Slimming obsession has big, fat consequences

ALLAHABAD: The itch to be ultra slim like supermodels and celebs is weighing heavy on the minds of young women, making them ill and susceptible to eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia, says an Allahabad University (AU) study.

What is more, the urge to match stick-thin models with ‘photoshopped’ skin is also affecting their self-esteem, the study points out.

The study’s findings, submitted to International Journal of Applied Home Science for publication, have also established that a large number of girls perceive themselves to be larger than they really are.

The study on 1,000 college and university going young women in the age group of 17 to 22 was carried out by research scholar of AU’s department of Home Science Anshu Johry under the guidance of her department head prof Sangita Srivastava.

“Over 66% girls, who were part of the study described themselves as normal or overweight when in fact they were underweight. Likewise, 52.3% of these girls were found to have disturbed eating behaviour but not necessarily suffering from clinical anorexia nervosa or other eating disorders,” said Johry.

Dissatisfaction with their bodies was also causing many young women to strive for the thin ideal.

“We found that 38.2% of the girls had engaged in at least one weight loss behaviour and used some kind of laxatives or diet pills and tried to fast and starve themselves. Around 50.2% had a score under 20 which is indicator of average self esteem and 23.05% were found suffering from low self-esteem. Therefore, the majority were in the average and low selfesteem category,” explained the young researcher.

During the study ,45% of the girls showed mild dissatisfaction, 29% expressed moderate body dissatisfaction while another 12% showed severe body dissatisfaction. Mere 14% respondents had no concern about body dissatisfaction.

“The average female model is 5’10’’ and weighs 49 kg while the average Indian female is 5’3” and weighs 63 kg that makes the average model at least 13kg lighter and 7 inches taller than the average female looking at her,” says Sangita Srivastava who led the study.

“Here, the impact of the mass media on adolescents by way of unrealistic airbrushed and computer- enhanced pictures is particularly vulnerable because this is the age when they are more easily influenced. These girls start idealising and wish to conform to those images and as a result are famished, and often fall prey to fertility problems and other long term diseases,” she adds.