Are Very Low Calorie Diets (VLCDs) responsible for disordered eating? A comparative analysis on the long-term effects of VLCDs on body attitudes and image, mood, eating and general psychological functioning

Pages: 914-918
Prerna Varma (School of Social Sciences, IGNOU, India)
Nitika Pawar (School of Social Sciences University of Northampton, UK)

The quest for thinness is on rise. With increasing influence from traditional and social media and photoshopped images, young women are resorting to 800-1000 calorie VLCD for quick weight loss. While dieting is considered a symptom and sometimes and even a result of Eating Disorders, researches are limited in context of its relation to development of Eating Disorders and effect on general psychological functioningof Indian women. This 40 Week study,for women aged 15-35 years, was initiated to understand the long term effects of Very Low Calorie Diets (VLCDs) on weight, attitude towards body, body-image, self-esteem, mood, eating patterns and psychological functioning while comparing the effects of Balanced Diet (BD) on same dependent variables. It also sought to discover whether a causal relationship existed between VLCDs and development of Eating Disorders. While we couldn’t establish a causal relationship, investigations and comparison of results between VLCD and BD at Week 40th revealed that women following VLCD were prone to developingissues with body-image, self-esteem and body attitudes, with mood fluctuations, interpersonal and affective problems in long run, possibly due to subsequent weight gain and getting back on the cycle of VLCDs, while those on BD displayed reduced scores on cognitive restraint, disinhibition and hunger with increased body satisfaction. Longitudinal studies are warranted in the field for comprehensive understanding of cause-effect between VLCDs and Eating Disorders.