Link found to size of young girls and eating disorders

GIRLS as young as seven show signs that they will go on to have eating disorders, say researchers.

Pre-teens who are overweight are much more likely to develop bulimia later in life while smaller girls are thought to be more prone to anorexia, but risk lessens as they age.

Researchers took the height and weight of 66,000 girls from 1960 to 1996 at ages seven to 13.

Those who later had anorexia and bulimia were then followed longterm.With bulimia, the heaviest seven-year-old girl had a 50 per cent higher risk, while at age 13 the risk was a third higher.

With anorexia, as childhood BMI increased – they got heavier relative to their height – the risk fell.

Dr Britt Wang Jensen, from the Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg hospitals in Denmark, said: “These results highlight the importance of regularly monitoring weight and height during childhood.”

The research was presented at the European Congress on Obesity.