Female college students are
more likely than males to diet, while males
who do try to shed pounds typically turn to
exercise rather than dieting, says a University
of Nebraska study.
The study identified a number of differences
between women and men in terms of dieting and
sources of nutrition knowledge and beliefs.
Among the findings:
- Women were much more likely than men to
try low-fat diets (19.3 percent vs. 7.6
percent), low-carbohydrate diets (15.5 percent
vs. 10 percent), and vegetarian diets (4.4
percent vs. 0 percent).
- 79.1 percent of men said they'd never
tried a diet, compared with 65.6 percent
of women.
- More women than men got most of their
nutrition information from family members
(58 percent vs. 41.9 percent), and magazines
and newspapers (43.1 percent vs. 30.5 percent).
- Women were more likely than men to say
that they eat too much sugar (59.7 percent
vs. 41.9 percent), that it's important to
limit carbohydrate intake (46.4 percent
vs. 27.6 percent), that it's important to
limit fats to lose weight (71.7 percent
vs. 52.4 percent), and that they need to
lose weight (57.4 percent vs. 28.6 percent).
- The majority of study participants (94.4
percent) agreed that it's important to eat
a variety of foods for good health.
The study was published in the October issue
of the Journal of the American Dietetic
Association.
"These findings are in agreement with
reports of women's tendency to hold stronger
beliefs related to nutrition than men. Though
men have some sensitivity to body fat, women
are much more sensitive," the study authors
wrote.
