Students in bid to beef up awareness of eating disorders

Medical students have taken it upon themselves to raise awareness about eating disorders after finding that university students are poorly informed about such conditions.

A survey carried out last week among some 150 students found that many were under the impression that it was only the stick-thin people who suffered from eating disorders and that these problems all revolved around weight loss.

"In fact, compulsive overeating was never mentioned," student Alexia Farrugia said, adding that very few students thought of eating disorders as a psychological problem.

This was not an unexpected result since an exercise by the Malta Medical Students Association last December found that adults had very little knowledge about eating disorders.

Very few students knew that eating disorders could affect both males and females and even fewer were aware that it could affect adults, thinking it was a disorder that solely affected teenage girls. Although teenage girls are the most common sufferers, everyone can be affected by the condition.

"We felt the need to raise awareness and inform students about eating disorders and how to recognise symptoms," Claire Cassar, a second-year student, said.

Ms Cassar, the brains behind the campaign, said she felt the need to do something about the condition after it "hit home a number of times".

The campaign yesterday kicked off a three-day event on campus to raise awareness about eating disorders. Over the past months they have also been touring schools to talk to secondary school students about the subject.

"Most sufferers do not realise they need help and many do not even know what signs to look out for," Ms Cassar said.

Factbox: Disorders

Anorexia nervosa - sufferers are very thin and are scared of weight gain. They either refuse to eat or use laxatives and over-exercise to lose weight.

Bulimia nervosa - sufferers recurrently binge and afterwards either use laxatives, self-induced vomit, fasting or excessive exercise to avoid weight gain.

Compulsive overeating - frequent episodes of uncontrolled eating, with sufferers eating much more quickly than normal.

Non-specific eating disorders - these disorders do not meet the criteria for a specific disorder but can still be very dangerous.