Study: Diet articles may harm girls

CHICAGO Magazine headlines entice teenage girls with promises like, "Get the body you want!" or "Hit your dream weight now!"

The University of Minnesota study found that teenage girls who frequently read magazine articles about dieting are more likely five years later to practice extreme weight-loss measures than girls who never read such articles.

The study says girls in middle school who read dieting articles were twice as likely five years later to try to lose weight by fasting or smoking cigarettes. They were three times more likely to use measures such as vomiting or taking laxatives.

The study appears in January's issue of the journal Pediatrics.

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