Integrated Literature Review: Gender Differences in Dieting
Integrated Literature Review: Gender Differences in Dieting
Introduction
Various studies have shown that gender significantly impacts the eating behavior of individuals. The studies established that eating habits are associated with different types of body shapes. In contemporary society, good body shape and good health are desired by all people irrespective of their gender. However, women are more conscious of their diet than men. This study will analyze available literature with the aim of establishing gender role in dieting and eating habit of men and women. The study will first establish the gender differences in dieting, then gender and extreme dieting, and finally analyze the relation between gender and healthy dieting. The presentation will aid in the logical flow of the ideas of the study, which will lead to the discussion and conclusion at the end of the paper.
General observation of the population reveals that women are more conscious about their health than men. Wardle et al. (2004) explains that women diet and eat healthy foods, whereas, men tend to eat tasty foods even if it contains lots of fats. The sentiments are echoed by Ostovich and Rozin (2004) who observed that women, throughout their life, tend adopt healthy dieting habits than men. Further, despite Markey and Markey (2005) observing that gender does not impact dieting behavior, they indicated that weight management techniques are different among men and women. In addition to gender, economic conditions, body mass index, and depression have been identified as possible influencers of dieting habit of an individual (Rosin, 2012; Gillen et al., 2012). Consequently, gender can be termed as one of the factors that influence dieting habits of an individual, with women tending to be more conscious about dieting than men.
Gender and Extreme Dieting
The adage that states “too much of something is poisonous,” applies to dieting just like every other life experience. Therefore, extreme dieting is expected to breed unhealthy dieting behaviors that are expected to be different for different genders. According to Leonard et al. (2013), the American diet consists of a variety of unhealthy food items. Since women are more conscious about their diet than men, it is expected that they would be more affected by extreme dieting habits. However, this literature review could not find studies conducted to establish the relation between gender and extreme dieting. Since Leonard et al. (2013) suggest the existence of unhealthy food items, it follows that there are dangers posed by excessive dieting habits.
Gender and Healthy Dieting
Discussion and Conclusion
The analysis of the existing literature reveals the presence of gender differences in dieting. However, an in-depth analysis of the topic reveals little information about the gender and extreme dieting as well as gender and healthy dieting. It is, therefore, critical to investigate the relationship between extreme dieting and gender, and that between healthy dieting and gender. Such an investigation would reveal how gender difference in dieting impacts the life expectancy of men and women. Further, it would also offer an explanation to gender difference in ability to fight against certain diseases.
References
Dinkins, J. M., & Lino, M. (2002). Food Trade-Offs: Choosing How to Balance the Diet. Family Economics and Nutrition Review, 14(2), 83-85.
Gillen, M.M., Markey, C.N., & Markey, P.M. (2012). An examination of dieting behaviors among adults: Links with depression. Eating Behaviors, 13(2), 88–93.
Hardy, T.M., & Tollefsbol, T.O. (2010). Epigenetic diet: impact on the epigenome and cancer. Epigenomics, 3(4), 503-518.
Leonard, B., Armstrong, L., Breen, J., Denton, C., & Georgiou, A. (2013, August 28). How Does Diet Impact Health? Retrieved from University of Minnesota: http://www.takingcharge.csh.umn.edu/enhance-your-wellbeing/health/diet-nutrition/how-does-diet-impact-health
Markey, C., and Markey, P. M. . (2005). Relations Between Body Image and Dieting Behaviors: An Examination of Gender Differences. Sex Roles, 53(7-8) , 519-530.
Ostovich, J.M., & Rozin, P. (2004). Body image across three generations of Americans: Inter-family correlations, gender differences, and generation differences. Eating and Weight Disorders - Studies on Anorexia, Bulimia and Obesity, 9(3), 186-193 .
Rosin, O. (2012). Weight-Loss Dieting Behavior: An Economic Analysis . Health Economics, 21(7), 825–838.
Sofi, F., Abbate, R., Gensini, G., and Casini, A. (2010). Accruing evidence on benefits of adherence to the Mediterranean diet on health: an updated systematic review and meta-analysis. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 92(5), 1189-1196 .
Wardle, J., Haase, A. M., Steptoe, A., Nillapun, M., Jonwutiwes, K., & Bellisle, F. (2004). Gender differences in food choice: The contribution of health beliefs and dieting. (Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 27(2) , 107-116.
Willett, W. (1994). Diet and health: what should we eat? Science, 264 (5158), 532-537 .
