Eating Disorder Web Sites May Sway Teens

May 16, 2005 -- Many teens with eating disorders visit web sites promoting eating disorders, and they often adopt dangerous diet practices as a result, a new study shows.

Teens with eating disorders who visit those sites spend more time in the hospital and less time on schoolwork, say researchers from Stanford University, including medical student Jenny L. Wilson.

They presented their findings in Washington at the annual meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies.

Eating Disorders: Millions Affected, Severe Health Dangers

As many as 10 million women and 1 million men in the U.S. are affected by eating disorders anorexia and bulimia, and 25 million more people have binge-eating disorder, says the National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA).

Eating disorders can be deadly, damaging psychological and physical health. The disorders are mainly seen in teens and young adults, and not just among women. Men account for about 10% of people with eating disorders who come to the attention of mental health professionals, says the NEDA.

Anorexia's self-starvation may prompt abnormally slow heart rate and low blood pressure (showing changes in heart muscle), osteoporosis, muscle loss, weakness, severe dehydration (possibly leading to kidney failure), fainting, fatigue, dry skin and hair, and hair loss, says the NEDA.

Bulimia's binge-and-purge cycles can wreak havoc on the digestive system and cause tooth decay, says the NEDA.

Pro-Eating Disorder Sites Outnumber Recovery Sites

Some web sites tout eating disorders as a "lifestyle choice," not a disease, say Wilson and colleagues. There are five times as many of those sites as there are web sites dedicated to recovery from eating disorders, says Wilson in a news release.

Pro-eating disorder web sites "are well-designed and alluring, often with a gateway emphasizing the danger of the site that can be attractive to teens," says Rebecka Peebles, MD, in the news release. Peebles, who worked on the study, specializes in adolescent medicine at California's Stanford and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital.

In March, the NEDA released a poll of 1,500 U.S. adults about eating disorders. Almost all participants (96%) called eating disorders a "very serious illness," and 43% said they or someone they knew had had an eating disorder.

Eating Disorder Survey

Wilson's survey included 52 teens treated for eating disorders at Stanford's adolescent medicine division since 1997. The teens were about 17 years old, on average; 94% were female and half were currently in treatment for their eating disorder.

Four out of 10 teens said they had visited pro-eating disorder web sites. Thirty-four percent said they had visited sites emphasizing recovery from eating disorders. Almost one in four said they had visited both types of sites.

Risky Behaviors, Alarming Consequences

Many teens ventured farther down the wrong road after visiting pro-disorder sites, picking up new and potentially dangerous dieting practices online.