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Behavioral activation is an empirically supported treatment for depression, but much is unknown about factors associated with treatment response. The present study aimed to determine whether baseline levels and subsequent changes in psychosocial factors were associated with improvement in depression in women with comorbid obesity who received behavioral activation treatment for depression and a lifestyle intervention. Multilevel modeling was used to estimate the associations between psychosocial factors and change in depression scores during the first 10 weeks of treatment and associations between changes in psychosocial factors from baseline to 6-month follow-up and change in depression over the same time period. No baseline psychosocial factors were associated with depression improvement during treatment (p = 0.110-0.613). However, greater improvement in hedonic capacity (p = 0.001), environmental reward (p = 0.004), and social impairment (p = 0.012) were associated with greater reductions in depression over 6 months. Findings highlight the differential relationship specific psychosocial factors have with depression treatment outcomes.

Weight management through the childbearing years is important, yet few women have access to efficacious weight loss programs. Online social network-delivered programs may increase reach and thus impact. The aim of this study was to gauge interest in a Twitter-based weight loss intervention among women of childbearing age and the feasibility of recruitment via Twitter. We recruited English-speaking women aged 18-45 years (N = 63) from Twitter to complete an anonymous online survey including open-ended questions about program advantages and concerns. Forty percent of participants were obese and 83 % were trying to lose weight. Eighty-one percent were interested in a Twitter-delivered weight loss program. Interest was high in all subgroups (62-100 %). Participants (59 %) cited program advantages, including convenience, support/accountability, and privacy. Concerns (59 %) included questions about privacy, support/accountability, engagement, efficacy, and technology barriers. Research is needed to develop and evaluate social media-delivered interventions, and to develop methods for recruiting participants directly from Twitter.

Objective: Some adults with comorbid depression and obesity respond well to lifestyle interventions while others have poor outcomes. The objective of this study was to evaluate whether early-treatment weight loss progress predicts clinically significant 6-month weight loss among women with obesity and depression., Methods: We conducted a secondary analysis of data from 75 women with obesity and depression who received a standard lifestyle intervention. Relative risks (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for achieving ≥5% weight loss by 6 months were calculated based on whether they achieved ≥1 lb/week weight loss in weeks 2-8. Among those on target at week 3, we examined potential subsequent time points at which weight loss progress might identify additional individuals at risk for treatment failure., Results: At week 2, women who averaged ≥1 lb/week loss were twice as likely to achieve 5% weight loss by 6 months than those who did not (RR=2.40; 95% CI: 2.32-4.29); weight loss at weeks 3-8 was similarly predictive (RRs=2.02-3.20). Examining weight loss progress at week 3 and subsequently at a time point during weeks 4-8, 52-67% of participants were not on target with their weight loss, and those on target were 2-3 times as likely to achieve 5% weight loss by 6 months (RRs=1.82-2.92)., Conclusion: Weight loss progress as early as week 2 of treatment predicts weight loss outcomes for women with comorbid obesity and depression, which supports the feasibility of developing stepped care interventions that adjust treatment intensity based on early progress in this population., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

An elevation in symptoms of depression has previously been associated with greater accuracy of reported dietary intake, however this association has not been investigated among individuals with a diagnosis of major depressive disorder. The purpose of this study was to investigate reporting accuracy of dietary intake among a group of women with major depressive disorder in order to determine if reporting accuracy is similarly associated with depressive symptoms among depressed women. Reporting accuracy of dietary intake was calculated based on three 24-hour phone-delivered dietary recalls from the baseline phase of a randomized trial of weight loss treatment for 161 obese women with major depressive disorder. Regression models indicated that higher severity of depressive symptoms was associated with greater reporting accuracy, even when controlling for other factors traditionally associated with reporting accuracy (coefficient  =  0.01 95% CI = 0.01 - 0.02). Seventeen percent of the sample was classified as low energy reporters. Reporting accuracy of dietary intake increases along with depressive symptoms, even among individuals with major depressive disorder. These results suggest that any study investigating associations between diet quality and depression should also include an index of reporting accuracy of dietary intake as accuracy varies with the severity of depressive symptoms.

