Pro-Eating Disorder Website Viewings Encourage Dangerous Calorie Drop in College Women

Dr. David LaPorte' research is published in the September-October 2010 issue of “European Eating Disorders Review.” (website: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/erv.1009/full)

LaPorte conducted the study with 90 university students, and 73 completed the program. The participants were screened to ensure that they had a normal body mass index and no history of eating disorders. All of the participants were asked to keep food diaries.

One group was exposed to 90 minutes of healthy eating and exercise websites; another group was exposed to 90 minutes of tourism websites; and one group was exposed to 90 minutes of pro-eating disorder websites (sites promoting anorexia or bulimia and extremely thin women).

The group exposed to the pro-eating disorder websites experienced “a significant” decrease in caloric intake from pre- to post-website exposure: 12,167 calories pre-exposure reduced to 9,697 calories after the exposure to the websites. The changes in caloric intake persisted from three weeks after the study ended.

“The results were dramatic: the average reduction of calories was 2,470, which is more than a day’s worth of calories,” LaPorte said. “A total of 21 out 25 subjects exposed to the pro-eating disorders websites reduced their calories; 33 percent of them reduced their intake by more than 4,000 calories by the end of the study.

“This study shows how dangerous these websites can be. If we can see such huge reductions in caloric intake after only 90 minutes of exposure in college age women who were screened to exclude those with eating disorders or disordered eating, imagine the effect these websites could have on a vulnerable teen-ager who has eating issues and may spend hours viewing the site's content.”

Participants were counseled after the study to ensure that they did not experience lasting effects from exposure to the websites.