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Body image program reduced onset of obesity, eating disorders
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Researchers reported that an obesity prevention program reduced the risk for onset of eating disorders by 61% and obesity by 55% in young women.
Researchers from the Oregon Research Institute randomly assigned 481 adolescent girls with body dissatisfaction to one of four programs: an obesity prevention program, eating disorder prevention program, expressive writing control program or assessment only control program.
The obesity prevention program — Healthy Weight — helped adolescents adopt a healthier lifestyle with gradually reduced intake of the least healthy portion of their diet, increased physical activity and a balance of energy intake and energy needs on a permanent basis.
The eating disorder program — Body Project — utilized four one-hour sessions per week in which participants learned to challenge pressures to be thin to reduce body dissatisfaction and eating disorder symptoms.
Young girls assigned to the Body Project program demonstrated significantly greater decreases in thin-ideal internalization, body dissatisfaction and psychosocial impairments compared with assessment-only controls and expressive writing controls. These girls also showed a 60% reduction in risk for eating pathology onset.
Those assigned to the Healthy Weight program demonstrated significantly greater decreases in thin-ideal internalization and weight loss compared with expressive writing controls. When compared with assessment-only controls, Healthy Weight program girls had greater decreases in body dissatisfaction, eating disorder symptoms, psychosocial impairment and lower risk for eating pathology and obesity onset through follow-up.
These effects continued through three years of follow-up, which implies that the effects are clinically important, according to the researchers. – by Katie Kalvaitis
J Consult Clin Psychol. 2008;76:329-340.