Apples for Health- Risk factors of disordered eating found

Risk factors of disordered eating found

MINNEAPOLIS, Aug. 3 (UPI) -- Overweight youth who read about dieting, report little family connectedness and see weight as a priority are at risk of eating disorder, U.S. researchers say.
Dianne Neumark-Sztainer of the University of Minnesota School of Public Health and colleagues used data from Project EAT, an ongoing study that assessed eating and weight-related behaviors in 4,746 adolescents from 31 urban Minneapolis-St. Paul schools during the 1998-99 academic year.
Youth were surveyed at two time points -- the first occurring when participants were in middle school and high school and the second five years later.
The study found increased hours of moderate to extreme physical activity and lower self-esteem predicted higher risk for disordered eating among females. However, for males, depressive symptoms, poor eating patterns including high fast food and sweetened beverage intake, increased their risk of disordered eating.
The study suggested a lack of family connectedness, including not eating family meals together, was found to increase the risk of disordered eating behaviors in both young males and females.