Early age dieting affects health in older age

Dieting at a young age:With young girls as young as 15 or even younger who have become conscious of their looks and weight due to peer pressure are not realizing the long term damage they may  be causing to their health later on. The earlier in life a woman starts dieting, the worse long-term consequences it can have for her health, a new study suggests.

In the study, presented Tuesday at the meeting of the Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior in Seattle, researchers asked 1,340 college-aged women when they first started dieting, and then followed them for 10 years to examine their dieting habits and health later in life. They found that an early age of first dieting was related to extreme weight-control behaviors, greater alcohol consumption and misuse, and a greater chance of being overweight or obese at the 10-year follow-up.

Since the new study found a link between early dieting and later, risky health behaviors such as abusing alcohol or going on fad diets, it is important that parents, mentors, and health care providers screen young women for these types of behaviors such as fad dieting as it can impact their health negatively for years to come.

The new research is a reminder that, while losing weight is generally good for health, an unbalanced approach may lead to health issues such as eating disorders in the long run and  the only solution to this is to  make permanent lifestyle changes, ideally with the help of a professional.