Fad Diets, Body Image, Nutritional Status, and Nutritional Adequacy of Female Models in Malang City

Abstract

Female model has a variety of body image and experiences social pressure to have low weight. Thus, there is a desire to lose weight with a variety of efforts, such as fad diets. This type of diet can lead to insufficient intake of nutrients in the body and increase the risk of health problems in the long run. The research aimed to analyze fad diets, nutritional status, and nutritional adequacy of female models in Malang. The research design was cross-sectional in 52 female models aged 18–25 years who were selected by simple random sampling. The data of fad diets used in the questionnaire, nutritional status data using the calculation of the last body weight and height, and nutritional adequacy were measured using 2 × 24 hour food recall. Data analysis used the chi-square test. The results of this research showed that most respondents implement fad diets (69%), had negative body image (62%), had a skinny at high level (22%), skinny at mild level (44%), and normal (33%) of nutritional status, and had inadequate nutritional adequacy (77%). There was a significant ( $p=0.023$ ) correlation between fad diets and nutritional adequacy (r = 0.369), and in addition, there was a significant correlation ( $p=0.041$ ) between nutritional status and nutritional adequacy (r = 0.35). It is concluded that the female models who implemented fad diets and nutritional status below normal tended to not have adequate levels of nutritional adequacy because of improper food selection and psychological factors. Female models are expected to be able to conduct weight loss with the assistance of a nutritionist or in accordance with balanced nutrition guidelines.