Cincinnati, U.S.A  - Doctors may be able to predict which girls are at risk of developing eating disorders based on the food choices they make when they are younger, according to a new study by Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.

Researchers in the Divisions of Adolescent Medicine and Behavioral Medicine at Cincinnati Children’s analyzed food preference data collected from girls over a decade – starting at age nine – to see if their choices affected the development of eating disorder symptoms by the time they reached adolescence.

The study, presented at the International Conference on Eating Disorders, compared the girls’ percentage of carbohydrate, fat and protein consumption when they were young to eating disorder symptoms, such as dissatisfaction with body image, erratic eating habits and preoccupation with thinness.

Results varied by age. The percentage of carbohydrate and fat consumption by girls around the age of 11 seemed to predict increases in body dissatisfaction by the age of 14. Girls who consumed a low amount of fat and a high percentage of carbohydrates around the age of 15 were more likely to demonstrate erratic eating habits by age 19 – this was especially true for girls who were characterized as perfectionist, according to the study.

“We know that perfectionists are at high risk for eating disorders,” said Abbigail Tissot, PhD, associate director of the Division of Behavioral Medicine at Cincinnati Children’s and lead author of the study. “They are so committed to perfectly conforming to an unhealthy and extreme idea of beauty, that they get carried away. Unfortunately, these girls who are committed to achieving thinness – no matter what it takes – are actually placing themselves at higher risk for being overweight or obese later in life.”

“Eating disorders are notoriously difficult to treat, so prevention is critical,” said Laurie Dunham, registered dietician at Cincinnati Children’s. “By assessing protein and fat consumption as early as age 9, we can detect which girls may go on to develop eating disorders and step in to help before things get out of control.”

The study is based on analysis of data from the Cincinnati site of the National Growth and Health Study (NGHS), which collected food diary information from 800 girls, following them annually from 1988–1999.

“The study is rare in that it’s based on long-term observation of girls during their transition from pre-puberty through adolescence and into early adulthood,” added Tissot. “This study tells us at what age we should be watching for these eating behaviors, giving parents and physicians useful tools for detecting girls at risk for future eating disorder symptoms.”

A second study, based on the same data, elaborated upon these initial findings, showing that girls who skipped lunch consumed more calories per day than those who ate lunch.

Plenty of studies have been done on the effects of skipping breakfast,” said Tissot. “But at a time when kids’ school lunch periods can vary widely, few studies have looked at the impact of skipping lunch.”

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Romanian model Ioana Spangenberg recently become known for having an unusually small natural waist, measuring only 20 inches. Although the model claims she eats a lot, her body is not allowing her to put on weight. Pictures of her delicate body posted around the web seem to be the outcome of excessive photo editing and rarely taken at face value.

“Every day I eat three big meals and I snack on chocolate and crisps all the time. No one seems to believe that,” confessed the model to British tabloid The Sun.

Her regular diet is neither fatty nor extremely healthy. It consists daily of toast with jam or eggs for breakfast, in-between snacking such as chocolate or crisps, sausages, chicken or potatoes for lunch and finally for dinner, bread with meat or cheese. She admits that when she was a teenager her waist was only 15 inches and nowadays her waist is only five inches larger than a CD.

With a body mass of just 13.6 she is severely underweight according to the health range (from 18.5 to 24.9 BMI). At the Daily Mail, the nutritionist Helen Money explains that: ‘The diet she described contains foods that are very low in essential vitamins and minerals which together with her low body weight suggests that she must be very malnourished.” According to Money it is surprising the model has energy to work because with her weight and diet, she would expect her to be hospitalized.

Fashion has changed over the years and equally so has the concept of sex symbols. We used to have voluptuous stars such as Marilyn Monroe, Ava Garner, Elizabeth Taylor or Bettie Page. Sources on the web shows that in 1960, the average fashion models were about 1.7m and weighed approximately 129 pounds (58.51 kg).

Today, the average model is two inches taller and weight about 114 pounds (51.7 kg). In comparison, the former beauty ideal was forgiven in terms of curves, sizeable hips and waist. It was sexy to have a healthy-looking body but the ‘skinner’ trend began with the famous British model named Twiggy became an ‘it’-girl, leading the change with a weight of only 91 pounds.

A culture obsessed with being thin nowadays makes especially women believe that becoming thin equals beauty. Studies show that women tend to respond more positively to products advertised on skinnier fashion models. The emphasis on these products has been blamed for the continuous prevalence of eating disorders.

The causes of eating disorders are usually very complex but often linked to general understanding, or misunderstandings, of self-worth. Most sufferers of anorexia, bulimia or compulsive over-eating are women, but nowadays the number of affected men is increasing. Anorexia, which involves depriving the body of food, is more common in young people. Bulimia, characterized by a cycle of starving and bingeing is more likely in adults.

According to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders:

• Almost 50% of people with eating disorders meet the criteria for depression.
• Only 1 in 10 men and women with eating disorders receive treatment.
• Only 35% of people that receive treatment for eating disorders get treatment at a specialized facility for eating disorders.
• Up to 24 million people of all ages and genders suffer from an eating disorder (anorexia, bulimia and binge eating disorder) in the U.S.
• Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness.

However, Ioana has not always been happy with her body. She understands that her body is not compatible with the vast majority of women because no designer is going to use her for real clothes lines.

According to Ioana, she was never actively trying to get skinny. In her hometown, being overweight is traditionally seen as a sign that you are from a wealthy family. Because of her body, she shied away from an active social life in order to stay at home and work on gaining weight.

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