Comparative study of rate of weight loss among premorbid and healthy restrictive eaters

Abstract

Initial body mass index (BMI) and rate of weight loss are compared between cohorts of pathological and healthy dieters. The eating disordered sample consists of young adults reported in case studies in the past ten years with a primary diagnosis of anorexia nervosa (AN). The healthy dieters were adolescents who participated in the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health and indicated at the time of study enrollment that they were trying to lose weight. At diet initiation, the anorexic sample had a mean BMI (kg/m2) of 20.5 while the healthy dieters had a mean of 24.8. The median rate of weight loss was -1.87 kg per month (1 pound per week) for individuals later diagnosed with AN, while the median weight change was 0.24 kg per month for the Add Health dieters, reflecting an actual gain of 0.13 pounds per week. These findings suggest that measurable physiological characteristics during the early phase of a diet could be predictive of pathological food restriction.