Childhood intelligence and adult obesity

Recent studies conclude childhood intelligence has no direct effect on adult obesity net of education, but evolutionary psychological theories suggest otherwise. Design and Methods: A population (n = 17,419) of British babies has been followed since birth in 1958 in a prospectively longitudinal study. Childhood general intelligence is measured at 7, 11, and 16, and adult BMI and obesity are measured at 51. Results: Childhood general intelligence has a direct effect on adult BMI, obesity, and weight gain, net of education, earnings, mother's BMI, father's BMI, childhood social class, and sex. More intelligent children grow up to eat more healthy foods and exercise more frequently as adults. Conclusion: Childhood intelligence has a direct effect on adult obesity unmediated by education or earnings. General intelligence decreases BMI only in adulthood when individuals have complete control over what they eat

Loss of control eating and weight outcomes after bariatric surgery: a study with a Portuguese sample

The present study aim is to investigate the frequency of loss of control eating (LOC) episodes in three groups with different assessment times: one before, one at short and one at long-term after bariatric surgery; as well as to explore the association of postoperative problematic eating behaviors and weight outcomes and psychological characteristics. This cross-sectional study compared a group of preoperative bariatric surgery patients (n = 176) and two postoperative groups, one at short-term with 2 years follow-up (n = 53). Assessments included the EDE diagnostic interview and a set of self-report measures assessing eating disordered symptomatology, depression, and body image. We found the presence of LOC in 26.7 and 16.9 % of the pre-operative and long-term patients, respectively, and in about 11.8 % of the short-term patients. One patient (0.9 %) reported objective binge eating episodes at short-time, but subjective binge eating episodes were present in about 10 % of the patients in all groups. LOC eating was related with the highest BMIs, the least weight loss, most weight regain, and most psychological impairment in the long-term assessments, but not at short-term. Despite the lower frequencies of disordered eating behavior in the short-term group, patients reporting LOC seem to represent a subgroup of individuals with poorest outcomes after surgery and most psychological distress.The authors wish to thank Dr. James E. Mitchell for his kind suggestions on a preliminary version of this work. We thank the study participants for their contribution in time and effort in support of this study. This research was partially supported by a Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia/Foundation for Science and Technology, Portugal (SFRH/BPD/78896/2011) grant to Eva Conceicao; grant (PTDC/PSIPCL/099981/2008) to Paulo Machado; and (SFRH/BD/44293/2008) grant to Ana Vaz. FCT had no role in the study design, collection, analysis or interpretation of the data, writing the manuscript, or the decision to submit the paper for publication.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio