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ANN ARBOR—A University of Michigan campus survey on attitudes and behaviors around eating found that students diet regularly, dislike their bodies, fear gaining weight and seldom seek help for eating disorders.

Researchers also found that six out of 10 U-M undergraduates had become more concerned about their bodies after starting school, and that 10 percent were purging in some way—vomiting and/or using laxatives, diuretics or diet pills.

The online survey, U-SHAPE: University Study of Habits, Attitudes and Perceptions around Eating, is believed to be the first comprehensive research of its kind.

A multidisciplinary team of faculty, researchers and counselors from the U-M School of Public Health, School of Education, Medical School, University Health Service (UHS), Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS), and Ann Arbor's Center for Eating Disorders surveyed 10,000 undergraduates and graduate students in October 2012. The findings from 3,088 responses can be generalized to the full student body and have important implications for policy and practice, the researchers said.

Source: U of M News Service

by Kim LaCapria

Researchers from Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston looked at a “nationally representative sample [of] obese dieters,” attempting to rule out best practices for maintained and sustainable weight loss. Among the 4,000 dieters whose information was included in the study, more than 63% had tried over the previous year to lose weight.

Study Lead investigator Jacinda M. Nicklas, MD, MPH, MA, is a Clinical Research Fellow at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, and she says that despite low weight loss success rates, the numbers in the study show tried and true methods can be useful.

Source: Prescription Diet Pills, Steady Approach For Weight Loss ...

by admin

Crash dieting has side effects

Crash dieting may appear to be an effective way to lose weight in a jiffy, but it is certainly not as far as your health is concerned. Crash diets cause a great deal of harm to the body and mind. They are harmful and lack in nutrition, and are no good for you.

1.  Re-bound weight gain: With crash dieting, the body conserves the little energy that it gets and the metabolism slows down. The dieter hits a plateau and loses motivation to do more and starts eating again, and the weight gain this time around is likely to be higher as a result of an already slow metabolism.

This rebound weight being higher, often propels the dieter into another bout of crash dieting. This cycle of dieting and weight gain is often referred to as ‘yo-yo dieting’ and only results in greater weight gain in the long-term.

2. Malnutrition:...

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