Dieting at Young Age Often Backfires

Women who were put on diets as young girls are more likely to struggle with obesity, alcohol abuse and disordered eating as adults, according to preliminary research presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior.

“We were able to demonstrate that younger age at first diet actually predicted health problems in the future,” wrote the study's principal investigator Pamela Keel in an email to The Huffington Post. If corroborated by further investigation, the findings could lead experts to consider “early dieting” as a risk factor for more serious problems, Keel explained.