Discipline of Nutrition and Metabolism, School of Molecular Bioscience, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Int J Womens Health. 2012;4:405-11. doi: 10.2147/IJWH.S33920. Epub 2012 Aug 13.
Dieting is a common practice among young women, irrespective of age, race, ethnicity, and weight. We aimed to determine the prevalence of dieting and its relationship with eating behavior, body weight, and body mass index (BMI) in college women.
This was a cross-sectional survey of female students aged 18-35 years (n = 308). Measures included BMI, restraint, disinhibition, hunger, dieting, weight loss, and perceived weight.
A high percentage of college females consider themselves overweight or obese, despite having a BMI in the normal range. Dieting was practised by 43%, and 32% were avoiding weight gain, despite 78% having a healthy BMI. Women classified themselves as overweight or obese (27%), while only 11% were actually in these categories. Exercise was a common method of weight loss and positive associations were observed between dieting and BMI. Assessment of eating behavior showed that 27% were classified as high-restraint. Restraint and disinhibition were positively correlated with BMI.
Despite the widespread availability of nutrition information, there is incongruity in measured and perceived BMI in young educated women. Dieting practices and BMI are associated with restraint and disinhibition. Nutrition professionals should consider educating college women about healthy body weight regardless of their clients' BMI.
节食是年轻女性中常见的做法，无论年龄、种族、民族和体重如何。我们旨在确定节食的流行程度及其与大学生女性的饮食行为、体重和体重指数（BMI）的关系。
这是一项对 18-35 岁女性学生（n=308）的横断面调查。测量包括 BMI、抑制、去抑制、饥饿、节食、减肥和感知体重。
尽管大多数大学生女性的 BMI 在正常范围内，但仍有很高比例的女性认为自己超重或肥胖。有 43%的女性进行节食，尽管 78%的女性 BMI 健康，但有 32%的女性在避免体重增加。女性将自己归类为超重或肥胖（27%），而实际上只有 11%属于这些类别。运动是常见的减肥方法，节食与 BMI 之间存在正相关。对饮食行为的评估表明，27%的女性被归类为高抑制。抑制和去抑制与 BMI 呈正相关。
尽管营养信息广泛可用，但在年轻受教育女性中，测量和感知的 BMI 存在不一致。节食行为和 BMI 与抑制和去抑制有关。营养专业人员应考虑教育大学生女性关于健康体重，而不论其客户的 BMI 如何。
