Warning over eating disorder sites
Most eating disorder websites include “thinspiration” pictures of very slim models and celebrities, according to an extensive online review.
A total of 85% contained “thinspiration” photographs, while 83% offered encouragement for disordered eating behaviours.
Some websites contained “very hardcore” information to fuel eating disorders and 79% had calorie counters or body mass index (BMI) calculators.
The study of 180 websites aimed at people with disorders such as anorexia and bulimia, was carried out by experts at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in the US and the Stanford University School of Medicine. They found many websites had forums where sufferers could contact each other for ideas, yet most websites also recognised eating disorders as a disease and around a third had information on recovery.
Dr Rebecka Peebles, senior author of the study, published in the American Journal of Public Health, said: “These sites are fairly diverse. Some sites have very hardcore information about how to intensify your eating disorder, some have a lot of pro-recovery content and many have a mix of both.”
Dina Borzekowski, lead author of the study, said: “Some of the reviewed sites present very dangerous ideas and disturbing material that serve to inform and motivate users to continue behaviours in line with disordered eating and exercise behaviours. Others sites seemed less harmful; they offered links to support recovery from these disorders and gave users venues for artistic expression.”
People with anorexia eat very little, or exercise to excess, to maintain a low body weight. Those with bulimia eat vast quantities of food, then purge by vomiting, over-exercising or taking laxatives or diuretics. Both illnesses can cause serious long-term health problems, and can lead to death.
For the study, experts used search terms to find pro-eating disorder websites. These terms included “Pro-Ana”, “Pro-Anorexia”, “Pro-Bulimia” and “Thin and Support”.
The team looked at forums, calorie counters, themes (including control, success and perfection), “thinspiration” images, tips and techniques for weight loss and recovery information. They created a “perceived harm” score based on how harmful the site might be to users.
Almost one in four (24%) sites had a high-harm score, while the rest were low or medium.
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