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Abused Children at Risk for Adult Obesity
Researchers from King’s College London estimate that the prevention or effective treatment of seven cases of child maltreatment could prevent one case of adult obesity.
Experts analyzed data from 190,285 individuals across 41 studies worldwide, and have published their results in the journal Molecular Psychiatry.
Severe childhood maltreatment (physical, sexual or emotional abuse or neglect) affects approximately 1 in 5 children (under 18) in the UK and in the US.
Officials say that in addition to the long-term mental health consequences of maltreatment, there is increasing evidence that child maltreatment may affect physical health.
Dr. Andrea Danese, child and adolescent psychiatrist from King’s College London’s Institute of Psychiatry and lead author of the study says: “We found that being maltreated as a child significantly increased the risk of obesity in adult life.
“Prevention of child maltreatment remains paramount and our findings highlight the serious long-term health effects of these experiences.”
Although experimental studies in animal models have previously suggested that early life stress is associated with an increased risk of obesity, evidence from population studies has been inconsistent.
Researchers believe the new meta review provides a comprehensive assessment of the evidence from all existing population studies.
From the analysis, the authors found that childhood maltreatment was associated with adult obesity.
This association was independent of the measures or definitions used for maltreatment or obesity, childhood or adult socioeconomic status, current smoking, alcohol intake, or physical activity.
Additionally, childhood maltreatment was not linked to obesity in children and adolescents, making it unlikely that the link was explained by reverse causality (i.e. children are maltreated because they were obese).
However, the analysis showed that when current depression was taken into account, the link between childhood maltreatment and adult obesity was no longer significant, suggesting that depression might help explain why some maltreated individuals become obese.
Previous studies offer possible biological explanations for this link.
Maltreated individuals may eat more because of the effects of early life stress on areas of the developing brain linked to inhibition of feeding, or on hormones regulating appetite.
Alternatively, maltreated individuals may burn fewer calories because of the effects of early life stress on the immune system leading to fatigue and reduced activity.
According to the study authors, future research will directly assess the link between maltreatment and adult obesity.
Source: King’s College London
Home-based Sensory Exercises Can Benefit Autistic Kids
The treatment, known as environmental enrichment, led to significant gains in behaviors among autistic boys between the ages of 3 and 12. Parents used everyday items such as scents, spoons and sponges to perform the sessions, said researchers from the University of California – Irvine.
Study co-authors Drs. Cynthia Woo and Michael Leon randomly assigned 28 boys to one of two groups, balanced for age and autism severity.
For half a year, all subjects participated in standard autism therapies, but those in one group also had daily sensory enrichment exercises.
Parents of these children were given a kit containing household products to increase environmental stimulation, including essential-oil fragrances such as apple, lavender, lemon and vanilla. The boys smelled four of these scents a day and listened to classical music each evening.
In addition, the parents conducted twice-daily sessions of four to seven exercises with their children involving different combinations of sensory stimuli — touch, temperature, sight and movement among them. Each session took 15 to 30 minutes to complete.
After six months of therapy, 42 percent of the children in the enrichment group showed significant improvement in behaviors commonly affected by autism — such as relating to people, having typical emotional responses and listening — compared with 7 percent in the standard-care group.
They also scored higher in cognitive function, whereas average scores for the boys in the standard-care group decreased. Moreover, 69 percent of parents in the enrichment group reported improvement, compared with 31 percent of parents in the standard-care group.
“Because parents can give their child sensory enrichment using items typically available in their home, this therapy provides a low-cost option for enhancing their child’s progress,” said Woo, an assistant project scientist in neurobiology and behavior.
Exposing children to enriched sensory experiences builds upon previous research in other laboratories in which animals exposed to such environments had a great reduction in the behavioral and cognitive symptoms associated with a wide range of neurological disorders, including those resembling autism.
The researchers noted that most current therapies for autism must be started at a very young age to be successful, while the average age in this study was six years, six months.
“We believe that sensory enrichment can be an effective therapy for the treatment of autism, particularly among children past the toddler stage,” said Leon, a professor of neurobiology and behavior affiliated with UC Irvine’s Center for Autism Research and Treatment.
“At the same time, we need to know whether we can optimize the treatment, whether there are subgroups of children for whom it’s more effective, whether the therapy works for older or younger children, and whether it can be effective on its own.”
He and Woo are now conducting a second, larger randomized clinical trial that includes girls.
“We’ve observed case studies in which the sensory enrichment therapy was used without any other therapy, and those children were clearly responsive to it,” Leon added.
“We hope this new treatment will benefit children with autism, their parents and society as a whole.”
Study results have been published online in the journal Behavioral Neuroscience.
Source: University of California–Irvine
Autism word collage photo by shutterstock.
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