A new systematic assessment of malnutrition, created by researchers at Penn State, will aid dietitians and other health care providers in diagnosis and treatment.
Up to 50 percent of patients in hospitals and nursing facilities are estimated to be malnourished, according to Gordon Jensen, professor and head of nutritional sciences, Penn State. Although malnutrition is widespread, confusion exists in the clinical community on how to best make this diagnose. Malnourished patients are frequently not identified as such, and those not affected are sometimes thought to be malnourished. (more)
A history of binge eating -- consuming large amounts of food in a short period of time -- may make an individual more likely to show other addiction-like behaviors, including substance abuse, according to Penn State College of Medicine researchers. In the short term, this finding may shed light on the factors that promote substance abuse, addiction, and relapse. In the long term, may help clinicians treat individuals suffering from this devastating disease. (more)
Leann Birch, distinguished professor of human development and family studies and professor of nutritional sciences at Penn State, and Penny Kris-Etherton, distinguished professor of nutrition at Penn State, have received awards from the American Society for Nutrition. (more)
A new book by Barbara Rolls, professor of nutritional sciences and Helen A. Guthrie Chair in Nutrition at Penn State, aims to help people control their hunger while also losing weight. "The Ultimate Volumetrics Diet" will be available in stores and online on April 10. "There is no magic way to get around the fact that to lose weight you must reduce the calories you consume to below the number you burn," Rolls said. "However, cutting calories doesn't have to leave you feeling hungry. You can carefully choose the foods you eat so that you feel full and satisfied on fewer calories." (more)
Preschool children consumed nearly twice as many vegetables and 11 percent fewer calories over the course of a day when researchers from Penn State added pureed vegetables to the children's favorite foods.
"Childhood obesity rates are on the rise, and at the same time children are not eating the recommended amount of vegetables," said Barbara Rolls, professor of nutritional sciences and holder of the Helen A. Guthrie chair in nutritional sciences in Penn State's College of Health and Human Development. "Vegetables have been shown to help lower calorie intake. The problem is getting kids to eat enough vegetables." (more)
Diets go in and out of style as fast the latest clothing trends, but how can we know which are the best? A panel of health experts, including Penny Kris-Etherton, distinguished professor of nutrition at Penn State, helped U.S. News and World Report create a diet ranking. The 22 experts reviewed information about 20 well-known diets, from Atkins to Zone, and rated each diet on specific measures such as effectiveness, safety and cost. Using the experts' ratings, U.S. News created the "Best Diet" rankings and released them today. "Obesity and overweight are serious problems in the United States," said Kris-Etherton. "Because of that many people want to lose weight, but there are a lot of diets out there. Our goal was to analyze the most common diets based on a variety of criteria so as to enable consumers to make informed decisions." (more)
Gordon L. Jensen, professor and head of the Department of Nutritional Sciences at Penn State, is the vice president-elect of the American Society for Nutrition (ASN). He will assume the post immediately and will transition through the roles of vice president and president before finishing his four-year tenure with the title of past president. (more)
Shannon Kelleher, assistant professor of nutritional science at Penn State, will present "Moving Zinc through the Mammary Gland: Where does it go, how does it get there, and why do we care?" from 11:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. on March 25, in room 127 of the Noll Laboratory on Penn State's University Park campus. The lecture is being presented as part of the Penn State Department of Kinesiology's Noll Seminar Series, and is free and open to the public. (more)
Two Penn State faculty members, Dr. Barbara Rolls and Dr. Leann Birch, are the recipients of awards from the Obesity Society. The faculty members received their awards at the Obesity 2010, the Obesity Society's annual scientific meeting, held October 8-12, 2010, in San Diego, California. (more)
For centuries, the brain has been the subject of countless philosophical and scientific debates. Recently, many discoveries and theories have cropped up around how the brain works, and those theories are helping us better understand the brain's role in health and behavior. Faculty members in the College of Health and Human Development are advancing several subfields of neuroscience research, looking at topics that include aggression, movement and iron deficiency. (more)
