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Three times as many overweight girls as boys dieting by the age of 15

August 12, 2002

By the time they are 15, three times as many overweight girls as boys are on a diet, finds a study in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. Gender differences in worries about weight, while significant at the age of 11, had become "huge" by mid adolescence, the study shows.

The researchers studied over 2000 young people at the ages of 11, 13, and 15. They were surveyed at school under exam conditions about whether they were worried about putting on weight and whether they were actively dieting to become slimmer. Their body mass index was calculated, to find out if they were the right weight for their height.

Unsurprisingly, body mass index (BMI) increased with age and was only slightly higher in girls, who tend to gain more fat at puberty than boys. But the steepest variations between the heaviest and the lightest were seen in girls, with the widest gap appearing at the age of 15. Overall, the prevalence of "overweight" went up from 16 per cent at the age of 11 to 17 per cent by the age of 15.

Worries about putting on weight and dieting were closely linked to BMI for both genders, but girls were much more concerned than boys. At each age, girls in the medium to low weight bracket were significantly more likely to be dieting than boys. By the age of 15, 26 per cent of medium weight and 8 per cent of low weight girls said they were dieting compared with under 3 per cent of medium to low weight boys.

The proportion of boys worried about weight gain fell steadily from 30 per cent at the age of 11 to 23 per cent by the age of 15. In girls, the reverse was true, with 44 per cent saying they were worried about weight gain at the age of 11, rising to 70 per cent by the age of 15.

Only 5 per cent of boys, overall, were dieting by the age of 15, in contrast to 26 per cent of the girls by this age. The fall-off in boys' concerns, but the sharp increase in girls' concerns, about weight gain as they grew older had nothing to do with their actual BMI.

The trend was still evident in those who needed to lose weight. Thirty per cent of overweight boys said they were dieting at the age of 11, but this had almost halved to 16 per cent among 15 year olds. The same proportion of overweight girls were dieting at the age of 11, but by the age of 15 almost one in every two (48%) was on a diet.

The physical changes of puberty have a much faster and more profound effect on young women, conclude the authors, and highlight the difficulties of promoting healthy weight messages to avoid the extremes of excessive dieting and eating disorders.

British Medical Journal (BMJ)