France has long been associated with fashion, and fashion has unfortunately been linked with unhealthy body image, so it would seem to follow that French teens are at great risk for developing unrealistic expectations related to body size.

Surprisingly, a three-year study involving about 500 French teens indicates otherwise. An Oct. 23 article on the British news website Times Online provided the following details about the research:

The teenagers tended to reject Kate Moss as an example of beauty, citing instead the pop star Beyonce and Amel Bent, the French singer. Most preferred a photograph of the celebrity Nicole Richie taken in December 2004 to one from August 2005, when she had lost weight.

Dorothee Guilhem, an anthropologist at the National Centre for Scientific Research, said that French teenage boys were attracted mainly to women who looked as though they liked their food. "Feminine corporal portliness is not necessarily judged to be ugly by the boys," she said, quoting a 19-year-old as saying: "For a woman, it's normal to have a bit of fat. Its a sign of good health."

"The study contradicts the belief that France was following the U.S. and Britain on the road to obesity and eating disorders," reported Times Online writer Adam Sage.

Labels: body image, france

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The story is ironic, sad and true: A writer who worked as a food critic had a daughter who struggled with anorexia. While Sheila Himmel was judging Americas favorite and finest foods, her daughter Lisa was home starving herself.

California's Mountain View Voice recently reviewed the book that the mother and daughter wrote to chronicle their battle against anorexia:

[Sheila and Lisa] tell their story in a new book, Hungry: A Mother and Daughter Fight Anorexia, which they co-authored&. Hungry is not just another book about anorexia, of which there are many. It is also a portrait of how a confluence of societal and social pressures wreaked havoc on the Himmel family. As Sheila highlights in the book, their situation was fraught with a terrible irony.

Though writing the book was hard and painful, both mother and daughter told The Voice that they are glad they did it. Hungry underscores the obsession most Americans have with food and body image. It also tells a story of successful recovery  a story that many still struggling with eating disorders need to hear.

Labels: anorexia, daughters, parents, mothers

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A 44-year-old judge on a popular British dance competition show has revealed that he continues to experience eating and body image problems decades after struggling with anorexia. An Oct. 18 article on the website stv.tv provided the following details:

Strictly Come Dancing judge Craig Revel Horwood has confessed that he still has problems with his eating habits. The choreographer suffered from anorexia in his 20s.

He told Weekend magazine: "I think I've still got an eating disorder.

"I can eat healthily to a point then I will crack and binge - pizzas especially. I know I shouldn't, but I can't help it."

The 42-year-old admitted that the pressure of being a dancer led to have problems with his body shape.

Craig added: "When I looked in the mirror, I felt fat, so I didn't eat. Obviously, I couldn't have been fat at that weight, but I felt it."

Labels: anorexia, body image, celebrities, dance

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Germans most popular womens magazine -- Brigitte -- recently announced that it will stop using professional models. Instead, it will feature real women in its photo spreads. The move is part of an effort to encourage physical health and end the media-fueled promotion of poor body image.

"Andreas Lebert said the move is a response to readers increasingly saying that they are tired of seeing protruding bones from models who weigh far less than average women," the Associated Press reported. :Fashion centers around the world have begun trying in recent years to combat the size 0 look that has come to dominate the fashion industry."

On its web site, Brigitte called the change "a new epoch." The magazine also encouraged women to submit photos of themselves to be considered for upcoming photo shoots.

Labels: self-esteem, body image, size 0, modeling

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Someone who looks in the mirror and sees an unfit, unattractive, fat person (no matter what the reflection really looks like) has a distorted body image. This mental health issue affects millions of women -- and millions of men, too.

"Male eating disorders are under-diagnosed because society lacks awareness of them and men are less likely to admit they have this medical problem and seek help," Roberto Olivardia, a clinical psychologist at McLean Hospital in Massachusetts, told McClatchy Tribune Newspapers.

Olivardia, who co-authored The Adonis Complex: The Secret Crisis of Male Body Obsession, told McClatchy that he estimates as many as five million men may be affected by body image issues. Causes for distorted body image in men are unknown, as research is still in its infancy.

Labels: body image

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George Washington University has started a new counseling program aimed at increasing awareness and treatment for eating disorders among college students.

Two key components of the push, which encourages students with eating disorders or body issues to seek help, are an improved treatment plan and increased outreach to at-risk groups, including women in sororities and athletes, said Dr. John Dages, the director of the UCC. (Source: The CW Hatchet)

Of the counseling center's 4,300 appointments from last year, about 10 percent were for eating disorder concerns -- though Dr. Dages believes the actual prevalence of eating disorder problems on campus is much higher. The program has implemented a new feature which enables students to set a counseling appointment within 24 hours of calling.

Labels: college_students, counseling

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The Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project recently released comparative information about inpatient admissions for treatment of eating disorders for 1999-2000 and 2005-2006. During that six year span, admissions increased about 18 percent in the United States.

The Pittsburgh Mental Health Examiner provided the following details:

• Anorexia nervosa admissions were up 17 percent.
• Admissions for treatment of bulimia nervosa dropped 7 percent within the same time frame.
• The "other/unspecified" eating disorder diagnosis increased by 41 percent.

