The American Medical Association recently recognized obesity as both an illness and a leading cause of preventable death and chronic disease. This association is not only linked to physical health outcomes, however, as obesity has also been extensively associated with mental illness as well. Both obesity and severe mental illness decrease quality of life and are associated with an increase in disability, morbidity, and mortality, and when they occur together, these adverse health outcomes are magnified. Despite educational campaigns, increased awareness, and improved treatment options, the high prevalence of mental illness and comorbid obesity remains a serious problem. This review examines this overlap, highlighting clinical and biological factors that have been linked to this association in order to improve our understanding and help elucidate potential therapeutic avenues.

Psychiatric comorbidity is common in patients referred to a secondary care center but is often unrecognized. The prevalence of both anxiety and depression is influenced by gender, presence of organic diseases, and FGIDs, and it increases with the number of coexistent FGIDs and frequency and severity of GI symptoms.

β2-1 Fructans are purported to improve health by stimulating growth of colonic bifidobacteria, increasing host resistance to pathogens and stimulating the immune system. However, in healthy adults, the benefits of supplementation remain undefined. Adults (thirteen men, seventeen women) participated in a double-blinded, placebo-controlled, randomised, cross-over study consisting of two 28-d treatments separated by a 14-d washout period. Subjects' regular diets were supplemented with β2-1 fructan or placebo (maltodextrin) at 3 × 5 g/d. Fasting blood and 1-d faecal collections were obtained at the beginning and at the end of each phase. Blood was analysed for clinical, biochemical and immunological variables. Determinations of well-being and general health, gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms, regularity, faecal SCFA content, residual faecal β2-1 fructans and faecal bifidobacteria content were undertaken. β2-1 Fructan supplementation had no effect on blood lipid or cholesterol concentrations or on circulating lymphocyte and macrophage numbers, but significantly increased serum lipopolysaccharide, faecal SCFA, faecal bifidobacteria and indigestion. With respect to immune function, β2-1 fructan supplementation increased serum IL-4, circulating percentages of CD282 + /TLR2 + myeloid dendritic cells and ex vivo responsiveness to a toll-like receptor 2 agonist. β2-1 Fructans also decreased serum IL-10, but did not affect C-reactive protein or serum/faecal Ig concentrations. No differences in host well-being were associated with either treatment, although the self-reported incidence of GI symptoms and headaches increased during the β2-1 fructan phase. Although β2-1 fructan supplementation increased faecal bifidobacteria, this change was not directly related to any of the determined host parameters.

A total of 172 patients with giardiasis were treated with four of the drugs most commonly used for this infection. All drugs were used in their usual posologic schedules. The cure rates achieved with furazolidone, nimorazole, metronidazole, and tinidazole were; respectively, 72%, 94%, 87%, and 97%, while in a control group given no medication stools of only 35% of the patients became negative. Side effects were of minor importance in patients treated with nimorazole and metronidazole, and were somewhat more frequent and severe in those treated with furazolidone. Tinidazole produced no side effects.