Weight-Loss Articles Cause Eating Disorders!
How’s that for sensationalism? Not good enough? Try these on for size: "Get the body you want" and "Hit your dream weight now!” Carla K. Johnson of the Associated Press reports headlines like those might actually influence unhealthy dieting behavior in young girls later in life. This according to a new study:
Teenage girls who frequently read magazine articles about dieting were more likely five years later to practice extreme weight-loss measures such as vomiting than girls who never read such articles, the University of Minnesota study found.
It didn't seem to matter whether the girls were overweight when they started reading about weight loss, nor whether they considered their weight important. After taking those factors into account, researchers still found reading articles about dieting predicted later unhealthy weight loss behavior.
