Eating perception and psychiatric morbidity in secondary school and medical students in Kelantan

A significant concern about body weight and shape is the pathognomonic feature of eating disorders. According to the cognitive view, ideation and belief component is the primary cause for the development and maintenance of eating disorders. Higher psychiatric morbidity and psychological stress increases the development of eating disorders. This study was conducted to examine whether there is a relationship between psychological stress and cognitive aspect of eating, and between secondary and tertiary students. A cross-sectional study was carried out to determine beliefs about weight and shape concerns among secondary and tertiary level students. A total of 1253 students consisting of 13-18 years old secondary school students and 19-24 years old medical students were involved in this study. The students completed a questionnaire assessing psychopathology on beliefs and attitudes towards weight and shape and General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-30). The results indicate a high prevalence of psychiatric morbidity among university students compared to secondary students. Year 1 medical students appear to have a higher frequency of psychiatric morbidity (53.9%) than year 4 medical students (28.4%). Eating beliefs relating to weight and shape were significantly higher in secondary school students than medical students. The results of multiple linear regression on the eating belief questionnaire were a significant predictor of psychiatric morbidity. Higher GHQ scores were negatively related to eating belief question 28 of bulimic component. It would be useful to conduct future studies to explore the possible causal factors for weight and shape concerns among secondary school students and higher psychiatric morbidity among medical students in Kelantan.

Effect of taking chicken essence on cognitive functioning of normal stressed human volunteers

This study evaluates the effect of a commercial brand of chicken essence (BEC) on the various parameters related to stress and cognition of human volunteers. BEC is produced by a hot-water extraction process from chicken meat under high pressure conditions. It contains concentrated amounts of proteins, amino acids and peptides such as carnosine compared to homemade traditional chicken soup. Due to the unique extraction process, it has been postulated that readily absorbed amino acids and bioactive peptides are present in BEC. In this study, we evaluated the effect of BEC in comparison with a placebo on a group of distressed medical students. Students were randomly divided into two groups and given either BEC or a placebo drink daily for two weeks. Before and after the two weeks, the students were given a series of tests to assess their level of cognitive functioning and perceived stress level while being monitored for EEG recording. The combination of these tests, namely Digit span, Arithmetic and Letter-number sequencing, generally assessed the student’s attention and working memory. The working memory performance of students who ingested essence of chicken was found to be significantly better than those who consumed placebo when data comparing baseline and after two weeks consumption were compared. This study seems to suggest that essence of chicken has positive effects on the subjects’ cognitive functions.