UO E-clips, Oct. 17

Researchers link lack of pleasure in eating to future obesity risk (Register-Guard): For most of us, eating is a feel-good activity. But for some of us, it just doesn't feel good enough. And, according to a new study by a research team based in Eugene, people whose brains don't generate as much of that feel-good reaction to food will overeat to get it, setting off changes that tempt them to overeat even more and increase their risk of obesity. The study also found that those with a specific genetic variation have an even higher risk of packing on too many pounds. Eric Stice, a researcher with the Oregon Research Institute with a courtesy appointment at the University of Oregon, discovered the connection by looking at the brains of young women while they were indulging in a tasty treat -- in this case, a chocolate milkshake. He was able to see how the brain reacted using the magnetic resonance imaging machine in the UO's Lewis Center for Neuroimaging.

Oregon brain study: To obese person, milkshake is not so rewarding as addictive (The Oregonian): Few foods stir brain cells like the chocolate milkshake. "It's the cocaine of food," says Eric Stice, a senior scientist at Oregon Research Institute in Eugene. "It's really good at firing up reward circuitry." ... Here's where chocolate milkshakes enter the picture. Stice and colleagues at the University of Oregon and two other centers wanted to compare how the brain's reward center responds to pleasing foods in obese and lean individuals. They needed something delicious that people could eat with a minimum of jaw movement to avoid blurring the brain scans. Volunteers, ranging in age from 14 to 22, were all female because the researchers recruited them from an ongoing study on eating disorders.

People are fat 'because they don't enjoy eating' (The Independent of the UK, New Zealand Herald, similar stories appear in a number of other publications): The mystery of why some people stay slim while others get fat may be partly explained by differences between the way individuals' brains measure the pleasure of eating. ... "Although recent findings suggested that obese individuals may experience less pleasure when eating, and therefore eat more to compensate, this is the first prospective evidence for this relationship," said Eric Stice of the University of Oregon in Eugene.

Obese feel less pleasure to eat (Ciencia Hoje, Brazil): Less activation of the reward circuitry of the brain could motivate greater intake of food, reports Ciencia Hoje, a Brazilian non-profit science magazine (original article in Portuguese): Obese eat more to compensate for the smaller pleasure they feel when they eat. That is what concludes a U.S. study published in Science this week. The explanation, according to researchers, the amount released is a neurotransmitter - the dopamine - which influences the degree of pleasure brought by food intake. People with fewer receptors for dopamine in the brain need more food to get the same feeling of pleasure, making them more prone to gain weight. The researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging to observe the extent of brain activation area in which there is the release of dopamine in the consumption of food - the dorsal striatum. This activation was measured in response to the ingestion of a milk-chocolate shake and a solution much less tasty, with taste similar to saliva. "Our study offers evidence that abnormal responses in brain regions linked to reward increases the risk of future weight gain," says Eric Stice, a researcher at the Oregon Research Institute (he holds faculty appointments at the University of Oregon and the University of Texas at Austin). "People obese have a lower wage than to eat lean individuals. This probably makes them eat more than is necessary to offset the deficit. "

Brain's reaction to yummy food may predict weigh (Associated Press): Drink a milkshake and the pleasure center in your brain gets a hit of happy — unless you're overweight. It sounds counterintuitive. But scientists who watched young women savor milkshakes inside a brain scanner concluded that when the brain doesn't sense enough gratification from food, people may overeat to compensate. The small but first-of-a-kind study even could predict who would pile on pounds during the next year: Those who harbored a gene that made their brain's yum factor even more sluggish. "The more blunted your response to the milkshake taste, the more likely you are to gain weight," said Dr. Eric Stice, a senior scientist at the Oregon Research Institute (and courtesy professor at the UO) who led the work, published in Friday's edition of the journal Science.

Experts question benefit of school time-out rooms (Associated Press): After failing to finish a reading assignment, 8-year-old Isabel Loeffler was sent to the school's time-out room -- a converted storage area under a staircase -- where she was left alone for three hours. The autistic Iowa girl wet herself before she was finally allowed to leave. Appalled, her parents removed her from the school district and filed a lawsuit. Some educators say time-out rooms are being used with increased frequency to discipline children with behavioral disorders. And the time outs are probably doing more harm than good, they add. "It really is a form of abuse," said Ken Merrell, head of the Department for Special Education and Clinical Sciences at the University of Oregon. "It's going to do nothing to change the behavior. You're using it as an isolation booth."

Nudging ventured, nudging gained (Evening News and Tribune, Indiana): A tremendous amount of effort is expended trying to get people to do things that are good for them. Many of us, however, lack the know-how or discipline when it comes to dealing effectively with challenges such as our health, finances, and the environment. ... Nudging is also prominent in today's political arena. According to University of Oregon economist Mark A. Thoma, Democratic candidate Barack Obama and Britain's Conservative party leader, have both shown considerable interest in the use of nudging as a means to address social issues. Without penalties, mandates, or bans, nudging techniques are governmental interventions that are usually much more palatable to voters.

Advertising feature: Catalyst for change (New Scientist): Once seen as a soft sub-discipline, green chemistry has gone main stream. Last year, for example, GE invested $1bn in cleaner technology R&D and plans to spend a further $1.5bn on eco-friendly R&D by 2010. "Everyone is looking for these kinds of technologies and the people who can help them achieve these goals," says Sally Gutierrez, director of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) National Risk Management Research Laboratory, which hosts a green chemistry research group. ... For academic training, Collins cites Yale University, the University of Oregon and, naturally, Carnegie Mellon as the country's top green chemistry programs. Julie Haack, who teaches green chemistry at the University of Oregon, says that students with experience in the field have an advantage in the job market. "The principles of green chemistry tend to drive innovation," she says. "People have a nice synergy between what they do and their principles, and I think they are better employees."

How Engaged Are American Consumers in Their Health and Health Care? (ParmaLive.com): The level of patient activation -- a person's ability to manage their health and health care -- varies considerably in the U.S. population, with less than half of adults (41.4%) at the highest level, according to a national study released today by the Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC). ... "Previous research shows that patient activation levels are linked to important outcomes, such as seeking care, seeking information and health behaviors, and because activation is changeable, it is a potentially important lever for change in the health care system," said Judith Hibbard, Dr. P.H., of the University of Oregon, coauthor of the study with HSC Senior Fellow Peter J. Cunningham, Ph.D.

Prepared Patient: Do Hospital Report Cards Make the Grade? (HULIQ.com): Hospital report cards have been hyped as a valuable source of information for savvy hospital shoppers. But the information in them can be out of date, hard to interpret, and aimed more at the hospitals themselves than at patients. And for many patients, "choosing" a hospital just isn't an option -- no matter what the report card says. ... "Most of these reports did not have the patient or consumer as the primary audience in mind when they were designed," says Judy Hibbard, D.Ph., of the University of Oregon. She studies how consumers use health information.