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Size Zero can cripple

YOUNG women and girls who starve in a bid to fit the "size zero" celebrity trend are in danger of ending up in a wheelchair by middle age.

Doctors at Sydney's Garvan Institute of Medical Research fear malnourished young dieters are stunting bone development, making them vulnerable to early osteoporosis.
Those who do not build up sufficiently dense bones by the time they are in their mid-20s are at much-higher risk of the brittle bone disease.

Nearly 80 per cent of girls aged 14-18 do not consume enough bone-building calcium, according to a report published by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare last week.

The warnings come amid international debate on whether skeletal fashion models should be banned from the catwalk, and concern over the gaunt appearance of celebrities such as Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie.

Dr Jackie Center, clinician and senior research officer at the Garvan Institute, said thinness could come at a heavy price.

"You can do yourself a lot of harm later on by dieting and getting your body weight lower than it should be, particularly if you start missing periods," she said. "It puts you at high risk of having fractures – and each fracture has an adverse affect on your quality of life."

People with risk factors such as low body weight or a family history of osteoporosis could have bone density tests and be put on medication to prevent further bone loss, she said.

The Garvan Institute and the MBF Foundation are developing an osteoporosis "tool kit" to help GPs spot at-risk patients and start preventative action as early as possible.

Most sufferers are diagnosed when they break or fracture a bone, and the disease has caused major damage.

Smokers, heavy drinkers, people treated with steroids and the elderly are also more prone to the disease, which affects more than 2 million Australians and costs $7 billion a year.

"(Risk) depends on what your bone mass gets up to by the time you are in your mid-20s, which is generally when we have reached maximum bone density, and then how rapidly you start losing bone after 45," Dr Center said.

It is estimated that a third of men and two-thirds of women over 60 have osteoporosis.

Former AFL star David Polkinghorne, 51, was diagnosed after three rib fractures from the age of 41. Last year he broke his back coaching indigenous children in WA.

The active teetotaller with no family history of the disease said it was "very frustrating not to be able to do the things I was used to doing, and (not) doing activities with my children".

source:courier mail