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 1.   New Scientific Study Indicates that Eating Quickly is Associated with Overeating
2.   Postmenopausal Women with Higher Testosterone Levels May Have Increased Health Risks
3.   New Patient Fact Sheet on Complementary and Alternative Medicine for Menopausal Symptoms Available

1. New Scientific Study Indicates that Eating Quickly is Associated with Overeating

According to a new study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM), eating a meal quickly, as compared to slowly, curtails the release of hormones in the gut that induce feelings of being full.  The decreased release of these hormones, can often lead to overeating.

“Most of us have heard that eating fast can lead to food overconsumption and obesity, and in fact some observational studies have supported this notion,” said Alexander Kokkinos, MD, PhD, of Laiko General Hospital in Athens Greece and lead author of the study. “Our study provides a possible explanation for the relationship between speed eating and overeating by showing that the rate at which someone eats may impact the release of gut hormones that signal the brain to stop eating.”

In the last few years, research regarding gut hormones, such as peptide YY (PYY) and glucagon-like peptide (GLP-1), has shown that their release after a meal acts on the brain and induces satiety and meal termination. Until now, concentrations of appetite-regulating hormones have not been examined in the context of different rates of eating.

In this study, subjects consumed the same test meal, 300ml of ice-cream, at different rates. Researchers took blood samples for the measurement of glucose, insulin, plasma lipids and gut hormones before the meal and at 30 minute intervals after the beginning of eating, until the end of the session, 210 minutes later. Researchers found that subjects who took the full 30 minutes to finish the ice cream had higher concentrations of PYY and GLP-1 and also tended to have a higher fullness rating.

“Our findings give some insight into an aspect of modern-day food overconsumption, namely the fact that many people, pressed by demanding working and living conditions, eat faster and in greater amounts than in the past,” said Kokkinos. “The warning we were given as children that ‘wolfing down your food will make you fat,’ may in fact have a physiological explanation.”

Other researchers working on the study include Kleopatra Alexiadou, Nicholas Tentolouris, Despoina Kyriaki, Despoina Perrea and Nicholas Katsilambros of Athens University Medical School in Greece; and Carel le Roux, Royce Vincent, Mohammad Ghatei and Stephen Bloom of Imperial College in London, United Kingdom.
 
The article, “Eating slowly increases the postprandial response of the anorexigenic gut hormone, Peptide YY and Glucagon like peptide-1,” will appear in the January 2010 issue of JCEM.

2.  Postmenopausal Women with Higher Testosterone Levels May Have Increased Health Risks

Postmenopausal women who have higher testosterone levels may be at greater risk of heart disease, insulin resistance and the metabolic syndrome compared to women with lower testosterone levels, according to a new study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM). This new information is an important step, say researchers, in understanding the role that hormones play in women’s health.

“For many years, androgens like testosterone were thought to play a significant role in men only and to be largely irrelevant in women,” said Anne Cappola, MD, of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia. “It is now largely accepted that premenopausal women with polycystic ovary syndrome, a condition in which androgens are elevated, have increased health risks. However, the clinical relevance of testosterone in women over the age of 65 had remained uncertain until this recent study.”

In this study, researchers measured levels of testosterone in 344 women, aged 65–98 years. They found that women with the highest testosterone levels — in the top 25 percent of this study group— were three times as likely to have coronary heart disease compared to women with lower testosterone levels. These women were also three times as likely to have a group of metabolic risk factors called the metabolic syndrome compared to women with lower testosterone levels.

The connection between higher levels of testosterone and these health risks may be explained by the researcher’s finding of a greater degree of insulin resistance in women with the highest testosterone levels. Insulin resistance is a metabolic disturbance in which the body does not use insulin efficiently and is itself a risk factor for the metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular disease.

“Because of the observational aspect of this study, we cannot discern if testosterone is a marker or mediator of cardiovascular disease in this population,” said Cappola. “Further studies are needed to determine if a causal relationship exists between testosterone and insulin resistance and to provide more insight into the role testosterone plays in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular disease in women.”

Other researchers working on the study include Shrita Patel, Sarah Ratcliffe, Muredach Reilly and Rachel Weinstein of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia; Shalender Bhasin of Boston University in Massachusetts; Marc Blackman of the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Washington, D.C.; Jane Cauley and Kim Sutton-Tyrrell of the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania; and Linda Fried of Columbia University in New York, N.Y.
 
The article, “Higher Testosterone Levels Are Associated with Insulin Resistance, Metabolic Syndrome, and Cardiovascular Disease in Older Women,” will appear in the December 2009 issue of JCEM.

3. New Patient Fact Sheet on Complementary and Alternative Medicine for Menopausal Symptoms Available

The Hormone Foundation has published a new bilingual (English/Spanish) patient fact sheet, Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) for Menopausal Symptoms. The fact sheet defines CAM and cautions readers that CAM treatments are not regulated or as thoroughly researched as conventional medicine. It includes a table outlining the scientific evidence on the effectiveness of botanical treatments, non-botanical supplements, and mind-body therapies, as well as their contraindications and possible side effects. For more information visit: www.hormone.org.

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Founded in 1916, The Endocrine Society is the world's oldest, largest, and most active organization devoted to research on hormones and the clinical practice of endocrinology. Today, The Endocrine Society's membership consists of over 14,000 scientists, physicians, educators, nurses and students in more than 80 countries. Together, these members represent all basic, applied, and clinical interests in endocrinology. The Endocrine Society is based in Chevy Chase, Md. To learn more about the Society, and the field of endocrinology, visit our web site at www.endo-society.org.