Association of added sugar intake and caries-related experiences among individuals of Mexican origin.

OBJECTIVE: Determine the association between key dental outcomes and added sugar intake using a survey instrument to assess added sugars, which was specifically tailored to immigrant and US-born adults of Mexican origin. METHODS: Hispanic adults of Mexican origin (n = 326; 36.2 ± 12.1 years) completed a self-administered survey to gather acculturation, self-reported dental experiences and self-care practices (eg brushing, flossing, pain, bleeding gums), and socio-demographic information. The survey included a culturally tailored 22-item Added Sugar Intake Estimate (ASIE) that assessed added sugar intake from processed foods and sugar-sweetened beverages in a semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire format. Linear regression, 2-sample t test, and ANOVA were used to evaluate associations of demographic and dental outcomes with daily added sugar intake. RESULTS: Of the mean total daily added sugar intake (99.6 ± 94.6 g), 36.5 ± 44.4 g was derived from sugar-containing foods and snacks, and 63.1 ± 68.2 g from beverages. Participants who reported greater added sugar intake were more likely to have reported the presence of a toothache in the preceding 12 months, having been prescribed antibiotics for dental reasons, being less likely to floss daily, have reported eating or drinking within 1 hour before bed and have lower psychological acculturation (P < .05 for all). Results were comparable when assessing intake from sugar-containing foods/snacks and sugar-sweetened beverages. CONCLUSIONS: This study confirmed the association between added sugar intake and self-reported dental outcomes among adults of Mexican origin and points to an urgent need to improve dietary behaviours in this population.

Impact of sleep, screen time, depression and stress on weight change in the intensive weight loss phase of the LIFE study.

BACKGROUND: The LIFE study is a two-phase randomized clinical trial comparing two approaches to maintaining weight loss following guided weight loss. Phase I provided a nonrandomized intensive 6-month behavioral weight loss intervention to 472 obese (body mass index 30-50) adult participants. Phase II is the randomized weight loss maintenance portion of the study. This paper focuses on Phase I measures of sleep, screen time, depression and stress. METHODS: The Phase I intervention consisted of 22 group sessions led over 26 weeks by behavioral counselors. Recommendations included reducing dietary intake by 500 calories per day, adopting the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) dietary pattern and increasing physical exercise to at least 180 min per week. Measures reported here are sleep time, insomnia, screen time, depression and stress at entry and post-weight loss intervention follow-up. RESULTS: The mean weight loss for all participants over the intensive Phase I weight loss intervention was 6.3 kg (s.d. 7.1). Sixty percent (N=285) of participants lost at least 4.5 kg (10 lbs) and were randomized into Phase II. Participants (N=472) attended a mean of 73.1% (s.d. 26.7) of sessions, completed 5.1 (s.d. 1.9) daily food records/week, and reported 195.1 min (s.d. 123.1) of exercise per week. Using logistic regression, sleep time (quadratic trend, P=0.030) and lower stress (P=0.024) at entry predicted success in the weight loss program, and lower stress predicted greater weight loss during Phase I (P=0.021). In addition, weight loss was significantly correlated with declines in stress (P=0.048) and depression (P=0.035). CONCLUSION: Results suggest that clinicians and investigators might consider targeting sleep, depression and stress as part of a behavioral weight loss intervention.

A psychological profile of depressed and nondepressed women at high risk for breast cancer.

This study examines the difference on several demographic and psychosocial variables between women at high risk for breast cancer above and below the cut-off point of a depression measure (Center for Epidemiological Study Depression Scale). Data are presented for 430 consecutive patients from the UCLA Revlon Breast Center High Risk Clinic. Women scoring above the depression cut-off point were younger, had more relatives with breast cancer, reported more symptoms of anxiety, and had more self-perceived vulnerability to breast cancer. In addition, women above the depression cut-off point were more likely to be single, childless, to have not viewed the results of the surgical treatment of their relative, and to feel more anxiety regarding screening practices (mammography, pap smears, and breast self-examinations).

Anxiety and compliance among women at high risk for breast cancer.

The aim of this study was to investigate the association between symptoms of depression and general anxiety, patient's feelings of vulnerability to cancer, the anxiety experienced specifically in relation to various cancer-screeningprocedures, and compliance with these procedures among women atfamilial risk for breast cancer The data were obtained from 430 patients from the High Risk Clinic at the UCLA Revlon Breast Center who completed the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and answered questions about their perceived vulnerability to breast cancer; the anxiety they experienced regarding undergoing pap smear tests, mammograms, and breast self-examinations (BSEs); and their compliance with these cancer-screening procedures. Correlations were used to estimate the association between feelings of anxiety and compliance. We found that women attending programs targeting those at familial risk for breast cancer suffer from significant symptoms of general anxiety. General anxiety was found to be related to anxiety regarding specific screening practices but not to women's perceived vulnerability to cancer In general, neither general nor screening-specific anxiety were found to be related to patients 'compliance with screening practices; however, significant associations were found between patient's feelings of anxiety regarding BSEs and their actual performing them. BSE appears to be the only procedure for which compliance is negatively associated with procedure-specific anxiety. We offer possible explanations for this relation and discuss the possible psychological impact that recommendations regarding BSEs may have on highly anxious at-risk women.