A subjective dissatisfaction with body weight in young women: do eating behaviours play a role?

BACKGROUND Food less frequently used to provide the necessary nutrients for the survival and the body begins to play a role, which it is not able to cope with, leading to a dysfunctional its use. In an era of obesity, excessive interest in his appearance and lean silhouette assigning too much significance relates to a growing number of young women. Young women due to a period of their procreative years are particularly vulnerable to the consequences of abnormal eating habits that threaten the health of women and their offspring. OBJECTIVES In young women of reproductive age, to determine the emotional and habitual reasons behind binge eating and the effect that restriction diets can have for achieving desired body mass in relation to physical activity and the willingness to improve their weight. MATERIAL AND METHODS Subjects surveyed were 372 women aged 18 to 27 years (mean 20.6 ± 1.4) who answered a questionnaire on dietary behaviour devised by Ogińska-Bulik and Putyński [21] which had been extended to include body mass perception/image, adoption of slimming diets, levels of physical activity and place of residence. The women's actual body mass, height and body fat (adipose tissue content) were also measured. RESULTS Most subjects (63.9%) were dissatisfied with their figures whilst 33.5% underwent slimming diets at least once. Those overweight, complained much more about their figures compared to normal weight women (97.9% vs. 65.1%, p<0.01), as well as being respectively more emotionally prone to overeating (4.5 ± 2.2 vs. 5.2 ± 2 points round, p<0.01), but less for adopting any dietary restriction (3.5 ± 2.7 vs. 4.8 ± 2.3, p<0.01). CONCLUSIONS It seems necessary to create a prevention and educational programs on proper nutrition and the perception of one's own body as effective tools in reducing eating disorders in terms of the health of young women and multigenerational inheritance health of their offspring.