A Juicy Controversy

Sometimes scientists don’t get things right the first time. For instance, a 1997 study found that excessive fruit juice consumption was associated with short stature and obesity. The study made headlines everywhere, and surely millions of children found themselves going cold turkey off the apple juice.

Now, a new study in the journal Pediatrics contradicts the first study and finds no deleterious effects from lots of juice. However, the authors of the new study worry that their study will not get the same attention as the first study. “[The new study] may not receive the same media attention because they do not suggest an easy, simple solution to childhood obesity and/or growth retardation.” They suggest that the new study be replicated for additional validity, and go on to scold health professionals for making dietary recommendations on the basis of a single study.

It’s fairly rare for authors of studies to get so steamed up when presenting new data. So we couldn’t help but note the authors of the new study: the University of Tennessee--and the Gerber Products Co.

Pain, What Pain?

Anyone who has ever run in a long-distance race has experienced that unique battle between the mind (“keep going, fool”) and the body (“I’m dying; please stop”). Mastering this internal debate is so important to performance that runners are trained to tune out thoughts of physical pain in order to reach the finish line. But there is a downside to Zen running.

According to sports psychologists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, some people are so good at tuning out pain that they run with fractures, hyperthermia (high body temperature) and even signs of a heart attack--all the while telling themselves such absurdities as “I feel great!”

The authors advise runners to just face up to facts during a race. As one elite runner put it: “I don’t worry if I start feeling bad during a race because I know that everyone else is feeling worse.”

A comforting thought indeed.

Now, the Mirror Diet

Want to eat less? Try dining in front of a mirror.

Researchers asked college students to taste full-, reduced- and no-fat cream cheese spreads on mini bagels. Some students did the taste testing in front of a mirror while others did not. The students who ate before a mirror ate less of the full-fat product, according to two recent studies in the Journal of Applied Psychology.

In a similar study, a mirror was placed at a taste-testing table in a grocery store for some shoppers but was removed for others. Shoppers who ate before the mirror ate less of the full-fat product but ate similar amounts of the reduced-fat spreads as the other shoppers.

The lesson is that self-awareness causes people to think about food choices more carefully. The authors of the study suggest putting a mirror on the refrigerator door. Oh, good; you can fret about your hair while berating yourself about your weight.

Loving Support Not Good for Performance

Lots of people who have to perform in front of others--whether it’s in athletics, music or giving a speech to a group--become nervous. To alleviate anxiety, it’s typical to ask friends or relatives to attend the event, hoping that a friendly face in the audience will help.

Wrong.

A new study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology shows that while people find supportive audiences less stressful, they perform worse. Even neutral audiences elicited better performances than supportive ones.

People who have an especially hard time performing in front of others might want to tell Mom and Dad to stay home.

“When success is easily attainable, there may be no cost to having friendly faces in the crowd. When the quality or outcome of a challenging, skilled performance is truly important, however, performers may be best advised to tell their friends and lovers to stay away,” the authors stated.