Research briefs

Size matters in food orders

Verbal size descriptors can prompt people to order a larger meal size online, according to new research from Flinders University

Having an XL (extra-large) option proved influential in determining a person’s choice for a larger order – although surprising restraint was shown by diners who admitted they were following dietary regimes.

Study recipients were all female students, some following diets (restrained eaters) and some unrestrained. They were asked to select a side dish, drink, and dessert from one of three online menus with varying portion size options: SRL (small, regular and large), RLXL (regular, large, and extra-large) or SRLXL (small, regular, large, and extra-large).

Participants most frequently selected the ‘regular’ size for sides and drinks, or a small size for desserts. However, when an XL size was available, the ‘unrestrained’ eaters were more likely than ‘restrained’ eaters to select a Large or XL side dish.

The findings support an overall preference for a normal-sounding portion size. Professor Kemps says it would therefore be a useful strategy to reduce excessive calorie intake by also reducing the size of regular serving portions to an amount closer to current health guidelines.

‘These findings suggest that people may perceive a “normal” portion size based on the reference point option (calling it “regular”), rather than the middle available size option and thus select accordingly,’ she says.

Alzheimer’s treatment trialled

A pioneering treatment for Alzheimer’s disease, developed at the University of Queensland, is being tested in a safety trial underway in Brisbane.

The safety trial – with a limit of 12 participants – is the culmination of a decade of ongoing research led by Professor Jürgen Götz at UQ’s Queensland Brain Institute (QBI).

Professor Götz said the study was an important step to determine whether the ultrasound could be safely delivered, following pioneering discoveries about its potential use to improve memory function.

The 12-month trial treats an area at the back of the brain that is affected early in the course of Alzheimer’s disease.

Each participant receives four treatments which will be administered fortnightly, and after completing the course, they’ll have an MRI scan of the brain and a repeat cognitive test.

Information about the clinical trial is available at the Scanning Ultrasound Study website

Baby sleep interventions ‘safe’

They may seem like hell at the time for parents but interventions such as controlled crying have been demonstrated to help infants (and their parents) get a good night’s sleep, says Flinders University infant sleep expert Dr Michael Kahn.

A study of more than 2000 US parents of babies aged three to 18 months highlights the benefits and safety of behavioural sleep interventions (BSIs) – as difficult they might seem to implement.

The study found that implementing unmodified (cry it out) and modified extinction (controlled crying) interventions are effective in decreasing paediatric insomnia symptoms.

‘Our study provides further evidence for the safety of these interventions by demonstrating that parents who had and had not used them did not differ in measures of parent-infant bonding, parent depression, or parent sleep.’

‘Many parents may want to try these interventions but are reluctant given non-based claims that they are unsafe,’ Dr Kahn says.

‘Parents and clinicians should thus be aware of the range of safe evidence-based treatments available to ameliorate infant sleep problems, which could considerably improve parents’ health and wellbeing.’

Placenta study aims to reduce infertility

A study of the interactions between the early placenta cells and the mother’s uterus led by the University of Adelaide aims to help reduce infertility and pregnancy complications.

Chief Lead investigator, Professor Jose Polo, Director of the Adelaide Centre for Epigenetics at the University of Adelaide, says the project will focus on how the different placental cell types develop from embryo implantation to the first few weeks of development that occur before a woman is aware she is pregnant.

It will also identify important developmental check points in placenta cell development that lead to common pregnancy complications when they go wrong.

Researchers have known that pregnancy complications have their origins in the first days and weeks of pregnancy but needed a cellular and molecular toolkit to dive deep into the issue.

The five-year project is titled, ‘Using complex models of human trophoblast to study placental biology and disease’.

At-home tests could reduce colonoscopies

A new study has found there is a low risk of advanced bowel tumours following multiple negative home faecal immunochemical tests.

Lead author Dr Molla Wassie, an NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow in the Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute, says the research shows the faecal immunochemical tests could help identify those who could extend their colonoscopy surveillance intervals.

“Due to the risks, costs and burden on the health care system from surveillance colonoscopies for bowel cancer, there is a need to explore how we can further personalise screening intervals,” she says.

The team conducted a retrospective study of more than 3,300 individuals who had had no bowel cancer found at their previous colonoscopy and had been recommended to have another in three to five years, while also being sent a faecal immunochemical test annually.

‘We found the risk of the follow-up colonoscopy identifying advanced neoplastic lesions including cancer following a negative FIT was around 1 in 10, with this risk decreasing further with every subsequent negative result, with the risk only 5.7 percent after four negative tests,’ says Dr Wassie.

‘Our study supports the introduction of annual at home faecal immunochemical tests to be incorporated into surveillance programs.’

Screening increases walking chances

Children with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) are more likely to walk, be more functionally independent and free of respiratory and feeding support when screened, diagnosed and treated shortly after birth, according to a new study conducted at Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network (SCHN) by UNSW Sydney researchers.

The findings show newborn bloodspot screening (NBS) for SMA, coupled with potential to access disease-modifying therapies, is correlated with greater motor milestone acquisition - those diagnosed before the onset of symptoms reach regular childhood developmental milestones.

The study, published in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, is one of the first to investigate the effectiveness of NBS for SMA beyond clinical trial populations. SMA is a potentially fatal genetic condition caused by a missing or faulty SMN1 gene and it is usually diagnosed after symptoms appear – by which point many children irreversibly lost up to 90% of their motor nerves.