Gt. Wilson, RELATION OF DIETING AND VOLUNTARY WEIGHT-LOSS TO PSYCHOLOGICAL FUNCTIONING AND BINGE-EATING, Annals of internal medicine, 119(7), 1993, pp. 727-730
Voluntary weight loss in obese patients consistently reduces negative
emotions such as depression and anxiety in the short term. Dieting by
persons of normal weight is associated with low self-esteem and depres
sive symptoms. Dieting is linked to the development and maintenance of
eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, althou
gh the precise nature of this association is unclear. Dieting cannot b
e a sufficient causal condition and must combine with other still unde
termined vulnerabilities to cause eating disorders. Identification of
these risk factors must precede the development of effective programs
to prevent eating disorders.