Dieting and health in young Australian women

This paper examines the prevalence of dieting behaviours and correlates wit h physical and mental health in young Australian women who are participants in the Australian Longitudinal Stud of Women's Health. A total of 14 686 w omen aged 18-23 years, randomly selected from the National Medicare databas e, with over-sampling from rural and remote areas, responded to a questionn aire seeking dieting and health information. The results showed that 66.5 p ercent of the women had a BMI within the healthy weight range (18- < 25 kg/ m(2)). However only 21.6 percent of these women were happy with their weigh t and almost half (46 percent) had dieted to lose weight in the last year ( also one in five who had a BMI < 18.5 kg/m(2)). High frequency of dieting ( rather than dieting per se) and earlier dieting onset were associated with poorer physical and mental health (including depression), more disordered e ating (bingeing and purging), extreme weight and shape dissatisfaction and more frequent general health problems. The results suggest that there is a need for programmes that will enhance self esteem and weight/shape acceptan ce and promote more appropriate strategies for maintenance of healthy weigh t. Copyright (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Associati on.