Objective: Obesity and depression are associated with somatic complaints that may complicate the measurement of depression in obese individuals. The Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) and the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD) are frequently used to measure depression severity. The BDI-II and HRSD's ability to measure depression severity may be compromised in those with obesity, to the extent that scores on their somatic items stem more from obesity than from depression. This study examined the: 1) internal consistency of the BDI-II and HRSD among obese women who varied in depressive symptomatology and 2) total and item-level change in the measures among participants who met the criteria for depression remission at 6-months., Methods: Data were from a randomized controlled trial of obese women with depression who received either behavioral activation for depression followed by a lifestyle intervention or a lifestyle intervention with attention control., Results: At screening (n=355), internal consistency was strong for the BDI-II (α=0.89), but moderate for the HRSD (α=0.67). Among the participants who met the criteria for depression remission following treatment (n=115), every BDI-II item showed significant change at 6-months. In contrast, three HRSD items did not significantly change: the anxiety-somatic (p=0.063), somatic symptoms-gastrointestinal (p=1.000) and loss of weight (p=0.319) items., Conclusion: The BDI-II may be more reliable and sensitive to change than the HRSD in obese women with comorbid depression. Intervention studies involving obese, depressed women should consider these findings in selecting depression outcome measures., (© 2013.)

Caloric beverages may promote obesity by yielding energy without producing satiety, but prior laboratory and intervention studies are inconclusive. This study examined whether the diets of free-living overweight and obese women show evidence that calories from beverages are offset by reductions in solid food within individual eating occasions and across entire days. Eighty-two women weighed and recorded all consumed foods and beverages for seven days. Beverages were coded as high-calorie (≥ 0.165 kcal/g) or low-calorie (<0.165 kcal/g), and total energy intake and energy intake from solid food were calculated for each eating occasion and day. In covariate-adjusted models, energy intake from solid food did not differ between eating occasions that included high-calorie or low-calorie beverages and those with no reported beverage. Energy intake from solid food was also unrelated to the number of high-calorie or low-calorie beverages consumed per day. On average, eating occasions that included a high-calorie beverage were 169 kcal higher in total energy than those with no reported beverage, and 195 kcal higher in total energy than those that included a low-calorie beverage. Each high-calorie beverage consumed per day contributed an additional 147 kcal to women's daily energy intake, whereas low-calorie beverage intake was unrelated to daily energy intake. Beverages contributed to total energy intake in a near-additive fashion among free-living overweight and obese women, suggesting a need to develop more effective interventions to reduce caloric beverage intake in the context of weight management, and to potentially reexamine dietary guidelines., (© 2013.)

Objective: Although behavioral weight loss interventions generally have been shown to improve depressive symptoms, little is known as to whether some people with major depressive disorder experience worsening of depression during a weight loss intervention., Design and Methods: Rates and predictors of change in depression symptoms among 148 obese women with major depressive disorder who participated in a trial comparing depression treatment plus behavioral weight loss treatment (Behavioral Activation; BA) to behavioral weight loss treatment alone (Lifestyle Intervention; LI) were examined. a statistically reliable change in depression was calculated as ≥9 points on the beck depression inventory in this sample., Results: At 6 months, 73% of participants in BA and 54% of participants in LI showed reliable improvement in depression symptoms and 1.5% of participants in BA and 1.3% of participants in LI showed reliable worsening in depression symptoms. Rates of reliable change were similar at 12 months. Participants who experienced reliable improvement in depression lost significantly more weight than those who did not in both conditions. In the LI condition, baseline psychiatric variables and change in physical activity during treatment were also related to reliable improvement in depression., Conclusion: No evidence for an iatrogenic effect of behavioral weight loss treatment on depressive symptoms among obese women with major depressive disorder was detected; rather, behavioral weight loss treatment appears to be associated with significant concurrent improvement in depression. Even greater rates of reliable improvement were observed when depression treatment was added to weight loss treatment., (Copyright © 2013 The Obesity Society.)

