We Examine Links between the Food Environment, Eating Habits, and Mental Health & Wellbeing
Would placing a warning label on a fashion advertisement help prevent eating disorders?
There has been interest in policies to place warning labels on fashion advertisements. Our research, along with other studies, has found this may have a negative unintended consequence of making women feel worse about their bodies
Methods
118 female undergraduates were randomized to view and rate fashion images either with or without a warning label in a laboratory setting. They then ate snacks and answered questions. 64 participants also completed follow up online surveys asking them to view and rate fashion images with and without warning labels once per week for 4 weeks. The warning label read: “Warning: this photograph has been altered in a manner that could promote unrealistic expectations of appropriate body image.”
Results
We saw no short-term impact of the warning labels on affect, body dissatisfaction, or calories eaten. But, people who often restrict their food intake, ate fewer calories in the lab after seeing the warning labels (their mean was 170 calories vs. 286 for the group who did not see the labels). Further, the warning labels had not long-term protective effects, and increased participants’ appearance orientation.
Implications
The study, along with other research, suggests advocacy groups and policymakers should proceed with caution before recommending that companies place warning labels on fashion advertisements. The design of such labels needs to be carefully tested, as some may produce unintended consequences.
Eating Disorder Diagnosis
In the last four versions of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), a diagnosis of anorexia nervosa required a female to have an absence of menses (amenorrhea) for three months.
In collaboration with colleagues at the Columbia Center for Eating Disorders, we conducted a study and found no meaningful clinical differences between those who did and did not meet the amenorrhea diagnostic criteria.
In a paper for the DSM-5 task force, our research-based recommendation to remove amenorrhea as a diagnostic criterion was subsequently implemented in the new version of DSM-5.
In a study led by Dr. Jennifer Thomas, we examined the inconsistent application of the DSM-IV diagnostic criterion for weight loss for anorexia nervosa. This study revealed that researchers were using a range of body weight percentage or body mass index cut offs to diagnosis anorexia nervosa – and these cut-offs lead to dramatically different prevalence estimates for the illness.
In a study led by Dr. Robyn Sysko, we demonstrated adequate test-retest reliability of the new proposed criteria for binge eating disorder, which became an official eating disorder diagnosis in DSM-5.
Our research has also suggested that changing the DSM-5 criteria to reduce the required binge eating and/or purging frequency criteria from twice weekly to once weekly would capture clinically significant cases.
Weight Bias
Our research has shown associations between internalized weight bias and negative outcomes among adolescents
Assessment Tools
We have developed an assessment tool called the Eating Loss of Control Scale to measure loss of control eating on a continuous scale rather than the previous presence or absence rating.
In collaboration with Dr. Ashley Gearhardt, we have published an assessment tool to measure food addiction in children
