Aim: The percentage of underweight women
in the population of women executives is almost
twice that in the general female population
of Germany. To attain this ideal, these
women prefer certain forms of restrained
eating. In this context it would be of interest
to know whether the proportions of
underweight young career-minded female
students is also above average, and whether
restrained eating patterns are frequent. To
answer these questions it is necessary to establish
the proportions of underweight, normal
weight and overweight female students
by asking for body height and body weight
and determining the body-mass-index (BMI).
In additional, questions about student nutrition
habits should indicate whether they use
forms of restrained eating.
Method: At the end of 2007 a questionnaire
designed by us was sent by email to all 1044
female students of Furtwangen University,
Germany. 265 students (25.4 %) returned the
filled-in questionnaire. Among other questions,
we asked the students for their weight
and height. The nutrition behaviour questions
were mainly closed-ended questions.
Results: The female students surveyed were
on average 167.6 cm tall and weighed 60.5 kg.
The average body mass index of these female
students was 21.11 kg/m2 and thus in the
low normal range. Conspicuously, the proportion
of underweight young women was
quite high (13.9 %). 10.3 % of the students
were overweight. Most of the young women
surveyed stated that they do not eat regular
meals when they are at university. About half
of the students had dieted to lose weight
once or more often. Many of them reported
other strategies to keep their weight stable
such as more sport or avoidance of food that
might make them fat.
Conclusions: Most of the students strive for
a BMI in the low normal or even in the underweight
range. They try to attain this by means
of strategies which they do not consider to
be a form of weight reduction diet, but a
normal regulation mechanism to keep their
weight constant. However, especially female
students with a high level of perfectionism,
staying power and self-motivation who practice
such forms of restrained eating are at a
high risk of developing an eating disorder,
in most cases a restrictive eating disorder.
An important preventive measure should be
early instruction in nutrition science within a
biopsychosocial context.
