Pressure to Keep Weight Off for Sports Hurts Teens

By Betsy Lievense, Ivanhoe Health Correspondent

ORLANDO, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Parents are quick to attribute kids' eating disorders to the recent proliferation of ultra-thin Hollywood superstars like Paris Hilton or Nicole Ritchie, but a recent study reveals participating in sports that emphasize body weight can lead to unhealthy behaviors, too.

Researchers at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis/St. Paul found teens who participate in weight-based sports like ballet, wrestling and gymnastics are more likely to use laxatives, diet pills, diuretics, steroids and vomiting to control their weight than teens who do not participate in weight-related sports.

"I think first of all, in general, it's a wonderful thing for teenagers to participate in sports," Dianne Neumark-Sztainer, Ph.D., a professor in the school of public health at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis/St. Paul and author of, "'I'm Like, SO FAT!: Helping Your Teen Make Healthy Choices in a Weight-Obsessed World," told Ivanhoe. "However, we need to know that for some teenagers, participating in a sport that they feel pressures them to be at a certain weight, can have negative consequences."

The new study is based on adolescents' responses to the EAT Survey, which was administered to 4,746 students at 31 public high schools located in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minn. After analyzing the data, researchers found males are more likely to participate in weight-based sports than females. They also found males in weight-based sports are 5.7-times more likely to vomit in a given week than males not involved in weight-based sports, and these young men are six-times more likely to use diuretics to control their weight. Steroid use is also higher among males involved in weight-based sports, which can be dangerous, as these drugs increase aggression, hostility, anger, irritability, depression, and anxiety in teens. Females involved in weight-based activities were twice as likely as their non-sports playing counterparts to control their weight with self-induced vomiting and also used higher amounts of laxatives and steroids.

"The overall prevalence of these unhealthy weight control behaviors is much higher in girls than in boys, but the association with the sport was higher in boys," said Dr. Neumark-Sztainer. "We think it's because with girls, there's so many other factors [to maintain a certain weight], like pressure from the media, family, and friends."

According to Dr. Neumark-Sztainer, teens with low self esteem, impulsive behavior, a tendency toward perfection, or concerns about their overall body image may be at increased risk for unhealthy weight management. Dr. Neumark-Sztainer said these teens should not be excluded from participating in weight-based sports, but parents should keep a close eye on them by monitoring what they eat during family meals. Coaches can help combat the problem by emphasizing the importance of performance instead of size and by modeling acceptance of different body shapes and sizes.

"I really think our emphasis as parents, educators, and health care providers needs to be to help adolescents feel better about their bodies, so that they'll want to take care of them through healthy eating and physical activity, and avoid unhealthy weight control behaviors and supplement use," said Dr. Neumark-Sztainer.

This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, which offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, click on: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.

SOURCE: Ivanhoe interview with Dianne Neumark-Sztainer, Ph.D.; Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 2007;107:434-440