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The Daily Mail reported last week on the rising numbers of eating disorders across Great Britain. Official statistics show eating disorders there have become so widespread - stats show a 40 percent increase in anorexia since 1990 - they are putting serious strains on hospital services and are restricting the numbers of beds available to other patients. Last year, 84,377 bed days were taken up by those suffering from eating disorders - the equivalent to about 232 beds a day - up from 51,878 in 2002.

Why the increase? Oh, yes. Size-zero models. So convenient a coat hook upon which to hang an eating disorder. To combat the problem, officials urged London Fashion Week to force models to present medical certificates proving that they are eating disorder-free. Of course, the government-sanctioned cultural scourge against obesity in Britain, including the promotion of potentially deadly stomach-stapling surgery for children, has absolutely nothing to do with the increasingly disordered body images of many young Brits. No, absolutely none.

Lead in children’s toys was the big health concern of last year, but women have been applying lead and other toxic chemicals to their faces for centuries in the name of beauty. MSNBC reports on women throughout the ages in their elusive search of beauty with a detailed look at historical look at “victims of cosmetics.” Think today’s cosmetics are safer? Think again.

The Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College London has launched a new eating disorders awareness, education and help site at www.eatingresearch.com. The site includes the customary definitions of various eating disorders and such, but most interesting are the institute’s research projects, in which people with eating disorders can volunteer to participate in a study like therapeutic writing for bulimia, social cognition for anorexia, or internet support for people who have an eating disordered person in their care. Some of the studies are conducted online and in writing, so those of us across the pond may be able to participate, too.

The Tennessean writer Joe Edwards concluded 2007 with a look at the Volunteer state’s more wild and weird news of the year. Topping off his list was a March 1 speech to the Eating Disorders Coalition of Tennessee by Ron Saxen, author of The Good Eater, which chronicles Saxen’s struggle with an eating disorder.

What made the event weird-worthy, according to Edwards, is that it featured a dessert reception.

Shelli Yoder, the center’s executive director, rightfully took Edwards to task and admonished him for promoting the idea of “good” and “bad” foods. Read her letter to the editor here.

Fueling the debate on pro-ana/mia sites is a new study published in this month’s edition of the International Journal of Eating Disorders. The study, led by psychologist Dr. J. Kevin Thompson at the University of South Florida, not so surprisingly found that women who visit web sites that promote eating disorders are more apt than women who do not to have poor body image and abnormal eating habits.

Thompson is quick to note, however, that he has established no causal connection that viewing such sites may contribute to the development of an eating disorder.

“We cannot rule out the possibility,” said Thompson, “that individuals with higher levels of eating and body image disturbances may elect to view such web sites and that the web sites don’t necessarily cause higher levels of disturbance. A longitudinal study is needed to clarify the connection.”

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