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Special Issue Editor

Dr. Britni R. Belcher

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Guest Editor

Department of Preventive Medicine, Keck School of Medicine of University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA
Interests: cardiometabolic biomarkers; sedentary behavior; physical activity; pediatric obesity; behavioral interventions

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

It is well-known that energy-balance-related lifestyle behaviors can affect risk for obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cognitive and mental health outcomes in youth. Energy balance behaviors track from childhood into adulthood and can affect lifetime disease risk. Physical activity has insulin-sensitizing effects and can mitigate risk, yet as children age into adolescence their physical activity levels decline and sedentary behavior levels increase. Emerging evidence from randomized controlled trials suggests that interrupting sitting time improves metabolic outcomes in children and adolescents. However, evidence from observational studies is less consistent, and a deeper understanding is needed regarding the interplay between lifestyle behaviors (e.g., sedentary time, physical activity, dietary intake), their patterns, and metabolic and other health outcomes in youth.

This Special Issue offers an opportunity to publish high-quality research related to lifestyle behaviors and cardiometabolic and other health outcomes (e.g., cognitive function, affect) in youth. We are particularly interested in observational or interventional research on relationships between reducing sedentary behavior and increasing physical activity with regard to metabolic outcomes. We also welcome high-quality studies examining mediators or moderators of these relationships.

Dr. Britni R. Belcher
Guest Editor

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Keywords

youth
non-communicable diseases
affect
cognition
physical activity
sedentary behavior
nutrition
behavioral patterns
cardiometabolic health
sleep

Published Papers (1 paper)

Research

9 pages, 311 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Acute Relationship between Affective States and Stress Biomarkers in Ethnic Minority Youths

by Cheng K. Fred Wen, Chih-Ping Chou, Britni R. Belcher, Marc J. Weigensberg, David S. Black and Donna Spruijt-Metz

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(23), 12670; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijerph182312670 - 01 Dec 2021

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1579

Abstract

Background: Whether affective states acutely predict the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis activities and whether energy balance-related behaviors moderate the affect–HPA axis relationship in obese youths are not well-understood. Methods: 87 mostly obese (94.3% obese) minority adolescents (mean: 16.3 ± 1.2 years old; 56.8% Latino and 43.2% African American) participated in a randomized crossover trial in an observation laboratory, where they received either high-sugar/low-fiber (HSLF) or low-sugar/high-fiber (LSHF) meals first and then crossed over in the next visit 2–4 weeks later. During each visit, they rated five affective states and provided a saliva sample every 30 min for the first 5 h and wore a waist-worn accelerometer. The association between the affect ratings and cortisol levels in the subsequent 30 min and the moderation effect of energy balance-related behavior were examined using multilevel models. Results: Within-person negative affect (β = 0.02, p = 0.0343) and feeling of panic (β = 0.007, p = 0.004) were acutely related to the subsequent cortisol level only during the HSLF condition. The time spent in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity did not moderate the acute relationship between affect and the subsequent cortisol level. Conclusions: Negative affect could be acutely related to heightened HPA axis activities in youths, but only when they were exposed to meals with high sugar and low fiber content. These results suggest that the meals’ sugar and fiber content may modulate HPA axis reactivity to negative affect in youths. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Child and Adolescent Lifestyle Behaviors and Insulin Sensitivity)

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