Urging Your Partner to Diet May Backfire

Urging a partner to diet may seem like a supportive thing to do, but a new study finds it can trigger unhealthy habits such as fasting and taking diet pills -- measures that can then lead to severe eating disorders. Both women and men tended to react negatively to their partners' well-meaning encouragement, said researcher Marla Eisenberg, an associate professor of adolescent health and medicine at the University of Minnesota. "Romantic partners provide important feedback about each other's weight," Eisenberg said. "Encouraging a loved one to diet, however, may do more harm than good." In 2008 and 2009, she surveyed nearly 1,300 young adults in Minnesota, ages 20 to 31 and in relationships. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_139582.html