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Food rewards 'lead to yo-yo and extreme diets'

Monday, 28 February 2011 3:28 PM

If you were given high fat foods as treats as a child, you are more likely to diet as an adult. A survey found people who were rewarded with food as children were also significantly more likely to have a history of dieting - 34% compared to 25%.

The research was commissioned by Slimming World to launch their annual weight loss campaign.

Let’s Beat Obesity Together is Slimming World's annual campaign, involving almost 3,000 Slimming World consultants who run 7,300 groups all over the UK will take part in a range of activities; distributing leaflets and posters across the community; running taster and recipe sessions in group; talking to GPs, councillors, schools and MPs about obesity.

Slimmers will also have the opportunity to be sponsored to lose their weight, with all the proceeds going to a local charity voted for by the group.

Dr James Stubbs, Obesity Researcher for Slimming World, said: "We’re ahelping more than 10,000 young people aged 11-15 directly each year, guiding them towards healthier, realistic food choices and encouraging them to become more active. Initiatives such as this make a real impact on the community.”

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The study commissioned by diet aid manufacturer Slimsticks, also discovered that a worrying one in five people have followed an ‘eating is cheating’ starvation diet and one in ten have tried a liquid diet.

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