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Friday, July 1, 2016
Jessica lost 91 pounds
Transformation of the Day: Jessica lost 91 pounds. This AKA Soror had been overweight since childhood, but she was able to change her lifestyle by setting attainable goals, having great support system and never giving up. It’s taken 5 years of hard work and commitment to figure out what works best for her and she doesn’t […]
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Weekly Coffee Date
Happy Friday, friends, and happy Fourth of July weekend! The Fourth is always such a happy time. Everyone seems to be in a good mood–grilling (FYI this is the most popular burger recipe of all time on Pinterest), celebrating, lighting the fireworks we bought in another state. And I don’t know if this is yet another...Read More
The post Weekly Coffee Date appeared first on Andie Mitchell.
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Discrimination Can Lead to Alcohol Abuse
Over the last 3 decades’ research has discovered that discrimination can physically affect the health of individuals. Specifically, investigators learned that discrimination may be linked to poor cardiovascular health within the African American Population.
Eventually, the scope of these studies broadened, uncovering a connection between discrimination and other health disparities among minority groups. New research emanating from the University of Iowa, finds another negative health outcome linked to discrimination: alcohol abuse.
“We’ve had this idea that discrimination is associated with heavier drinking and drinking-related problems, but we didn’t have a clear understanding of the evidence underneath that,” says Paul Gilbert, assistant professor of the Department of Community and Behavioral Health.
“I wanted to uncover what we know and how we know it. What does the science actually say?”
Experts have known for decades that drinking is a common coping response to stress–a phenomenon called stress-reactive drinking, Gilbert says.
“We recognize discrimination as a stressor, and we recognize people drink in response to stress,” Gilbert says. “But do they drink in response to discrimination?”
The paper, “Discrimination and Drinking: A Systematic Review of the Evidence,” appears online in in Social Science & Medicine.
For the study, Gilbert searched six online databases for studies related to discrimination and drinking, winnowing his potential sources down to about 1,200 scientific studies that met his criteria.
From there, he identified 97 peer-reviewed, published research papers with quantitative evidence that showed a link between discrimination and heavy and hazardous drinking. Seventy-one studies involved racial discrimination, and the rest examined discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender.
“Our study supports the notion that discrimination is harmful to health, specifically through alcohol,” says Gilbert.
Investigators discovered several gaps in the research. For example, the majority of studies involved interpersonal discrimination against African Americans, such as being treated poorly in a store or being called a name.
Gilberts says more studies need to be done about discrimination against other groups, including other racial and ethnic groups, and discrimination due to religion, sexual orientation, gender, age, or disability status.
He also would like to see a more nuanced look at what types of discrimination might be linked to heavy and hazardous drinking.
For example, studies could involve systematic or structural discrimination, such as school and neighborhood segregation.
Additionally, studies of internalized discrimination — which occurs when members of a racial minority absorb the racist messages they hear, resulting in self-hatred or hatred of their minority group — demand investigation.
Finally, Gilbert hopes researchers will take a closer look at the types of alcohol abuse linked to being discriminated against.
“The basic knowledge is now there,” he says. “The next step to advance science is to say what specific groups are involved, what specific type of discrimination are they experiencing, and what specifically were the alcohol outcomes.
Was it just heavier drinking, or was it heavy drinking that led to dependence–or is it alcohol-related problems like getting in a car crash or work and family problems?”
Source: University of Iowa
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Drunkorexia: When College Students Eat Less So They Can Drink More
A researcher at the University of Houston has been examining a growing trend among college students known as “drunkorexia.” This non-medical term refers to the combination of drinking alcohol and engaging in diet-related behaviors such as food restriction, excessive exercising, or bingeing and purging.
For these students, the purpose of restricting food intake while drinking is often to allow more calories for alcohol and/or to allow alcohol to enter the bloodstream more quickly.
“Drunkorexia refers to a complex pattern of drinking-related behaviors that take place before, during, and after a drinking event,” explained Dipali V. Rinker, a research assistant professor in the department of psychology at the University of Houston.
“College students appear to engage in these behaviors to increase alcohol effects or reduce alcohol-related calories by engaging in bulimic-type or diet/exercising/calorie/restricted eating behaviors.”