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is prevalent in clinical weight-loss settings and predicts poor weight-loss outcomes. It is unknown whether the severity of depressive symptoms among those with MDD is associated with diet quality or physical activity levels. This knowledge is important for improving weight-loss treatment for these patients. It was hypothesized that more severe depression is associated with poorer diet quality and lower physical activity levels among individuals with obesity and MDD. Participants were 161 women with current MDD and obesity enrolled in the baseline phase of a weight-loss trial between 2007 and 2010. Depression severity was measured with the Beck Depression Inventory II. The Alternate Healthy Eating Index was applied to data from three 24-hour diet recalls to capture overall diet quality. Daily metabolic equivalents expended per day were calculated from three 24-hour physical activity recalls. Greater depression severity was associated with poorer overall diet quality (estimate=-0.26, standard error 0.11; P=0.02), but not with physical activity (estimate=0.07, standard error 0.05; P=0.18), in linear regression models controlling for income, education, depression-related appetite change, binge eating disorder, and other potential confounds. Associations with diet quality were primarily driven by greater intake of sugar (r=0.20; P<0.01), saturated fat (r=0.21; P<0.01), and sodium (r=0.22; P<0.01). More severe depression was associated with poorer overall diet quality, but not physical activity, among treatment-seeking women with MDD and obesity. Future studies should identify mechanisms linking depression to diet quality and determine whether diet quality improves with depression treatment., (Copyright © 2012 Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Recent studies suggest a possible link between post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and obesity risk, which would have implications for the development of obesity-related diseases in this population. The present study examined the association between PTSD and obesity and whether this association differed by sex in a representative sample of the US population. A secondary objective was to determine whether the association between PTSD and obesity was mediated by binge eating disorder (BED). Data were from the Collaborative Psychiatric Epidemiology Surveys (CPES), which comprises three nationally representative cross-sectional surveys that were conducted between 2001 and 2003. Logistic regression analyses weighted to represent the general US adult population were performed. In the total sample of 20,013 participants, rates of obesity were 24.1% for persons without a lifetime history of PTSD and 32.6% among persons with PTSD in the past year. Adjusting for socio-demographic characteristics, depression, substance and alcohol abuse/dependence, and psychotropic medication status, past year PTSD was associated with greater likelihood of obesity (odds ratio (OR) = 1.51; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.18, 1.95), with no differences by gender. BED did not statistically mediate the relationship between PTSD and obesity. The present study provides support for a link between PTSD and obesity. Findings further existing literature by indicating that the association is consistent across sexes and is not statistically mediated by BED.

Overeating is believed to result when the appetitive motivation to consume palatable food exceeds an individual's capacity for inhibitory control of eating. This hypothesis was supported in recent studies involving predominantly normal weight women, but has not been tested in obese populations. The current study tested the interaction between food reward sensitivity and inhibitory control in predicting palatable food intake among energy-replete overweight and obese women (N = 62). Sensitivity to palatable food reward was measured with the Power of Food Scale. Inhibitory control was assessed with a computerized choice task that captures the tendency to discount large delayed rewards relative to smaller immediate rewards. Participants completed an eating in the absence of hunger protocol in which homeostatic energy needs were eliminated with a bland preload of plain oatmeal, followed by a bogus laboratory taste test of palatable and bland snacks. The interaction between food reward sensitivity and inhibitory control was a significant predictor of palatable food intake in regression analyses controlling for BMI and the amount of preload consumed. Probing this interaction indicated that higher food reward sensitivity predicted greater palatable food intake at low levels of inhibitory control, but was not associated with intake at high levels of inhibitory control. As expected, no associations were found in a similar regression analysis predicting intake of bland foods. Findings support a neurobehavioral model of eating behavior in which sensitivity to palatable food reward drives overeating only when accompanied by insufficient inhibitory control. Strengthening inhibitory control could enhance weight management programs.

