This is Why an Estimated 3.8% of Females Suffer From an Eating Disorder
Is the fashion industry to blame? Or is it just being used as a scapegoat for a much more serious and complex issue?
Dying to Be Thin
Uruguayan model Luisel Ramos, age 22, collapsed while participating in a fashion show. Her diet consisted of lettuce and diet coke. She had gone several days without eating when she collapsed and died at the fashion show. At 5’9” she was just 96.8 lbs.
Six months later, Luisel’s younger sister Eliana Ramos, 18, also died just minutes after stepping off a runway.
Brazilian model Ana Carolina Reston, 21, died of anorexia on the eve of a Paris photo shoot. She survived on a diet of apples and tomatoes. She weighed 88 lbs.
In November 2010, 27-year-old French model Isabelle Caro died from anorexia. She was an alarming 55 lbs.
Unfortunately, these stories are not so uncommon. An estimated 40% of women in the fashion industry have an eating disorder. In the general population, approximately 3.8% of the female population suffer from an eating disorder. Men suffer from eating disorders as well. But it is twice as prevalent among females.
