Binge drinking and overweight in brazilian adults - CUME Project

ABSTRACT Objective: To verify the association between heavy episodic alcohol consumption [binge drinking (BD)] and overweight in 2,909 adults from the Cohort of Universities of Minas Gerais (CUME Project) baseline, Brazil. Method: Cross-sectional study in which sociodemographic, anthropometric (BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2 = overweight) and dietary intake data were collected. This study evaluated the occurrence and monthly frequency of BD (≥ 4 drinks at one time for women; ≥ 5 drinks at one time for men, in the last 30 days). Results: The prevalence of BD and overweight were 41.3% and 40.8%, respectively. BD increased the prevalence of overweight by 19%, and, BD exposure by ≥ 5 days / month increased it by 31%. Conclusion: BD on a single or multiple occasion during the month was associated with a higher prevalence of overweight. Therefore, such a lifestyle should be considered in weight gain prevention strategies.

Physical Self-Concept Changes in a Selective Sport High School: A Longitudinal Cohort-Sequence Analysis of the Big-Fish-Little-Pond Effect

Elite athletes and nonathletes (N = 1,268) attending the same selective sport high school (4 high school age cohorts, grades 7–10, mean ages varying from 10.9 to 14.1) completed the same physical self-concept instrument 4 times over a 2-year period (multiple waves). We introduce a latent cohort-sequence analysis that provides a stronger basis for assessing developmental stability/change than either cross-sectional (multicohort, single occasion) or longitudinal (single-cohort, multiple occasion) designs, allowing us to evaluate latent means across 10 waves spanning a 5-year period (grades 7–11), although each participant contributed data for only 4 waves, spanning 2 of the 5 years. Consistent with the frame-of-reference effects embodied in the big-fish-little-pond effect (BFLPE), physical self-concepts at the start of high school were much higher for elite athletes than for nonathlete classmates, but the differences declined over time so that by the end of high school there were no differences in the 2 groups. Gender differences in favor of males had a negative linear and quadratic trajectory over time, but the consistently smaller gender differences for athletes than for nonathletes did not vary with time.