Emotional eating appears to contribute to weight gain, but the characteristics that make one vulnerable to emotional eating remain unclear. The present study examined whether two negative affect response styles, rumination and distraction, influenced palatable food intake following an anger mood induction in normal weight and obese adults. We hypothesized that higher rumination and lower distraction would be associated with greater vulnerability to anger-induced eating, particularly among obese individuals. Sixty-one participants (74% female, mean age=34.6) underwent neutral and anger mood inductions in counterbalanced order. Directly following each mood induction, participants were provided with 2400 kcal of highly palatable snack foods in the context of a laboratory taste test. Results revealed that distraction influenced energy intake following the mood induction for obese but not normal weight individuals. Obese participants who reported greater use of distraction strategies consumed fewer calories than those reporting less use of distraction strategies. These findings were independent of subjective hunger levels, individual differences in mood responses and trait anger, and other factors. Rumination did not account for changes in energy intake among obese or normal weight participants. Among obese individuals, the tendency to utilize fewer negative affect distraction strategies appears to be associated with vulnerability to eating in response to anger. Future research should determine whether coping skills training can reduce emotional eating tendencies., (Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The present study examined whether trait anxiety and trait anger are associated with vulnerability to emotional eating, particularly among obese individuals. Lean (n = 37) and obese (n = 24) participants engaged in a laboratory study where they completed measures of trait anxiety and trait anger at screening and then completed 3 counterbalanced experimental sessions involving different mood inductions (neutral, anxiety, anger). Following each mood induction, participants were provided with snack foods in a sham taste test. Models predicting snack intake revealed a significant trait anxiety×body mass index group interaction, such that high trait anxiety was positively associated with food intake for obese individuals, but not their lean counterparts. Contrary to the hypothesis, trait anger was not associated with food intake for obese or lean participants. Results suggest that trait anxiety may be a risk factor for emotional eating among obese individuals., (Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Internalized weight bias (IWB) represents an important treatment target given strong associations with poor psychological and physical health. We examined the feasibility and potential impacts of a 3-session self-compassion intervention (SCI) for a sample of women with overweight/obesity and IWB (N = 15). Of this group, 66.7% completed 3/3 sessions (n = 10), 20% completed 2/3 sessions (n = 3), and there was a 13.3% (n = 2) attrition rate. All participants who completed the intervention and program evaluation form (n = 13) found the program beneficial and would recommend it to other women, supporting its acceptability. Secondarily, we explored short-term impacts of the SCI on self-compassion, IWB, and related variables, such as body image and eating behavior based on pre- and post-intervention surveys (complete-case analysis, n = 13). There were large effect sizes for intuitive eating (d = 1.02) and body appreciation (d = 0.80), medium effect sizes for uncontrolled eating (d = 0.49) and emotional eating (d = 0.46), a small effect size for self-compassion (d = 0.28), and no effects for IWB (d = 0.06) or body image shame (d = 0.09). Results suggest that brief self-compassion training may be feasible and potentially beneficial for this population and warrants additional intervention development and testing with rigorous study designs. Improvements to future intervention studies will be discussed given current findings. • Internalized Weight Bias may increase the risk for poor health outcomes in those with obesity. • The feasibility and potential impacts of a brief self-compassion program were examined for women with obesity and IWB. • Results suggest that the intervention was feasible, acceptable, and potentially beneficial for this population. • Implications for future intervention studies will be discussed given findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A shift from home-prepared to away-from-home and ready-to-eat foods has occurred in recent decades, which has implications for obesity and health. This study tested whether delay discounting, a facet of impulsivity reflecting sensitivity to immediate reward, is associated with the frequency of consumption and typical amount consumed of home-prepared, away-from-home, and ready-to-eat foods among overweight and obese women. Seventy-eight participants completed a binary choice task assessing discounting of delayed monetary rewards. Nutrient analysis of weighed food records characterized dietary intake over seven consecutive days. Foods were categorized as home-prepared, away-from-home, or ready-to-eat by a registered dietitian from information provided by participants. Delay discounting was not associated with the frequency of consuming home-prepared, away-from-home, and ready-to-eat foods as reflected in the percentages of recorded foods or total energy intake from each category. However, once consuming away-from-home and ready-to-eat foods (but not home-prepared foods), impulsive women consumed more energy than less impulsive women. Exploratory analyses indicated that more impulsive women chose away-from-home foods with a higher energy density (kcal/g). Impulsivity was associated with the quantity of away-from-home and ready-to-eat foods consumed, but not the frequency of their consumption. Home food preparation may be critical to weight control for impulsive individuals. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: We assessed the validity of the emotional eating scale (EES) by examining whether the EES predicted food intake following two negative mood inductions. Participants underwent mood inductions for anxiety, anger and neutral mood, then received snack foods in a sham palatability test. EES anxiety, but not anger, predicted intake. Participants high on EES anxiety consumed more snacks during the anxiety mood induction, whereas participants low on EES anxiety consumed less snacks. Results suggest that EES anxiety is a predictor of anxiety-driven eating and may be used to assess emotional eating when direct observation of intake is not possible. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]