Youth anorexia rates alarming in London
With statistics showing the rate of anorexia in London youth may be 10 times higher than the national average, a London centre is taking its message to younger pupils.
London Community Foundation has donated $8,000 to Hope’s Garden Eating Disorders Support and Resource Centre to expand its educational outreach, which includes elementary schools.
“The younger children are showing so many of the precursors to developing an eating disorder,” said Kathy Berg, the president of Hope’s Garden board of directors.
“If we’re going to do early identification and prevention work, we really have to go to the Grades 3 to 6 because that’s where these behaviours are starting.”
While the group has made presentations in the past, the push is on to get more volunteers delivering the message to more Londoners, especially children and those who work with kids.
Hope’s Garden has trained about 10 volunteers for this outreach work.
Its outreach director, JoAnn Banford, who is a registered nurse, said requests for speakers have increased significantly over last year.
Banford has done about 75 presentations this year and in 2005 she did 25.
She said her work also includes presentations to community groups, parent/teacher committees, group homes and recently to a parole board, but she receives a lot of requests from primary grade teachers.
Banford said her interest in that area was tweaked when a Grade 4 teacher contacted her because she had a pupil who was purging. “She wanted some help.”
Jennifer Couturier, the director of the Eating Disorders Program at Children’s Hospital, said she has treated a child as young as nine.
“It does seem that the referrals to our program are getting younger.”
Couturier was at a loss to explain why London has a higher rate of anorexia among the ages of 11 and 20, but she said it needs to be followed up.
A 2001 study surveyed 1,000 students from the Thames Valley District and London District Catholic school boards for behaviour and attitudes indicating an eating disorder.
“It could be the type of questionnaire used picked up on some of the symptoms, but a clinician didn’t interview the students so it’s hard to say for sure if they had anorexia,” Couturier said.
She said talking to young people directly about anorexia or bulimia can backfire. “That can increase the rates of eating disorders.”
She also points to the mass media promoting thinness.
Couturier said that’s why it’s important to teach media literacy to children. “The pictures we see are modified and air-brushed.”
For more information, visit www.hopesgarden.org.
BY THE NUMBERS
Local prevalence of anorexia for girls: 5.5 per cent; boys, 1.1 per cent
National average: .5 to 1 per cent
Local prevalence of bulimia: 2.6 per cent for girls
National average 2-3 per cent
Source: Fisman (2001)
- 25 per cent of boys and 30 per cent of girls 10 to 14 are dieting, even though they fall within the normal weight range.
- Children as young as five are expressing anxiety about weight.
- Teaching pupils about the signs of eating disorders is no longer advised.
Source: National Eating Disorders Information Centre
Via: London FreePress