New research carried out by a team of Finnish researchers and published on leading Irish website irishhealth.com has claimed that almost one in five teenagers could have eating problems.

The European study carried out two health surveys of almost 400 teenagers, aged 15 to 17 and found that 13% of the teens admitted to eating problems in either the first or second survey. A further 5% reported problems in both surveys. This means that at any one time, 18% had eating problems.

The researchers found that compared to boys, girls were twice as likely to report eating problems on one occasion and were five times more likely to have ongoing problems.

Despite the findings, the researchers found that when they looked at the height and weight records for the students, those with persistent eating problems were more likely to be of a normal weight, rather than over or underweight.

Eating disorders are complex, life-threatening conditions from which people can and do get better with appropriate treatment. Eating disorders can affect anyone. They can be seen as a way of coping with unmanageable feelings.

Why Might A Person Develop An Eating Disorder?
There is no single cause which can explain why a person develops an eating disorder. It is usually a combination of factors (biological, psychological, familial and socio-cultural) that come together to create conditions in which an eating disorder is more likely to take hold.

The disorder often develops gradually as a response to an upset in a person’s life. This could be a traumatic event, a loss or major change in a person’s life, bullying, critical comments about weight or shape, an overload of stress.

The distress felt will relate not only to the current upset but also to a store of past upsets that have never been expressed.

A person without a strong sense of who they are and who is concerned with meeting the standards and expectations of others is more vulnerable. This explains why eating disorders occur so often during adolescence when identity is an issue, the opinion of peers is so important and parental expectations are resisted.

Eating disorders occur in societies that promote thinness as a means of achieving health, success and happiness. Dieting has been proven to be an important risk factor in the development of eating disorders.

For the person with an eating disorder, food is turned to as a means of relieving distress and achieving some degree of control over life. The world feels like an unsafe place in which the person cannot trust that their needs will be met. The eating disorder provides them with a sense of safety. They may even feel that they need it in order to survive.

It serves a purpose in the life of the person affected. It is their way of coping and of protecting themselves from feeling ineffective in shaping their world. It is therefore unrealistic to expect someone with an eating disorder to be able to give it up without a fight. Resistance to treatment is normal.

Help is out there - Bodywhys
Bodywhys– The Eating Disorders Association of Ireland, is the national organisation dedicated to offering support, information and understanding for people affected by eating disorders including family and carers.
Bodywhys is adamant that people with eating disorders should not be discriminated against or stigmatised. An eating disorder should not inhibit any individual’s right of access to equal opportunities available to all members of society.

If you or someone you know has an eating disorder and would like some help, please contact Bodywhys– The Eating Disorders Association Of Ireland at PO Box 105, Blackrock, Co Dublin or email info@bodywhys.ie. Helpline: 1890 200 444. www.bodywhys.ie