1: Eat Weight Disord. 2006 Sep;11(3):126-32.
Decision-making in obesity: a study using the Gambling Task.
Pignatti R, Bertella L, Albani G, Mauro A, Molinari E, Semenza C.
Laboratory of Psychology, Istituto Auxologico Italiano IRCCS, Piancavallo (VB),
Italy. pignatti@virgilio.it
The present study addresses the issue of whether a “decision-making disorder”
could account for the behavioral problems of severely obese patients (BMI score
- who are not classified by traditional psychiatric Eating Disorder tests.
The neuropsychological test employed, the Gambling Task (GT), is not directly
related to the food domain, but it is sensitive to failure in making long-term
advantageous choices. A comparison was made of 20 obese subjects (OS) and 20
normal-weight subjects (NWS) matched in age, education and IQ. The subjects’
personalities and food behavior were assessed from psychological questionnaires,
and then the Gambling Task was administered. The number of “good” choices made
by the two groups during GT performance differed significantly, and the OS did
not learn to maximize advantageous choices like the NWS did. OS behavior could
be consistent with a prefrontal cortex defect that implies difficulties in
inhibition of excessive food intake.
2: Zhonghua Yu Fang Yi Xue Za Zhi. 1996 Mar;30(2):77-9.
[Harmfulness of obesity in children to their health]
[Article in Chinese]
Zhang H, Li Y.
Department of Child and Adolescent Health, Shandong Medical University, Ji’nan.
With the increase of obese children, harmfulness of obesity to their health was
studied to lay a basis for formulating corresponding intervention measures.
Blood sugar, intelligent quotient (IQ), thyroid function, cardiac and pulmonary
function, and index of gonad development were determined in 150 obese children
and 150 normal healthy children. Results showed baseline secretion of insulin
and C-polypeptide in obese children were significantly higher than that in
controls, and thyroid function, total IQ, speech IQ and operation IQ all were
relatively lower, cardiac and pulmonary function was significantly lower, and
gonad development and maturity took place earlier in the former than in those in
the latter. It indicated that there were a lot of risk factors harmful to their
health in obese children.
3: Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord. 1995 May;19(5):355-7.
A study of intelligence and personality in children with simple obesity.
Li X.
Department of Hygiene of Children and Adolescents, Nanjing Medical University,
Jiangsu, PRC.
The objective of this study was to investigate differences in measures of
intelligence and personality between obese and normal-weight children. The
Wechsler Intelligence Scale (IQ) for Children (revised) and the Eysenck
Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) were administered to 102 children with simple
obesity and their controls in a case-controlled design. The mean age of the
children was 9.8 years and they all attended primary school in Nanjing, PRC. It
was found that children in the severe obesity category (> 50% overweight) had a
significantly lower performance IQ score than the controls, and a significantly
higher EPQ psychoticism score. These differences were not observed in children
with milder degrees of obesity.
4: Int J Obes (Lond). 2006 Sep;30(9):1422-32. Epub 2006 Mar 7.
Childhood IQ in relation to obesity and weight gain in adult life: the National
Child Development (1958) Study.
Chandola T, Deary IJ, Blane D, Batty GD.
Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, London,
UK.
OBJECTIVE: To examine the relation of childhood intelligence (IQ) test results
with obesity in middle age and weight gain across the life course. METHODS: We
analysed data from the National Child Development (1958) Study, a prospective
cohort study of 17 414 births to parents residing in Great Britain in the late
1950s. Childhood IQ was measured at age 11 years and body mass index (BMI), an
indicator of adiposity, was assessed at 16, 23, 33 and 42 years of age. Logistic
regression (in which BMI was categorised into obese and non-obese) and
structural equation growth curve models (in which BMI was retained as a
continuous variable) were used to estimate the relation between childhood IQ and
adult obesity, and childhood IQ and weight gain, respectively. RESULTS: In
unadjusted analyses, lower childhood IQ scores were associated with an increased
prevalence of adult obesity at age 42 years. This relation was somewhat stronger
in women (OR(per SD decrease in IQ score) [95% CI]: 1.38 [1.26, 1.50]) than men
(1.26 [1.15, 1.38]). This association remains statistically significant after
adjusting for childhood characteristics, including socio-economic factors, but
was heavily attenuated following control for adult characteristics, particularly
education (women: 1.11 [0.99, 1.25]; men: 1.10 [0.98, 1.23]). When weight gain
between age 16 and 42 years was the outcome of interest, structural equation
modelling revealed that education and dietary characteristics in adult life
mediated the association with childhood IQ. CONCLUSIONS: A lower IQ score in
childhood is associated with obesity and weight gain in adulthood. In the
present study, this relation appears to be largely mediated via educational
attainment and the adoption of healthy diets in later life.