We have to come up with a research question and write a research proposal dealing with impulsivity and obesity. Here is part of the introduction to the research proposal that I wrote with some of my notes on the research articles after. My intro needs work and it is hard because it can only be 4 pages, plus there are 4 other people in my group who have research and writing to add to it also. Our research question has to do with the interaction of media advertising and impulsivity - is there an interaction and is this more likely to effect the overweight?
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Obesity is a major health problem in the United States and is fast becoming a global problem. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), one third of all adults in the United States and approximately 17% of children are obese. World Health Organization statistics indicate that approximately 24% of the world population is overweight or obese. “Once considered a problem only in high-income countries, overweight and obesity are now dramatically on the rise in low- and middle-income countries, particularly in urban settings.” (WHO, 2010)
The costs of obesity are staggering because of the chronic diseases and disabilities associated with an overweight and obese population such as cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes, osteoarthritis (and other musculoskeletal disorders, and even some cancers. Nationally, overweight and obesity direct and indirect health care costs are estimated anywhere from $73 billion to $96 billion annually, with over half of the cost being paid by federal and state governments through Medicare and Medicaid (CDC, 2010). A recent CNN.com article about the First Lady Michelle Obama’s campaign against childhood obesity reports the costs are as high as $147 billion annually (CNN, 2010).
It is easy to determine the negative effects of obesity but not as easy to determine the causes. Obviously overeating and under activity plays a role in most overweight and obese cases but what are the underlying causes? According to Dr. C. Davis in her article Psychobiological traits in the risk profile for overeating and weight gain, the scientific community in increasingly acknowledging that overweight and obese individuals share certain traits with drug addicts because overeating and drug use share the same reward mechanisms or pathway in the brain. (Davis, 2009) In her article she explores these traits – reward sensitivity (on both end of the spectrum), impulsivity, and attention deficit/hyperactivity. Impulsivity in overweight and obese individuals is especially interesting because of its prominence in most addictive behaviors - much research that has been done on addiction highlights the role of impulsivity in people who suffer with drug addiction. Researchers who study obesity find addiction studies relevant because of shared traits and reward mechanisms in the brain between someone who overeats (and overeating leads to obesity) and someone addicted to drugs.
In addition to internal influences or personality traits such as impulsivity, the media and marketers play a role major role in the increase of overweight or obese individuals. Deborah A. Cohen explores ten human characteristics that make people overeat in her article Neurophysiological Pathways to Obesity: Below Awareness and Beyond Individual Control. Among these characteristics are: physiological reflexive response to food and images of food; mirror neurons that lead people to mimic the behavior of other humans often, without awareness; conditioned responses that result in desire for food when confronted with food-related cues; automatic responses to priming – association with products or ‘branding’, recognition of brands and symbols enhancing food items; limited cognitive capacity and self-regulatory control – too often leads to impulsivity when confronted with too much information. (Cohen, 2008) These characteristics or pathways illustrate what huge role advertising and the media play in the underlying causes of obesity.
REFERENCES/NOTES:
Psychobiological traits in the risk profile for overeating and weight gain
C. Davis
International Journal of Obesity (2009) 33, pages S49 – S53
This article looks at psychobiological traits that may promote overeating and obesity. The traits highlighted were reward sensitivity, impulsivity, and ADHD. Great definitions of impulsivity – breaks into 2 types.
This is not a research article, it is a review. The major point of this article is that obesity is not a ‘uniform condition’ but has many causes. There must be a shift in research which looks at individual risk factors and variables. On the bright side, there has been increasing focus in obesity research to looking at psychological traits and motivational systems that contribute to overeating.
Neurophysiological Pathways to Obesity: Below Awareness and Beyond Individual Control
Deborah A. Cohen
Diabetes, Vol. 57, July 2008 pages 1768-1773
“Could the increases in food availability, food salience, and the sophistication of modern marketing explain the obesity epidemic?” The article attempts to highlight the neurophysiological aspect of obesity, overeating, and control.
This is not a research article, it reviews “the interaction between food and environment and human neurophysiology to provide some initial evidence that, to a large extent, obesity is the consequence of automatic and largely uncontrollable response to an environment with excessive food availability and aggressive and unrelenting cues that cause people to eat too much.” What is the definition of impulsivity again? Ha. Good tie in to the media aspect. The article highlights ten possible neurophysiological pathways to overeating or obesity and has a handy chart. The pathways that most concern us are:
1) Psysiological reflexive response to food and images of food
6) mirror neurons that lead people to mimic the behavior of other humans often, without awareness
8) conditioned responses that result in desire for food when confronted with food-related cues
9) automatic responses to priming
10) limited cognitive capacity and self-regulatory control – goes to impulsivity when confronted with too much information
Prevention of obesity and eating disorders: a consideration of shared risk factors
Jess Haines and Dianne Neumark- Sztainer
Health Education Research Theory and Practice, Vol. 21 no. 6 2006 pages 770-82
September 8 2006
The article addresses shared risk factors of obesity and eating disorders. “The aim of this paper is to identify and explore the evidence for factors of potential relevance for obesity and eating disorders that could serve as focal points for integrated prevention interventions.”
Major findings – This is not a research article. It is a review of risk factors for obesity and eating disorders and focuses on shared risk factors. Risk factors explored are dieting, media, body dissatisfaction, and weight related teasing.
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I want to explore these articles further, plus the works they cited. After this group project I have to come up with my own research proposal so I will be learning a lot about obesity. I hope it will help me with my own struggles with weight.
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