By IANS,
Washington : Healthy Weight, an obesity prevention programme run by Oregon Research Institute, helped 61 percent and 55 percent of young women respectively to keep eating disorders and obesity at bay.
These effects continued for three years after the programme ended.
Significantly, over 80 other prevention programmes, which have been evaluated, did not reduce risk for onset of these serious health problems.
The programme helps adolescents adopt a healthier lifestyle, wherein they gradually reduce intake of the least healthy portion of their diet and increase physical activity.
It teaches youth to balance their energy intake with their energy needs, and to do so on a permanent basis, rather than transiently, which is more typical of diets. College women in Eugene / Springfield are participating in this study.
ORI scientist Stice noted that “one reason these programmes might be more effective is that they require youth to take a more healthy perspective, which leads them to internalise the more healthy attitudes.”
Funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Stice has been studying eating disorders for 18 years. He has conducted this line of research at Stanford University and the University of Texas, and now continues at the Oregon Research Institute in Eugene, Oregon.
Eating disorders are one of the most common problems faced by young women. Obesity alone claims 1,11,000 lives every year in the US. It is vital to develop brief prevention programmes for these pernicious conditions.
These results are published in the April issue of the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology.