Iffat Yaqub Choudry, David Bardwell Mumford.
Eating behaviour and Body Dissatisfaction in Slimming and fitness Gyms in Lahore.
J Coll Physicians Surg Pak Jan ;9(5):220-2.

A survey of women attending slimming and fitness gyms in Lahore was conducted using the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT) in English or Urdu (N=72); the Body Shape Questionnaire was also administered to English speakers. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with high EAT scorers and a random sampling of low scorers to identify any eating disorders. Comparisons were made between women attending aerobics and other participants at the gyms. The two groups showed similar levels of dissatisfaction with their body shape. The aerobic exercisers (n=17) had a significantly lower mean body mass index and many were not currently dieting; all were English-speakers. All the other participants were dieting; a third chose to complete the EAT in Urdu. At interview, four women from this group met DSM-III-R Criteria for bulimia nervosa. Two aerobic exercisers had a partial syndrome of bulimia nervosa. (BN) No case of anorexia nervosa (AN) was found. The social context of binging of many of these women differed from the typical western bulimics, by occuring both in private and in public settings. Slimming and fitness training is a new social phenomenon in Pakistan, but one that is likely to grow steadily with the increasing impact of western concepts of ideal female body shape and weight.

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