At long last, the answer to the latest Beauty Brains poll.
We said that recent research suggests that most college students want to be thinner. Then we asked, which of the following statements are NOT REAL findings of the study? Over
300 people responded and here were the results. Were you one of the people who figured out the BS headline?
1. Women are more dissatisfied with their weight than men.
FALSE. 18% of you thought this was the fake headline, and you are correct! In the study about college students and their thoughts about their weight, men and women were similarly dissatisfied with their weight. However, women were much more dissatisfied with their bodies. Men wanted to either gain or lose weight.
2. 50% of underweight women want to maintain or lose weight
TRUE. 20% of you thought this was the fake story but it’s true. Half of women who are deemed underweight by doctors want to maintain or even lose weight. And as we see from this study about the mortality of people in the US, being underweight is not the healthiest way to be.
3. 10% of normal weight women want to lose enough weight to make them underweight
TRUE. 28% of you thought this one was fake but it wasn’t. It’s true that 10% of normal weight women want to lose so much weight that they would be considered underweight.
4. Underweight people have higher mortality rates than overweight (but not obese) people
TRUE. This one fooled more voters than all the rest. 34% of you thought being underweight was not worse than being overweight. But the truth is, according to this study by the CDC, underweight people have a higher mortality rate than overweight people. In fact, being slightly overweight actually decreased your chances of dying from non-cancer, non-Cardio Vascular Disease causes of death. But don’t go filling up on donuts just yet. People who are overweight had a higher chance of dying from diabetes or kidney disease. Your best bet is to have a BMI in the normal range. Curious about your own BMI? Check it with this BMI calculator.
So, did you get this one right? Why did you answer the way you did? Leave a comment and let the rest of the Beauty Brain community know.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
haha I definitely read number 1 as “women are more dissatisfied with their weight than WITH men.”
which i thought was definitely false haha
This is very interesting. I was always considered underweight in the US but in Europe it is more of a norm. I also started worrying about it since I moved to the US because you here about dangers of being underweight quite a lot. But what exactly is underweight? Are there any guidelines? And why are they different from European?
Underweight is defined in terms of your BMI (Body Mass Index). Anything below an 18.5 BMI is underweight. If you want to figure out yours, put your height and weight stats in this handy calculator.
Brains, I am very disappointed in you.
As scientists, you should know more than ANYONE that correlation does not imply causation. Your statement implies causation, when the CDC study does not make that leap.
There are many possible answers as to why mortality rates are slightly lower for the mildly overweight. The one I believe? A lot of non-cardiovascular diseases cause weight loss, meaning a lot of sick people can fall from heavier categories to the “normal” and “underweight” ones.
Shame on you. I otherwise appreciate your work, but you should know to be careful with your phrasing when it comes to such statistics.
– A chemistry graduate student