Perhaps the most shocking statistic was the increase in hospitalizations for kids under the age of 12, which was up a staggering 119 percent. The number of males hospitalized, across all age groups, jumped 37 percent.

Labels: hospitals

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In her memoir, Insatiable, author Erica Rivera gives an unflinching account of her battle with anorexia and offers valuable insights into this dangerous, and sometimes deadly, eating disorder.

A review in the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star-Tribune provided the following introduction to Rivera's recollections:

The book& opens slowly, with somewhat stilted scenes that are apparently meant to establish the origins of her compulsion: a possibly anorexic and suicidal mother. A father who comforted with food. A brother who binged. A canoe trip where the pretty camp counselors remember their mascara but forget the food. (Lesson learned, says Rivera, that beauty is more important than eating.)

Once the stage is set, the Star-Tribune reported, Rivera writes passionately and eloquently about her eating disorder; the voices in her head, the obsession with food, and her seemingly uncontrollable need to rid herself of every calorie she consumed. Rivera also tells of how writing, both in school and and a local workshop, helped to save her life.

Labels: anorexia, surviving

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Doctors in British Columbia, Canada have determined that health impact of anorexia can a womans lifespan by about 25 years.

The B.C. specialists who published the research this month say they hope their dramatic life-expectancy statistics will both motivate anorexia patients to get better, and spur governments to more generously fund work on the condition, the Canadian newspaper The National Post reported.

Among the studys results was the finding that a 15-year-old girl who develops an eating disorder will die at age 56 -- 25 years sooner than the life expectancy of the average Canadian female.

Dr. Laird Birmingham, lead researcher and psychiatry professor at the University of British Columbia, said he also hopes the findings will counter the stigma often associated with anorexia and prompt more people to get help.

Labels: anorexia, life_expectancy

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Five campus organizations have united to present Body Image and Eating Disorder Week at the University of Notre Dame. The weeklong campaign, which started Oct. 1, includes panel discussions, art exhibits and even movie screenings.

An Oct. 2 article by Nora Kenney of The Observer Online provided the following information about the awareness effort:

The event began on Thursday with the "Love Your Body, Love Thee Notre Dame" poster campaign as well as a guided tour of the "Thin" exhibit with Steve Moriarty, Curator of Photography at the Snite Museum.

"I'm just really excited about this week, and the reason I'm so excited is that there is unity in trying to get this message out," Mandy Lewis, president of Feminist Voice, said. Lewis said eating disorders and negative body images are both huge issues on campus as well as in society.

"The whole point of this week is to tell you that you're not alone. This is a huge problem," she said. "This is not just an individual problem. This is a reflection of societal problems."

Labels: awareness, body image, eating disorders

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In a unique effort to combat eating disorders and distorted body image among women and girls, French parliamentarians have proposed a new law for digitally enhanced ads and fashion photos.

A Sept. 22 Agence France Presse (AFP) article provided the following details:

Parliamentarian Valerie Boyer, a member of President Nicolas Sarkozy's UMP party, and some 50 other [members of parliament], have proposed a law aimed at fighting touched up images that distort reality.

"Such images can lead people to believe in a reality that often does not exist," Boyer said in an explanatory statement.

The proposed legislation calls for photographs of people "whose body image has been digitally manipulated to be accompanied by a statement saying 'digitally enhanced to modify a person's body image.'"

It also calls for fines of 37,500 euros (55,000 dollars) for non-compliance with the health warning.

Unrealistic media images have been identified as potential causes of poor self-image and unhealthy body image in young consumers -- problems that, in turn, have been associated with increased risk for depression and eating disorders.

Labels: media_influences, legislation, international

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Writing in the Yale Daily News, student Elizabeth Deutsch expressed concern over the simultaneous prevalence of and silence surrounding eating disorders on the Yale campus, and called for increased openness about these potentially deadly disorders:

Eating disorders are linked to depression and obsessive thinking and behavior that can be stifling to the people who suffer from them; in this way, eating disorders drain life force from our campus, not only preventing us from being the healthy, balanced community we could be, but also keeping us from realizing our collective creative potential. ...

We live together, eat together and engage with each other constantly. The people in our community suffering from anorexia, bulimia or other forms of disordered eating are our friends and roommates, our classmates and colleagues. Yet as a collective community we don't seem to acknowledge the suffers in our midst or wonder why they might be suffering in higher numbers here. ...

Something has to give. Being more open as a community about the problem and having our administration acknowledge that members of its student body are suffering is a start.

Yale is far from the only school with this problem, as eating disorders among high school and college students are prevalent on campuses across the nation.

Labels: schools, students

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A group of Canadian pediatricians will take part in a national study aimed at better understanding eating disorders in the very young.

"The survey by the Canadian Paediatric Surveillance Program is the first ever attempt to measure rates of bulimia nervosa in children aged five to 18," reported the Harbor City Star. "The study is driven in part by a recent trend noticed by doctors to see eating disorders appear at earlier ages among children."

In Toronto, hospital researchers have been surprised to find symptoms of bulimia in children younger than 12, an age which was previously believed to be the limit for how early eating disorders can develop.

Labels: canada, research, children

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