A provocative debate on the conceptions of beauty was held at the heart of fashion this week in a bid for change. The size zero debate has been going on for years, drawing opinions from fashion designers, models, politicians and doctors alike – and it shows no sign of slowing. In the past few weeks read more »

The death of medical student Sarah Houston has highlighted the dangers of buying substances online. University student Sarah Houston was 23 and receiving treatment for anorexia and bulimia when she was found dead by her flatmate in September last year. A lethal combination of antidepressants and illegal weight loss product Dinitrophenol (DNP) were the cause read more »

Eating Disorder Awareness Week is between 11-17 February 2013. This year the message b-eat are keen to spread is that everybody knows somebody – eating disorders are more common than we think. There are many different types of eating disorders currently affecting people around the world, from anorexia nervosa and bulimia to binge eating disorder. read more »

A new study suggests that fictional representations of women in female led literature (or chick lit) could have a damaging effect on women’s body image. Academics from Virginia Tech looked at the effect protagonists and their body esteem have on female readers. The team concluded that health officials should be concerned about women’s responses to read more »

Sunita Pattani realised she had an issue with food when her husband left her out of the blue saying, “I can’t watch you doing this to yourself”. Pattani was suffering from binge eating disorder, or BED, a disorder that often goes unrecognised, even by its sufferers. BED is less well known than eating disorders such read more »

Britain’s unhealthy culture is ‘out of kilter with most of the civilised world’, the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) has warned. In her report, CMO Professor Dame Sally Davies brought together health data from across the UK and Europe to paint a comprehensive picture of the country’s health. Local authorities and local health professionals will use read more »

As well as increasingly the likelihood of health problems such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease, being overweight or obese can seriously impact a teenager’s mental health. Overweight teenagers are at greater risk of social alienation, low self-esteem and body dissatisfaction than their slimmer peers. A new study published in the read more »

Last year UK hospital admissions for people with eating disorders rose by 16% to 2,288. More worrying still, more than 50 of those people were younger than 10 years old. The statistics, which come from the Health and Social Care Information Centre, also showed that the biggest increase was amongst girls aged between 10 and read more »

Leading expert in eating disorders Professor Bryan Lask told BBC Newsnight that eating disorder patients are continuing to get younger and younger, with the number of patients under the age of 10 on the increase.  Eating disorders cost the NHS an estimated £1.26bn every year in England, & whilst the number of those affected remains read more »

According to a recent study headed by an expert in the psychology of appearance, there has been a noteable rise in the percentage of over 70s now experiencing anxiety and low self-esteem relating to their body image. Professor Nichola Rumsey from the University of the West of England’s centre for appearance research is responsible for read more »