Many young women don't notice when they gain some extra weight, and self-perception of weight gain is significantly influenced by ethnicity, race and birth control methods, says a new study.

Researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston surveyed 466 women, average age 25, about their weight and other health measures every six months for three years. Nearly one-third of the women did not recognize weight gains of 4.5 pounds during a six-month period, and nearly one-quarter did not recognize weight gains of 8.8 pounds.

But black women and those who used the birth control injection depot medroxyprogesterone acetate, or DMPA, were most likely to recognize weight gain.

Complete your profile to continue reading and get FREE access to BenefitsPRO, part of your ALM digital membership.

Your access to unlimited BenefitsPRO content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:

  • Breaking benefits news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
  • Critical converage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.