Professor Steven Thomsen, Ph.D., of Brigham Young University recently conducted a survey of health and beauty magazine readers that has some disturbing results.

"Among the nearly 500 students he surveyed, Thomsen found abundant evidence of unhealthy weight control practices in the previous year. Eleven percent of the participants reported that they had used laxatives, 15 percent had taken diet pills, 9 percent induced vomiting, and 52 percent said they had restricted their caloric intake to under 1,200 calories per day."

Thomsen found that women who read health and fitness magazines were much more likely to have used unhealthy methods to control their weight. More significantly, he found that women who read the magazines already had disordered thinking about weight and body image, and simply turned to the magazines for support. Read more at PsychologyToday.com.

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Labels: dieting, healthy_eating, media_influences