The “just-in-time” concept trumpeted by business gurus has arrived in the medical publishing world. Now, published just in time for (American) Thanksgiving, comes a rush of research articles about turkeys, fat, bloat, and related topics. The most marketably-titled study, perhaps, is this one:
“The Effect of the Thanksgiving Holiday on Weight Gain,” Holly R. Hull, Duncan Radley , Mary K. Dinger and David A. Fields, Nutrition Journal, vol. 5, no. 29, 2006, http://www.nutritionj.com/content/pdf/1475-2891-5-29.pdf. The authors, who are variously at the University of Oklahoma, at Leeds Metropolitan University, and at the Children?s Medical Research Institute, report:
We found over the Thanksgiving holiday an increase of 0.5 kg in body weight. Although this may seem like a trivial amount of weight, considering the short time frame, this is troublesome since previous research suggests weight gained during holiday periods is retained (Yanovski 2000). Therefore, we found in our sample, the Thanksgiving holiday represented a critical period for weight gain and obesity development. Additionally, it seems as though graduate students or those who are already overweight/obese are at increased risk of greater weight gain.
(Thanks to investigator Albert Trajstman for bringing this to our attention.)