Eating Disorders Still Prevalent On Campus — UA Faculty Hope To Raise Issues, Awareness On Campus During National Eating Disorders Week

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Despite an increased awareness among young people about the danger of obsessive dieting and eating disorders, UA professors and health center administrators say that eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia are still prevalent on the campus. With the arrival of National Eating Disorders Week, the UA campus community will conduct a campus Eating Disorders Awareness Week Feb. 21-25 to inform students of the warning signs, psychological and physical risks associated with the disease and how to seek help with an eating disorder.

"The first step in approaching a health issue is to develop an awareness of the issues as well as the importance of dealing with the social, physical and emotional components," said Mary Alice Serafini, director of the University Health Center. "Like any health issue, an eating disorder can impede an individual from meeting the challenges of the educational process and can be harmful to the individual. Fortunately, at the University of Arkansas, we have students, faculty and staff who are concerned with the issue and are willing to speak out about eating disorders."

"North American fashion models weigh 23% less today than the average female weighs," said Ro DiBrezzo, professor of kinesiology in the College of Education and Health Professions. "By age 18, more than 80% of woman have been or are actively dieting. More and more children are getting caught up in the cycle of dieting—parents, students, counselors and teachers must address this problem before it consumes another generation of young people."

Nationally, eight million people suffer from some type of eating disorder that most often begins in adolescence, 90 percent of them women. Approximately one percent of all adolescent girls develops anorexia, an extreme method of weight loss resulting in a 15 percent drop in the individual's normal body weight. Another two to three percent of teenage girls develop bulimia, a condition marked by the consumption of large amounts of food followed by a cycle of purging to maintain weight. Binge eating, characterized by episodes of uncontrolled eating or bingeing, affects another two percent of the general population. Although the root causes of these disorders are not fully understood, people who suffer from them categorically have low self-esteem, experience strong feelings of helplessness and search for a method to control themselves and their feelings.

DiBrezzo and Serafini encourage students who suspect that they or a friend have an eating disorder to watch for the warning signs of the diseases and take action before it is too late.

Warning signs of anorexia nervosa include:

• intense fear of becoming fat
• weight loss of at least 15% of normal weight, often in a short period of time
• severe mood changes, becoming withdrawn or isolated
• perfectionist standards
• hyperactivity and obsessive interest in exercise
• paleness, anemia and abnormal growth of hair all over the body (lanugo)
• odd food rituals (obsessive calorie counting, solitary meals)
• extreme sensitivity to the cold

Warning signs of bulimia nervosa include:

• intense fear of becoming fat
• frequent weight fluctuations
• mood changes including depression, shame, guilt, self-criticism, self-disgust
• intense need for others' approval
• swollen salivary glands, puffiness in the cheeks, broken blood vessels under the eyes
• bingeing, secretive eating
• evidence of purging - vomiting, laxative abuse, diuretics, intense exercise
• fasting
• preoccupation with food and weight

Warning signs of binge eating disorder include

• weight fluctuations often resulting in a significant increase in weight
• sporadic dieting and intense food cravings
• ascribing failure to weight and fantasizing about rewards of thinness
• hypertension
• fatigue

In 1998, DiBrezzo and Serafini, along with a group of health administrators and professors on campus, created an anatomically correct, life-sized Barbie Doll to reveal the startling facts behind her dimensions. Standing nearly 7'2" tall with a 40" chest, a 22" waist and 36" hips, thousands of students got a closer look and realized the magnitude of her physical distortion. "It was an eye-opening experience for our students and ourselves," DiBrezzo said. "Being face-to-face with a life-sized Barbie is amusing until you're hit by the insanity of the proportions. Barbie is just one of the many unobtainable body images that especially young women are faced with in our culture."

"Without a change in the media's portrayal of the 'perfect woman' on TV and in magazines, there's no reason that young people—especially young women—won't continue in their attempts to mirror this unattainable beauty," said Serafini. "Although we now know more about eating disorders than ever before, society has to make that crucial last step to eliminate the notion that the skin and bones variety of beauty is the best."

Members of the campus community can receive more information about eating disorders during this awareness week through Health Center activities underway at the Arkansas Union this week. Eating Disorders Awareness week activities include a brown bag lecture on the physical and emotional aspects of eating disorders in the Arkansas Union, Room 510, with Dr. Susan Raben-Taylor, health center physician, and Connie Grubeich, MSLSW, CAPS clinician, on Wednesday, Feb. 23, from 12-1 PM.