A study has concluded that models are no more likely to develop eating disorders than those who work in other professions.
Conducted by former University of Waterloo student Jennifer McWhirter, herself a professional model, the study was undertaken for an undergraduate thesis and is the first in Canada to test allegations that models are risking their health. McWhirter recently received a degree in applied health sciences at the University of Waterloo.
McWhirter gathered information from 339 respondents to an online survey, which included 81 models based in Toronto and Montreal, and asked them open-ended questions about their eating habits and their self-esteem. All the participants were females in their 20s.
The study found that 80 per cent of all the participants -- both models and non-models -- engaged in healthy eating behaviours and that the models actually had more self-esteem than those who did not sashay down catwalks. Several studies have linked eating disorders to low self-esteem.
"Basically what we found was that models and the comparison sample didn't differ on disordered eating behaviour," McWhirter said. "That kind of really goes against a lot of what the media has been saying lately."
McWhirter said while the average body mass index for the models in her survey was 17.4, their exercising and eating habits were the same as the non-model group, which had an average BMI of 22.7. The World Health Organization says a BMI of between 18.5 and 25 is considered normal.
In France and Italy, restrictions have been placed on models deemed too skinny for the runway. The deaths of models Ana Carolina and Eliana Ramos last year shook the fashion industry and were believed to have been caused by anorexia.
Spanish officials have banned models with a body mass index of less than 18. However McWhirter said that her study indicated this is not a reliable measurement to assess the risk of eating disorders.
"We found that models had a body mass index under that body mass index cut-off and yet they were just as healthy as the women who had a more normal range body mass index," McWhirter said.
"It's not a way for the industry or for health professionals to measure whether a model is healthy or not."
The study also reports that 74 per cent of models say they didn't have to lose any weight when they began their modelling careers, which suggests that most of them are naturally slender.
However, one University of Toronto psychology professor recently cast doubt on the methodology of the study, which used self-reported data.
Janet Polivy told The Canadian Press that while this approach could be useful in bulimia cases, those with anorexia rarely admit to its existence.
"It would be very difficult to draw any conclusions about the actual incidence or prevalence of eating disorders from this kind of self-reporting survey,'' Polivy said.
With files from The Canadian Press
