Anyone who has been on a diet knows the hard work of counting calories, fat and carbs – and sometimes the sacrificing of flavor for function as we eat whole bran and dry fat-free cardboard food. The worst part about dieting is that nearly all people who manage to lose weight don’t succeed in keeping it off – in most cases the weight returns and sometimes dieters regain more than they lost.

A study at UCLA found that only a small minority of dieters consistently kept the weight off after losing it. Researchers also say that the yo-yo of losing and gaining weight may be linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke, diabetes and altered immune function. The researchers concluded that many people would have been better off had they not gone on a diet at all.

Although a number of diets will work in the short term, researchers found that the largest predictor of future weight gain was whether or not the individual had recently lost weight on a diet.

According to Traci Mann, UCLA associate professor of psychology and lead author of the study, the evidence suggests that exercise, not dieting, may be the key to maintaining weight loss.

“Eating in moderation is a good idea for everybody, and so is regular exercise,” Mann said. “That is not what we looked at in this study. Exercise may well be the key factor leading to sustained weight loss. Studies consistently find that people who reported the most exercise also had the most weight loss.”

Dieting Does Not Work, UCLA Researchers Report

Diet has once more been implicated in the development of breast cancer. An extensive study at the University of Leeds followed 35,000 women for seven years, tracking eating habits and health.

The findings indicate that eating red meat increases a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer and the risk is even higher for post-menopausal women. The higher the intake of red meat, the higher the chance of breast cancer.

For those eating red meat once a day, the risk is 56% higher than those who abstain from red meat.

The risks are even greater for women eating processed meat, such as bacon, sausage or ham. The women eating the highest amount of these meats increased their chance of developing breast cancer by 64%.

Diet does matter when it comes to breast cancer risk. Other studies have shown that, for pre-menopausal women, a diet high in fiber can cut a woman’s risk of breast cancer in half.

Red meat linked to breast cancer University of Leeds

Sexual harassment is an issue that most large employers take seriously and have instituted strict sexual harassment policies as well as educational programs. But for women, sexual harassment may still be a problem in some workplaces. Part of the reason may be that women and men have different definitions of what sexual harassment is and what behavior constitutes sexual harassment.

A study at the University of Missouri found that men generally think that only someone in a position of power – a supervisor or manager – can sexually harass. They view sexual harassment between co-workers as “misunderstandings”.

But women view sexual harassment itself as a bid for power, regardless of the position of the harasser, says Debbie Dougherty, assistant professor of communication in the College of Arts and Science at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

“The fact that men and women were using the same word to describe different behaviors may contribute to the continued existence of sexual harassment,” she said. “So if a man thinks that sexual harassment only comes from a supervisor, he may feel free to make sexual comments to a female coworker. The female coworker is likely to see the sexual comments as a quest for power and label it as sexual harassment.”

Dougherty cites the study data as proof of the importance of sexual harassment training.

Power and Sexual Harassment: Men and Women See Things Differently

It doesn’t matter whether you’re thin or plump, blonde or brunette, tall or petite, every woman is likely to have bad feelings about her body after viewing photos of models in magazines.

A study conducted at the University of Missouri surveyed women on their feelings about themselves, their bodies, hair, weight, etc. One group of women then looked at neutral images and a second group viewed models in magazine ads. The women’s attitudes towards their own bodies were measured again after viewing the images. The women who viewed images of models experienced a drop in their level of satisfaction with their own bodies.

The assumption that only overweight women would be less satisfied with their own bodies was incorrect. All women, regardless of weight experienced an impact in self-image after viewing the magazine models.

Because these images are often computer-enhanced, partially computer-generated and have all imperfections air-brushed out, it is not surprising that no woman feels she comes up to the standards of beauty that are held up by the media.

The study – “Predictors of Media Effects on Body Dissatisfaction in European American Women” – was published in this month’s Sex Roles: A Journal of Research.

Women of All Sizes Feel Badly about their Bodies after Seeing Models