Dieting articles harmful for girls

reading magazine articles on diet and weight loss could behazardous to girls' health.
A study published in the journal Pediatrics found that teenage girls who frequently
read these articles were more likely to use extreme weight-loss measures later on compared to girls .who never read them.
In the study, researchers looked at surveys and weight-height measurements of more than 2,500 middle
school students in 2005 and again five years later. Fourteen percent of the boys surveyed reported reading diet articles frequently, while 44 percent of girls did. The researchers found that the middle school girls who reported
reading dieting articles at the beginning of the study were twice as likely to use extreme weight loss methods such as fasting and smoking cigarettes i'ive years later compared to girls who never read such articles.

They were three times more likely to make themselves vomit or use laxatives. The risk increased regardless of whether the girls were overweight when they started reading the articles or whether they considered their weight important.
There was no corresponding higher risk seen in boys who read weight loss articles.

The study did not determine whether the articles themselves or the accompanying photography had
the most influence on the girls. The Associated Press reports. The researchers say their findings suggest
that parents should be careful about exposing their daughters to magazines with articles on weight, loss, and that parents should discuss with their children where the messages about weight loss come from.