Tightening the Waist Band: Is better regulation needed to reduce harmful practices of the diet industry?

这项研究旨在首次详细分析节食行业和企业减肥公司的危害，以及企业结构和监管在维持和预防对妇女健康和福祉的伤害方面的作用。这项研究将重点放在监管和监管过程上，考虑监管在减少“节食”行业有害行为方面的作用。节食业--这个术语涵盖了一系列促进减肥的公司、产品和服务--已经开发出各种减肥饮食的专门营销，每一种减肥饮食都是为了让女性相信，她们的计划最值得她们的时间和金钱。这些容易获得的节食计划的问题是，要想取得成功，它们必须各有特色。这通常涉及到一些做法，使人们依赖于付费会员资格，以“正确”地应用该计划。现有的研究表明，对与节食有关的建议几乎没有或没有有效的监管，这会产生有害的影响，特别是对女性。因此，这项研究将考察支撑饮食行业的公司结构和监管程序，以及妇女的健康和福祉在多大程度上受到优先考虑。使用定性、混合方法的方法，这项研究将应用方法和技术来产生该领域的新的和前沿的知识进步。最终，通过结合对监管和监管流程的分析，以及使用过饮食行业服务的女性的生活体验，这项研究旨在为女性减肥体验以及她们的健康和福祉做出积极的改变。

This research aims to provide the first detailed analysis of the harms of the diet-industry and corporate weight-loss companies and the role of corporate structures and regulation in both perpetuating and preventing harm to women's health and wellbeing. Focusing on regulation and regulatory processes, the research will consider the role of regulation for reducing harmful practices of the 'diet' industry. The diet-industry - a term that covers the range of companies, products, and services that promote weight-loss - has developed specialised marketing of varying weight-loss diets, each tailored to convince women that their programme is most worth their time and money. The problem with these easily accessible diet programmes is, to be successful, they must each appear unique. This often involves practices that make people reliant on paid memberships in order to 'correctly' apply the plan. Existing research suggests that there is little or ineffective regulation around advice in relation to dieting, and this has a detrimental impact, especially on women. Therefore, this research will examine the corporate structures and regulatory processes that underpin the diet-industry and to what extent women's health and well-being is prioritised. Using a qualitative, mixed-methods approach, this research will apply methods and techniques to generate new and cutting-edge knowledge advancements in this area. Ultimately, through combining an analysis of regulation and regulatory processes, and lived-experiences of women who have used diet-industry services, the research intends to contribute to positive changes in women's experiences around weight-loss, as well as their health and wellbeing.