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Dieting: really harmful, merely ineffective or actually helpful?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2007

Michael R. Lowe  and
C. Alix Timko
Michael R. Lowe*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Mail Stop 626, Drexel University, 245 N. 15th St, Philadelphia PA 19102, USA
C. Alix Timko
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Mail Stop 626, Drexel University, 245 N. 15th St, Philadelphia PA 19102, USA
*
*Corresponding author: Dr Michael R. Lowe, fax +1 215 762 8706, email lowe@drexel.edu
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Abstract

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Dieting has developed a negative reputation among many researchers and health care professionals. However, ‘dieting’ can refer to a variety of behavioural patterns that are associated with different effects on eating and body weight. The wisdom of dieting depends on what kind of dieting is involved, who is doing it, and why. Thus, depending on what one means by the term, dieting can be quite harmful, merely ineffective or actually beneficial. The present paper considers examples of all three. In particular, we argue that judgements about the desirability of dieting should consider the likely consequences to particular individuals of engaging in, or not engaging in, dieting behaviour.

Keywords

DietingBehavioural patterns
Type
Research Article
Information
British Journal of Nutrition , Volume 92 , Issue S1 , August 2004 , pp. S19 - S22
Copyright
Copyright © The Nutrition Society 2004

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