Dieting Makes Little Girls Fatter, Study Finds
Researchers Jennifer Shunk and Leann Birch of Pennsylvania State University found something both troubling and telling: girls who are labeled “too fat” by the age of 5 often become seasoned dieters by age 9. But here’s the twist—those early dieting attempts don’t lead to weight loss. In fact, they lead to weight gain.
In their study of 153 girls in central Pennsylvania, published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Shunk and Birch found that girls who dieted ended up gaining more fat, not less. The more dissatisfied the girls were with their bodies, the harder they tried to diet. And the harder they tried, the more their efforts backfired.
Their findings echo a growing body of research showing that dieting in children doesn’t prevent weight gain—it can actually cause it. One of the key reasons? Deprivation-driven eating. In the study, heavier girls were more likely to snack when they weren’t hungry, likely because restriction had made those foods feel scarce and tempting.
The researchers also pointed to the role of parents—especially mothers—in unintentionally setting the stage for this cycle. When parents forbid snacks, hoping to keep their children’s weight “in check,” it can increase a child’s desire for those foods and lead to more out-of-control eating later.
As they put it: “Even during the preschool period, before any dieting behavior, maternal feeding practices that restrict children’s access to palatable foods can promote children’s overeating.”
Apparently, in many well-meaning, middle-class households, snacks are tightly regulated in hopes of preventing obesity. But ironically, this restriction often has the opposite effect. It doesn’t teach moderation—it teaches scarcity and rebound eating.
So what’s the alternative?
According to the researchers, the best approach is for parents to model healthy patterns of eating and movement. And to that, we’d add: model attuned eating. Children are remarkably good at picking up on patterns. When they see adults eat when hungry and stop when satisfied—without guilt, praise, or pressure—they learn to do the same.
If you’re concerned about your child’s eating or weight, a great starting point is Ellyn Satter’s classic book How to Get Your Kid to Eat...But Not Too Much (it is an older book, but still relevant). It offers compassionate, research-based guidance that respects both your child’s needs and their natural ability to self-regulate.
© 2014 Karin Kratina, PhD, RDN, LDN
About Eating Wisdom and Drs Karin and Hannah
We are two PhD level Registered and Licensed Nutritionists whose passion is to help others escape diet culture and to learn to use their natural, innate Eating Wisdom to, finally, find peace with food, eating and weight.