BOOSTER SHOTS

We want our children to eat more fruits and vegetables, and hooray for the kids who do. But a new study suggests that a sizable number of adolescents and young adults who say they are vegetarians actually have a eating disorder.

Previous research has also found a link between young people who say they are vegetarians and eating disorders. Some researchers have found that adolescents with eating disorders may adopt a vegetarian diet as a weight-loss tool that is considered acceptable. The new study analyzed data from surveys, questionnaires and observations taken at 31 Minnesota schools in 1998.

The 2,516 adolescents and young adults in the study ranged in age from 15 to 23. The students were categorized as current vegetarians, former vegetarians or never vegetarian. A vegetarian diet can mean eating only plant sources or consuming some dairy and eggs or even some chicken and fish.

The study found that 19.6% of the current vegetarians and 20.9% of former vegetarians used some form of extreme, unhealthy weight-control behaviors (such as using a diet pill or laxatives or inducing vomiting), and 21.2% and 16%, respectively, said they had binged on food with a loss of control. In comparison, 9.4% of the never-vegetarian group had used extreme, unhealthy weight-control behaviors and only 4.4% said they had lost control while eating and binged.

“These findings suggest that . . . current adolescent and young adult vegetarians are at greatest risk for binge eating with loss of control. Reasons for this might be due, in part, to heightened awareness of food intake in general among practicing vegetarians and, thus, a greater likelihood to report eating and feeling a loss of control. Possible triggers for binge-eating episodes may also be related to self-imposed restrictions of certain foods or a decreased level of satiety related to decreased intake of protein and fat,” the authors wrote. The study, published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Assn., was conducted by researchers from the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University, the University of Minnesota and the University of Texas, Austin.

-- Shari Roan

From: Booster Shots: Oddities, musings and news from the world of health

For more, go to latimes.com/boostershots

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TECHNOLOGY

PlayStation 2 price drops

Sony cut the price of its PlayStation 2 console by $30, to $99, positioning the 9-year-old console as an entertainment bargain.

Sony, which has sold more than 136.8 million PS2s since launching the console in Japan in October 1999, emphasized that there are more than 1,820 PS2 games for $29.99 or less. More than 250 titles are currently $20. Sony said game publishers are planning to release between 70 to 80 new titles, primarily sports and casual games, this year, bringing the total to nearly 1,900 by the end of the year.

“This will prolong the life of the PS2,” said Michael Pachter, an analyst with Wedbush Morgan Securities, “but it’s not going to do a lot to spur sales. The console will just decline more slowly.”

Pachter said the large number of games available for the PS2 was “smart marketing” that would resonate well with budget-conscious consumers and in markets such as Latin America, where Sony is making a big push. “So a family can buy a PS2 and several games for less than the cost of a Wii,” Pachter said.

-- Alex Pham

From: Technology: The business and culture of our digital lives, from the L.A. Times

For more, go to latimes.com/technology

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HERO COMPLEX

Their favorite ‘Star Trek’ novels

I recently wrote a lengthy profile of screenwriting partners Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, key players behind the new “Star Trek” film as well as the “Transformers” franchise and Fox’s “Fringe,” and it was fascinating to me how they have shared their writing life through the years, all the way back to high school.

Orci is the major “Trek” fan going way back, while Kurtzman has a solid knowledge of the canon but won’t be taking Klingon lessons any time soon. “Coming into this, it wasn’t religion for me,” Kurtzman said, “but I certainly had an appreciation of it through the shows and the films.” Both have enjoyed “Trek” off-screen as well, and I asked them to pick their favorite titles from the crowded shelf of “Trek” literary chronicles. They sent back their response as (big surprise) a co-written list.

“Best Destiny” by Diane Carey (Pocket Books, 1993). “A beautiful imagining of Kirk’s childhood and how it shaped him to love the stars.”

“Spock’s World” by Diane Duane (Pocket Books, 1988). “If Mr. Spock is your favorite character, this is a must read. The relationship he forges with Dr. McCoy finally gets the nuanced treatment it deserves.”

“Prime Directive” by Judith and Garfield Reeves Stevens (Pocket Books, 1990). “One of the best incarnations of the original bridge crew, with every character given equal consideration and full development, against the backdrop of a real-deal science fiction story.”

“Ex Machina” by Christopher L. Bennett (Pocket Books, 2004) “A great example of how a ‘Trek’ novel can fit within ‘canon’ while existing between the movies we love.”

The new “Star Trek” film, directed by J. J. Abrams, opens in theaters on May 5.

-- Geoff Boucher

From: Hero Complex: For your inner fanboy; News on genre films, graphic novels and science fiction

For more, go to latimes.com/herocomplex

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CULTURE MONSTER

‘Equivocation’ at the Geffen

The Geffen Playhouse has picked “Equivocation,” by Bill Cain, a Jesuit priest-cum-playwright, to fill the remaining slot in its coming 2009-10 season.

The play is a piece of speculative historical fiction, set in London of 1606. The complicated premise: A foiled plot to blow up King James and Parliament -- now celebrated as Guy Fawkes Day, after the executed explosives expert who’d stashed multiple kegs of gunpowder under the House of Lords -- didn’t really go down the way the authorities reported it then, and how history has it now.

Needing to sell the cover-up to his subjects, the king orders no less than William Shakespeare to write a play-as-propaganda -- or else. If squeezing out “Hamlet” was tough, how about trying to write an engaging, artful, eminently Shakespearean drama based on a pack of lies?

“Equivocation” will have its world premiere April 15 at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland. The Geffen is mounting its own production with a different cast and director, Nov. 18 to Dec. 20.

-- Mike Boehm

From: Culture Monster: All the arts, all the time

For more, go to latimes.com/culturemonster