In a sense, eating disorders are diets and fitness or sport programs gone horribly wrong. A person who wants to lose weight, get fit, excel in his or her sport but then loses control and ends up with their body ravaged by starvation, binge eating, purging, and /or frantic compulsive exercise.

According to a research project done by the NCAA 93% of the reported problems were in women’s sports. The sports that had the highest numbers of eating disorders were Women’s Cross Country, gymnastics, swimming, and track and field events. Female athletes are subject to constant social pressure to be thin and they also find themselves in a sports milieu that may overvalue performance, and low body fat.

Don’t get me wrong guys also are in this “eating disorder” category. The male sports that were the highest in eating disorders were wrestling and cross-country. Guys do develop eating disorders but a much-reduced rate (approximately female 90% and male 10%).

In general, men have more lean muscle tissue and less fatty tissue than women do. Males also tend to have higher metabolic rates than females because muscle burns more calories faster than fat does. So women, who in general carry more body fat than men, with slower metabolisms and smaller frames, require fewer calories than men do.

Everyone who uses drastic and unhealthy methods of weight loss is at risk of dying or developing serious health problems, but the deaths of three college students in the later part of 1997 triggered re-examination of the extreme weight-loss efforts common in that sport. Athletes in other sports have died as well; runners and gymnasts seem to be at high risk.

Authorities believe they were trying to lose too much weight too rapidly so they could compete in lower weight classes. The wrestling coach at Iowa State University has been quoted as saying, “When you have deaths like this, it calls into question what’s wrong with the sport. Wrestlers believe that, foremost, it’s there responsibility to make weight, and that mind set may come from the fact they find themselves invincible.”

Misconceptions and lack of knowledge about nutrition and dieting are often a primary reason why wrestlers fall into the practice of using inappropriate, unsafe weight-cutting techniques and diets, which can eventually lead to eating disorders such as bulimia nervosa. According to Becky Ham from Health Behavior News Service teens who use extreme methods like diet pills or vomiting to control their weight are also more likely to smoke, drink, use marijuana and attempt suicide, a new study of adolescent dieting behavior concluded.

The highest rates of extreme and moderate dieting were found among white girls in the study, but the researchers caution that boys should not be ignored in weight-control studies. “Men are increasingly becoming dissatisfied with their body image,” said Anca Codruta Rafiroiu, M.D., Ph.D.,