Caroline Edmonds and I recently attended
the Annual Meeting of the British Feeding and Drinking Group (BFDG), which was
held in Portsmouth this year. Our
particular interest is the effect of drinking water on mood and cognition and
it is difficult to find conferences that cater specifically to this topic.
Fortunately, the BFDG presents the perfect opportunity to meet and discuss with
colleagues from other universities who also investigate the effects of a
variety of beverages and foods such as caffeine, glucose and grape juice on
cognition and mood. Caroline presented
two posters, the first, Differential
Effects of Water Supplementation on Cognitive Performance: Dose Response
Characteristic, showed how memory and visual attention task performance
responded differently to varying amounts of water. The second poster, Does
Fasting During Ramadan Affect Children’s Cognition and Mood? A Pilot Study of
Children’s Performance and Teachers’ Perceptions, showed that teachers
perceived children that were fasting to have less energy during Ramadan but
that it didn’t appear to affect their academic performance, while formal
testing of the children showed that their visual attention was poorer if they
were fasting during Ramadan. I presented
a poster, The Effect of Exposure to an Unfamiliar Fruit
and Positive or Neutral Message on Consumption and Attitude Change in Young Children,
and
this showed that it was exposure to an unfamiliar fruit, dragonfruit, that
appeared to increase consumption over time rather than exposure to a daily
story which either had a positive or neutral message about eating fruit. Our posters attracted many attendees and
generated some very fruitful conversations. Hopefully, future collaborations may arise
from these discussions.
This year a large proportion of the
presentations were focussed on how public food consumption can be reduced so as
to curb the increase in obesity. It seems that a lot of research is now being
directed at trying to increase the feelings of satiety after eating with the inference
being that food consumption will be reduced. Interventions such as increasing
the thickness of drinks and soups, water loading before eating and increasing
the time spent chewing were investigated and seemed to be successful, although
testing under laboratory conditions when participants are aware they are being
monitored is a considerable limitation. A very simple but seemingly effective
idea that was presented was to graphically show ideal portion size on a packet
of food rather than giving a numeric weight or volume. Additionally, some presentations focussed on
how sugar content in both foods and beverages continues to increase leading to
a higher risk of weight increase, diabetes and behavioural consequences such as
a decrease in memory and spatial learning. However, a study in which parents
and children were asked to rate sugar content in drinks, by placing different
drinks in order from high content to low content, showed that parents and even
young children were very accurate in their knowledge. It is encouraging that
the public seem to be more aware of what is healthy to eat and drink but as we
all know this often doesn’t relate to the choices we make. Having enjoyed two days of delicious desserts
at the conference lunch and dinner I can definitely offer anecdotal evidence
that this is the case.
A nice feature of this conference is that
an event is always arranged for the evening so that discussion can become more
informal. This year a dinner was held on board the ‘HMS Warrior’ at the
Historic Dockyard. This venue was amazing and exceeded my expectation. All four
decks of the ship are open to be explored and the restoration is immaculate and
gives a real feel of life as a Victorian sailor. I would definitely recommend
it as a place to visit particularly for those colleagues with children.
This was my second visit to the BFDG and I
hope to go again next year although, interestingly, this British event is
becoming more international, with attendees coming from around the globe. Next year
the conference is due to be held in the Netherlands and presumably will be
renamed the IFBG (International Feeding and Drinking Group).
Paula Booth
