recruited after they had had an acute relapse.

[Ambulatory, comprehensive, behavior therapy-oriented weight reduction program (Optifast Program). An alternative therapy in obstructive sleep apnea].

We investigated the therapeutic effect of marked body weight reduction on the predominantly obstructive sleep apnea syndrome by the application of an out-patient, behaviour therapy based body weight reduction program (Optifast-program) in five of our obese apnea patients (mean overweight by Broca 53.6 +/- 24.8 kg).

[Chronification of sleep disorders. Results of a representative survey in West Germany].

In a representative selection of German citizens who were older than 13 years of age, 1,997 were asked about their sleep complaints. They were also asked how frequently a physician was consulted and how often sleeping pills were taken. According to our results sleep disturbances are an important health problem in Germany.

Interaction of vitamins with mental performance.

In the presence of a chronically insufficient vitamin supply which was verified by repeated measurements of the vitamin parameters, many unfavorable psychometric findings in the corresponding deficiency groups are observed for the vitamins C, thiamin, riboflavin, cobalamin and folate, depending on the degree of the insufficient vitamin supply. Vitamin supplementation in cases of initially insufficient vitamin supply indicate some effects in the sense of an improvement of behavior and cognitive functions. Supplemental vitamin intake in physiological dosages in addition to a vitamin-sufficient diet did not lead to an improvement of behavior and mental performance.

[Treatment of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome by ambulatory, comprehensive, behavior therapy oriented weight reduction (Optifast program)].

We investigated the therapeutic effect of marked body weight reduction on the predominantly obstructive sleep apnea syndrome by the application of an out-patient, behaviour therapy based body weight reduction program (Optifast-program) in 5 of our obese apnea patients. Mean body weight reduction was 32.7 +/- 15.

Cognitive control of eating behaviour and the disinhibition effect.

Restrained eaters have been reported to overeat following a high caloric preload, a phenomenon referred to as the disinhibition effect. However this effect has not been found when subjects were classified by the restraint subscales of the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire (TFEQ; Stunkard & Messick, 1985) or the Dutch Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (van Strien et al., 1986).

[Consumer expectations concerning the quality of food from animals].

Quality is the most important feature that a consumer expects from food. There is no objective concept for quality, but "quality" exists in the individual consumers opinion. The quality of a product is, from the consumers point of view, not just its characteristic, but the subjective feeling of each consumer.

The effects of energy content and sweet taste on food consumption in restrained and non-restrained eaters.

To characterize restrained eating behavior, we fed pudding mixtures (preloads) varying in energy content and sweet taste to subjects before measuring their intake of a variety of appetizing foods in a laboratory setting. Twenty-four female subjects were divided into three groups: normal-weight restrained eaters (no. = 8), normal-weight non-restrained eaters (no.

[Can one become dependent on sugar?].

Sugar consumption does not cause an addictive behaviour in the sense of psychiatry. In the public opinion sugar is thought to be a problematic food especially of the anticipated negative consequence for the body weight. The avoidance of sweet food evokes a craving for sugar, which is due to sensory deprivation as to physiological mechanisms as well.

Behavioural factors involved in the control of food intake in man.

This paper reviews several psychological models to explain disturbed food intake: the "psychosomatic theory", the "stimulus-binding theory", the "concept of restraint eating", closely related to the "concept of latent obesity", the "set-point-theory" and the "boundary model". All are based on the assumption that there are biological regulating processes of body weight (and with this also of feelings of hunger, appetite and satiation as the determinants of food intake), nevertheless the resulting body weight can be inconsistent with social standards and individual self-concepts. In this case a cognitive control of food intake (dieting behaviour) is activated for weight regulation, which in turn interacts with biological regulatory mechanisms, and as a result leads to specific behavioural dispositions which can be supported by experiments.