This study sought to determine the distribution of early-onset restrictive eating disturbances characteristic of the new DSM-5 diagnosis, avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) in middle childhood, as well as to evaluate the screening instrument, Eating Disturbances in Youth-Questionnaire (EDY-Q). A total of 1,444 8- to 13-year-old children were screened in regular schools (3rd to 6th grade) in Switzerland using the self-report measure EDY-Q, consisting of 12 items based on the DSM-5 criteria for ARFID. 46 children (3.2 %) reported features of ARFID in the self-rating. Group differences were found for body mass index, with underweight children reporting features of ARFID more often than normal and overweight children. The EDY-Q revealed good psychometric properties, including adequate discriminant and convergent validity. Early-onset restrictive eating disturbances are commonly reported in middle childhood. Because of possible negative short- and long-term impact, early detection is essential. Further studies with structured interviews and parent reports are needed to confirm this study’s findings.

We investigated the effects of recreational exposure to the natural environment on mood and psychophysiological responses to stress. We hypothesized that walking in nature has restorative effects over and above the effects of exposure to nature scenes (viewing nature on TV) or physical exercise alone (walking on a treadmill in a gym) and that these effects are greater when participants were expected to be more stressed. Healthy university students ( N = 90) were randomly allocated to one of three conditions and tested during an exam-free period and again during their exam time. Mood and psychophysiological responses were assessed before and after the interventions, and again after a laboratory stressor. All interventions had restorative effects on cortisol levels ( p < .001), yet walking in nature resulted in lower cortisol levels than did nature viewing ( p < .05) during the exam period. Walking in nature improved mood more than watching nature scenes ( p < .001) or physical exercise alone ( p < .05).

The sensitivity for one’s own internal body signals (i.e., interoception) has been demonstrated to play an important role in the pathogenesis of eating and weight disorders. Most previous measures assessing interoceptive processing have not, or only partly, captured perception of hunger and satiety cues, which is a core aspect of interoceptive deficits in eating disorders. In addition, methods used to measure sensitivity to gastric signals are heterogeneous and findings inconsistent. The primary aim of the present study was to establish a standardised test to measure gastric interoception, and to provide normative data using a non-clinical adult sample. The two-step Water Load Test (WLT-II) involves ingestion of non-caloric water until perceived satiation (step 1) and until maximum fullness (step 2). The WLT-II consists of several variables: Besides volumes of water ingested until satiation and maximum fullness expressed in ml, percentage of satiation to maximum fullness is calculated as an individual index of gastric interoception that is not confounded with stomach capacity. Ninety-nine healthy women participated in the study. Measures included the WLT-II, the heartbeat tracking test, a self-report questionnaire assessing subjective sensations, and the Eating Disorder Inventory-2. Twenty-eight participants underwent test-retest of the WLT-II. Results suggest that the WLT-II is a valid and reliable measure of gastric interoception. Importantly, satiation volume and percentage of satiation to maximum fullness were strongly positively related to self-reported bulimic symptoms, indicating that the WLT-II could emerge as a useful clinical tool to measure interoceptive processing in the field of eating disorders.

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