Diet Articles May Cause Eating Disorders in Teens

The 44 percent of middle school girls who frequently read articles about weight loss and dieting are twice as likely to try unhealthy weight loss measures such as smoking and fasting and three times as likely to try vomiting than girls who did not read the articles, reports this month's issue of Pediatrics. These results proved true even when researchers controlled for factors of previous body image concerns and weight problems.

"The articles may be offering advice such as cutting out trans fats and soda, and those are good ideas for everybody," said Alison Field of Harvard Medical School, who has done similar research but wasn't involved in the new study. "But the underlying messages these articles send are 'You should be concerned about your weight and you should be doing something.'"

ABSTRACT: Is Dieting Advice From Magazines Helpful or Harmful? Five-Year Associations With Weight-Control Behaviors and Psychological Outcomes in Adolescents