• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.258-268
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• 2015

The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of fad dieting as a method to lose weight among male and female college students. A total of 710 students participated in this study. Fad dieting was surveyed using a questionnaire about 11 fad diet methods. The mean age of the subjects was 21.4 years for males and 20.4 years for females. The proportion of students who had experience trying to lose weight was 52.8% for males and 78.6% for females (p<0.001). The diet method employed by the highest number of participants was the half meal diet (27.6% for males, 43.9% for females), followed by the cereal diet (8.8% for males, 43.9% for females), fasting (9.9% for males, 21.4% for females), and the chicken breast diet (13.1% for males, 9.2% for females). The female students were more likely than the males to try fad diets other than the chicken breast diet and the Atkins diet. The most frequent side effect of fad dieting was the yo-yo effect, followed by binge eating, weakness, anemia, and so on. The proportion of students who indicated that nutrition education is needed for healthy dieting was 39.1% for males and 45.4% for females. From these results, we concluded that a high percentage of college students attempt to lose weight through fad diets, with some gender differences. Therefore, in the future, nutrition education programs should focus more attention on providing healthy dieting methods to young college students to help them lose weight.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.571-577
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• 2008

Among current health-related problems, the issue of over-weight is considered one of the most important, fostering a national interest in body weight loss. In this study, an awareness of one's current body weight and previous experiences of body weight loss were analyzed according to age and gender. The subjects of the study were 720 people (male: 360 and female: 360) aged $10{\sim}60$ years with previous experiences of attempting to lose weight 1 year prior to this study. Anthropometrics, general characteristics, awareness of one’s current body weight, and the body weight loss practice were analyzed through a questionnaire. Approximately 73.2% of the subjects recognized themselves as obese, and 83.5% wished to lose weight. The older the subjects were, the frequency of attempting to lose weight was lower, and those who succeeded in losing weight maintained their reduced body weight for a longer period. Compared to male subjects, more female reported attempts of losing weight, but the period of maintaining their reduced weight was shorter. The older subjects reported a higher satisfaction rate of the weight loss methods they used, and few of them gained back the weight they lost. This phenomenon was especially more stronger among male than female subjects. From our studies, it may be concluded that attitudes concerning a person’s current body weight and body weight loss practice vary according to age and gender.