Almost one in three women attending university would swap a year or more of their life for their ideal body shape, a survey suggests.

Most (93 per cent) have also had negative thoughts about their body in the last week, with 31 per cent feeling critical of their figure several times a day.

Almost half (48 per cent) said eating disorders were an issue for women on their campus and 79 per cent would like to lose weight, despite the fact most (78 per cent) are underweight or a normal weight.

On average, women said they wanted to lose more than a stone in weight, with only three per cent saying they wanted to gain weight.

Some 30 per cent of those surveyed would trade at least one year of their life for their perfect shape, with 16 per cent saying they would swap one year, 10 per cent saying they would trade two to five years of their life and two per cent willing to trade six to 10 years.

Another one per cent said they would trade 21 years of their life or more if they could have their perfect body.

Women were also willing to swap other things, with 13 per cent saying they would forego £5,000 of an annual salary, eight per cent a promotion at work, 6 per cent a first in their degree and nine per cent spending time with their partner.

Some 7 per cent would give up spending time with their family, 9 per cent their friends and seven per cent would give up their health to achieve their ideal shape.

Overall, 75 per cent of women had spoken negatively about their body shape, weight or appearance to a female friend in the last week, with 20 per cent doing so at least once a day.

Some 85 per cent had also heard their friends talking negatively about their own shape, and half of all women had traded tips on losing weight or changing their appearance with friends in the last week.

The study, of 320 women aged 18 to 65 attending UK universities, was carried out for the eating disorder charity, The Succeed Foundation, in partnership with the centre for appearance research at the University of the West of England.

Almost half (46 per cent) of women surveyed had been bullied or ridiculed because of their appearance, five per cent had had cosmetic surgery and another 39 per cent said they would go under the knife if money was no object.

Asked which celebrity has the perfect body, women said model Kelly Brook, followed by singer Beyonce, then actresses Jessica Alba and Scarlett Johansson.

Lead researcher Phillippa Diedrichs, from UWE, said: “The survey took place on university campuses around the UK.

“The findings highlight that body image is an issue for all women and not just adolescent girls, as is often thought.

“The other really important finding is that the majority of women surveyed said that more needs to be done to promote positive body image on their university campuses.”

UWE is piloting a programme where trained students lead small group workshops to challenge notions of the “ideal” body shape.

Dr Diedrichs said it was based on eight years of research in the US.

Students work in groups to discuss the idea of female beauty and promote positive body image across the campus.

Dr Diedrichs said there has been interest from students at eight other UK universities.

“This research has shown that similar programmes overseas are effective in reducing the onset of eating disorders and in prom­oting positive body image among women at university,” she said.

“The Succeed Body Image Programme is designed by experts, but will be run on university campuses throughout the UK by the students themselves.

“It’s an extremely exciting programme that has amazing potential to improve the health of British women.”

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