The findings were presented at the 39th Annual Research Society on Alcoholism in New Orleans.
Rinker said her research is designed to flesh out the definition of drunkorexia as well as identify different types of “drunkorexic” behaviors. She added that these types of behaviors may result in a number of problems.
“Potential outcomes may include less inhibition that could lead to more negative alcohol-related consequences,” she said. “Additionally, restricting caloric intake to those from alcohol could lead to vitamin depletion, as it may keep the individual from eating more nutrient-dense foods.”
Although the study showed some gender differences in drinking habits, the association between gender and drunkorexia is a complex one, she noted.
“While it is clear that college women who drink more are more likely than men to engage in bulimic-type behaviors, and with greater frequency, and to experience more alcohol-related problems as a result of these behaviors, there were no gender differences for engaging in drunkorexia to increase the effects of alcohol or engaging in bulimic-type behaviors to compensate for alcohol-related calories,” said Rinker.
She went on to report that in some cases, men were more likely to engage in bulimic-type and diet/exercising/calorie-restricted eating behaviors to reduce alcohol-related calories. She added that more research is necessary to gain a better understanding of these differences.
“It is important to realize that, in addition to the amount and/or frequency of alcohol consumption, the manner in which college students drink puts them at greatest risk for experiencing problems,” emphasized Rinker.
“Students who engage in compensatory dieting/exercise behaviors before, during, or after a drinking event to either increase the effects of alcohol or reduce alcohol calories by either engaging in bulimic-type or extreme dieting, exercise, or restrictive behaviors — such as skipping meals — are putting themselves at risk for serious negative consequences related to alcohol use,” said Rinker.
Furthermore, in order to reduce health problems associated with drinking, students should stay well-hydrated and not drink on an empty stomach. They should also eat healthy food and exercise, particularly on days they are drinking.
Source: Research Society on Alcoholism
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Media Not to Blame for Teen Sex
A new review finds that media exposure to sex does not significantly influence teen sexual behavior.
As such, researchers say proclaiming a link between such so-called sexy media and the sexual behavior of young people is in fact premature. The media neither contributes to the early initiation of sex among young people, nor to their sexual conduct more generally.
The finding comes from a systematic analysis of 22 relevant studies on the topic. Christopher Ferguson of Stetson University and colleagues Patrick Markey at Villanova University and Rune Nielsen at IT University Copenhagen performed the review.
The results of the meta-analysis appear in the journal Psychiatric Quarterly.
Parents and policy makers often raise the concern that so-called sexy media (media depicting or discussing sexual encounters) may promote sexual behavior among teenagers.
The new review finds no conclusive evidence that this occurs.
Ferguson’s team conducted a meta-analysis of 22 previous studies that all measured the influence of some form of media on an outcome related to teenagers’ sexual behavior. Outcome behaviors included becoming pregnant, participation in risky sexual behavior or the initiation of sex.
The studies in total took into account the views of more than 22,000 participants younger than 18 years old.
Researchers discovered only a very weak link between the type of media that teenagers viewed and their eventual sexual behavior. They also found media exposure to sex also plays only a very minor role in the initiation of sex.
The researchers do not exclude the possibility that sexy media may still influence sexual attitudes, but say that this does not seem to carry over into actual behavior.
“Evidence for an association between media and sexual behavior is minimal,” says Ferguson, who believes that parents and peers play a much greater role in how teenagers’ moral values around sexuality develops.
Despite increased availability of sex in the media, US government data suggests teens are waiting longer to have sex, and teen pregnancy rates are at historic lows.
The results do not exclude the possibility that media may have some influence on at-risk youth who are deprived of other socialization influences.
“That is to say, when information from parents or schools are lacking, media may become the only source of information on sexuality,” explains Ferguson.
Researchers warn that simply making the media the scapegoat and giving it considerable public attention might distract parents and policy makers from more pressing and important issues related to teen sexuality.
According to Ferguson, parents must be encouraged to discuss sexuality with their teens, proper sex-education programs must be implemented in schools, and ways should be examined by which peer networks can be used to promote safe sex.
“The encouraging message from our results is that the media is unlikely to thwart parental efforts to socialize children should parents take the initiative to talk directly to their children about sex,” Ferguson adds.
Source: Springer
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