New research found that girls who begin dieting at a young age may face health problems later in life.
According to surveys of college-age women conducted from 1982 to 2012, researchers found a link between early dieting and later obesity and alcohol abuse.
"The younger a woman was when she started her first diet, the more likely she was [later] to use extreme weight control behaviors -- like vomiting or laxative misuse," said study researcher Lauren Holland, a doctoral candidate in clinical psychology at Florida State University, Tallahassee.
"She was also more likely to misuse alcohol and be overweight or obese when she reached her 30s," Holland said.
Scientists found the younger the woman was when she began her first diet, the more likely she was to have an eating disorder, abuse alcohol, and be overweight or obese in her 30's.
Experts say these results show the importance of teaching young girls about overall wellness, rather than focusing on weight loss alone.
"The study demonstrates that, despite the evidence-based methods we now have available for weight loss, many college-aged women are still turning to fad diet methods rather than seek[ing] professional help," Dr. Holly Lofton of the Weight Management Program at NYU Langone Medical Center told CBS News in an email. "One interesting fact is that, as obesity has increased over the last 20 years in young and older adults, this study found that the average age that women start dieting has decreased."
The findings will be presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior.
