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NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Teens who try to control their
weight by skipping meals or using laxatives are actually more
likely to be overweight in later years, research indicates.
"We found that dieting, and particularly unhealthy weight
control behaviors, were not effective in weight management
over time, and were actually associated with weight gain,"
study author Dr. Dianne Neumark-Sztainer, of the University
of Minnesota, told Reuters Health. "We concluded that
dieting was ineffective and even dangerous," she added.
Previous researchers have also reported an association between
dieting, obesity and eating disorders. In one study, researchers
found that dieting adolescents -- girls and boys -- were more
likely to experience weight gain than nondieters and in other
studies, involving middle and high school girls, researchers
found that those who dieted had a higher risk of becoming
obese than those who did not diet.
Neumark-Sztainer and her colleagues further explored the association
in a five-year study of 2,516 adolescents who completed Project
EAT (Eating among Teens) surveys in 1999 and 2004.
Responses to the 1999 survey indicate that over half (57 percent)
of the girls and one quarter (25.3 percent) of the boys dieted
and roughly 58 percent of girls and 31 percent of boys skipped
meals, used laxatives or otherwise engaged in unhealthy weight-control
behaviors. By 2004, however, 27 percent of girls and 25 percent
of boys were overweight.
In fact, teens who used unhealthy methods of weight control
in 1999 were about three times as likely to be overweight
by 2004 than those who did not use any weight control behaviors,
Neumark-Sztainer and her team report in the Journal of the
American Dietetic Association.
These unhealthy dieters were also at a six-fold higher risk
for binge eating with loss of control and were also much more
likely to practice self-induced vomiting and to use diet pills
(phentermine),
laxatives and diuretics than their peers, study findings indicate.
In light of the findings, "teens should avoid dieting
and the adults in their lives need to help them to do so,"
Neumark-Sztainer advised. "Dieting tends to be a short-term,
ineffective behavior," she explained, adding "we've
all seen people say, 'I'm starting my diet on Monday so I
can eat what I want now' or 'I broke my diet...so I might
as well go all out.'"
Read the complete news article here:http://today.reuters.com/news
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