British Men Overtake Women For Dieting

Research has found that for the first time, British men have overtaken women with regards to the amount of people "dieting", with four fifths of men dieting in the last 6 months as opposed to three quarters of women.

Recent research of 1,618 has shown that British men are now more likely to diet compared to their female counterparts.

When asked "have you been on a diet in the last 6 months?" an expectedly high amount of women answered positively (76%), but surprisingly, 81% of men said that they had dieted to improve either their health or appearance in the same time frame.

Men are less likely to diet for appearance than women, with 52% of men who admitted to dieting in the past 6 months suggesting that ‘health' was the prime factor, opposed to women of which just 29% agreed. The remaining 48% of men and 71% of women dieted because they wanted to improve their appearance.

The main reason for the increase in men dieting is ‘supplementation', according to leading sports nutrition site www.myprotein.co.uk, who commissioned the research, suggesting that protein and creatine supplements designed to improve your appearance by aiding your muscular growth and recovery are behind the surge.

Men from London were more likely to be on a ‘diet' than men from the rest of the country overall, and also the most likely to diet for appearance rather than health benefits.

Oliver Cookson, Managing Director of myprotein.co.uk said,

"Obesity is an issue that affects millions of people in the UK; one that the media place particular emphasis on, which seems to be encouraging the British public to do something about it, whether for health or appearance benefits.

"We have seen a rise in protein sales in the last 6 months, which seems to indicate that more British men are turning to supplementation alongside their exercise routine to help them improve their physiques."