Slimming mothers ‘spark daughters’ dieting’

Teenage girls are likely to go on a diet if their mothers try to slim down.

London: A new UK survey has found that most teenage girls are twice as likely to go on a diet if their mothers constantly try to slim down.

The survey of 2,500 girls, aged 13-19 years, by teen magazine Sugar found that 15 percent of teenage girls diet regularly due to comments from parents, pictures of size zero celebrities and the attitudes of friends, reports a news daily. The number doubles if a teenage girl has seen her mother constantly try new diets (35 percent). The survey found that mothers’ attitudes to celebrity body types have an influence, with girls more likely to focus on their waistline if they hear admiring comments about slim stars. While 93 percent of girls were concerned about their size, more than half said their families comment on what they eat. A quarter of the teenage girls claimed they had a friend with an eating disorder. “Mums want the best for our daughters, but we live in a world preoccupied with body size, and inevitably daughters are picking up on, and assimilating, anxieties their mums have,” said Annabel Brog, editor of Sugar. ANI