Intentional weight control and food choice habits in a national representative sample of adults in the uk

ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE: To establish the association between intentional weight control and specific eating behaviours. DESIGN: An interview-based survey of a representative sample of the UK

population including questions about demographic characteristics, weight and height, intentional weight control and eating behaviours. Associations among the eating behaviours, and between

weight control and eating behaviours, were examined. SUBJECTS: 1894 men and women completed the interview (70% response rate). RESULTS: Approximately equal proportions of the sample were

‘not bothered about weight’ (30%), ‘watching their weight’ (36%), or ‘trying to lose weight’ (28%). More men were ‘not bothered’ and more women were ‘trying to lose’. People who were trying

to lose or were watching their weight were more likely to report restricting fats, sugars, snacks, and the amount eaten at meals, than those who were not bothered, but there were no

differences between weight watchers and weight losers. The overall level of restriction among weight losers was modest. There were no group differences in eating breakfast, fruits or

vegetables, skipping meals or fasting. CONCLUSIONS: Around two-thirds of the adult population of the UK appear to be concerned about weight control, and this is reflected in somewhat higher

than average adherence to recommended restrictive dietary habits. Access through your institution Buy or subscribe This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

ACCESS OPTIONS Access through your institution Subscribe to this journal Receive 12 print issues and online access $259.00 per year only $21.58 per issue Learn more Buy this article *

Purchase on SpringerLink * Instant access to full article PDF Buy now Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout ADDITIONAL ACCESS OPTIONS: * Log in * Learn

about institutional subscriptions * Read our FAQs * Contact customer support SIMILAR CONTENT BEING VIEWED BY OTHERS IMPROVING WEIGHT LOSS RCTS. MEASURING THE STEP WEIGHT CHANGE FROM A

SUSTAINED CHANGE IN FREQUENCY OF A PARTICULAR EATING OR EXERCISE PATTERN Article Open access 06 December 2022 DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE NORMAL AND PERCEIVED APPROPRIATE PORTION SIZES OF

DISCRETIONARY FOODS Article Open access 21 January 2025 DOES MENU CALORIE LABELLING CAUSE OR EXACERBATE EATING DISORDERS? Article Open access 28 August 2024 REFERENCES * WHO . _Obesity:

preventing and managing the global epidemic_ WHO: Geneva 1998. Google Scholar  * Williamson DF, Serdula MK, Anda RF, Levy A, Byers T . Weight loss attempts in adults: goals, duration and

rate of weight loss _Am J Public Health_ 1992 82: 1251–1257. Article  CAS  Google Scholar  * Serdula MK, Williamson DF, Anda RF, Levy A, Heaton A, Byers T . Weight control practices in

adults: results of a multistate telephone survey _Am J Public Health_ 1994 84: 1821–1824. Article  CAS  Google Scholar  * Blokstra A, Burns CM, Seidell JC . Perception of weight status and

dieting behaviour in Dutch men and women _Int J Obes_ 1999 23: 7–17. Article  CAS  Google Scholar  * Gregory J, Foster K, Tyler H, Wiseman M . _The dietary and nutritional survey of British

adults_ HMSO: London, 1990. * Blair AJ, Booth DA, Lewis VJ, Wainwright CJ . The relative success of official and informal weight reduction techniques: retrospective correlational evidence

_Psychol Health_ 1989 3: 195–206. Article  Google Scholar  * Tuschl RJ, Laessle RG, Platte P, Pirke KM . Differences in food-choice frequencies between restrained and unrestrained eaters

_Appetite_ 1990 14: 9–13. Article  CAS  Google Scholar  * Jeffrey RW, French SA . Socio-economic status and weight control practices among 20- to 45-year-old women _Am J Public Health_ 1996

86: 1005–1010. Article  Google Scholar  * Levy AS, Heath AW . Weight control practices of US adults trying to lose weight _Ann Int Med_ 1993 119: 661–666. Article  CAS  Google Scholar  *

Office of National Statistics Technical Report, Omnibus Survey, March 1999. * Bowling A, Windsor J . Discriminative power of the health status questionnaire 12 in relation to age, sex and

longstanding illness: findings from a survey of households in Great Britain _J Epidemiol Public Health_ 1997 5: 564–573. Google Scholar  * Prescott-Clarke P, Primatesta P . _Health survey

for England_ 1997 The Stationery Office: London, 1999. Google Scholar  * Booth DA . Evidence-based reduction of obesity: identification of a subculture's least fattening eating patterns

_Appetite_ 1999 32: 80–85. Article  CAS  Google Scholar  * Crawford D, Own N, Broom D, Worcester M, Oliver G . Weight control practices of adults in a rural community _Austral N Z J Public

Health_ 1998 22: 73–79. Article  CAS  Google Scholar  * French SA, Jeffery RW, Forster JL . Dieting status and its relationship to weight, dietary intake, and physical activity changes over

two years in a working population _Obes Res_ 1994 2: 135–144. Article  CAS  Google Scholar  * French SA, Jeffery RW, Murray D . Is dieting good for you?: prevalence, duration and associated

weight and behaviour changes for specific weight loss strategies over four years in US adults _Int J Obes_ 1999 23: 320–327. Article  CAS  Google Scholar  Download references

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This work was supported in part by the Economic Research Council and the Medical Research Council. AUTHOR INFORMATION AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * Department of Epidemiology

and Public Health, ICRF Health Behaviour Unit, University College London, London, UK J Wardle, J Griffith, F Johnson & L Rapoport Authors * J Wardle View author publications You can also

search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * J Griffith View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * F Johnson View author publications You can

also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * L Rapoport View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar CORRESPONDING AUTHOR Correspondence to

J Wardle. RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Wardle, J., Griffith, J., Johnson, F. _et al._ Intentional weight control and food choice

habits in a national representative sample of adults in the UK. _Int J Obes_ 24, 534–540 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijo.0801188 Download citation * Received: 15 July 1999 * Revised:

01 October 1999 * Accepted: 25 November 1999 * Published: 31 May 2000 * Issue Date: 01 May 2000 * DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijo.0801188 SHARE THIS ARTICLE Anyone you share the

following link with will be able to read this content: Get shareable link Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article. Copy to clipboard Provided by the Springer

Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative KEYWORDS * obesity * dieting * weight control * food choice