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Eating disorders hit rural South Africa

October 14, 2002

Black South African women are depressed about their weight and becoming victims of eating disorders in their quest to follow the waif-like, fashionable ideals promoted by the west, according to new research carried out by Northumbria University and the University of Zululand.

A cross-cultural study investigated mental and physical health, eating attitudes and behaviours and body image among 40 black female students from the University of Zululand in rural South Africa and 40 white British students from Northumbria University.

The research by Julie Seed, Senior Lecturer in Psychology and an expert in eating disorders, Steve Olivier, Head of Sport Sciences, both from Northumbria, and Lanoy Smit, Senior Lecturer in Human Movement Science from the University of Zululand, was presented at the British Psychological Society's Annual Psychobiology Conference in September.

Of those who took part in the research, more than half of the Zulu students were found to have disordered eating attitudes and behaviours - in a country where fat has traditionally been regarded as desirable, with no cases of eating disorders among blacks reported until 1995.

Miss Seed said: "Some of the Zulu girls were abusing laxatives, some would fast for a day for purposes of losing weight, and some of them were using appetite suppressants. Many avoided certain types of food and felt guilty after eating.

"There is a large discrepancy between the traditional female shape and how they feel they ought to look now. They believe they need to be thinner in order to be fashionable and attractive to men.''

The study showed that the Zulu students were much heavier for their height than their English counterparts and had a higher percentage of body fat. Despite this, both groups were in the main part healthy with respect to heart rate, blood pressure, cholesterol etc. However, a good number of students in each group did have high levels of anxiety, and the Zulu students had high levels of depression as well.   Girls in both groups generally wanted to be considerably thinner than they felt themselves to be.

Miss Seed added: "In the past people were worried about black African girls being overweight but I don't think obesity should be our main concern at present. Instead, we should be thinking about the risk of eating disorders such as Anorexia and Bulimia Nervosa. These girls have a very negative body image and are starting to engage in behaviours that can quickly become addictive. They are driven by a desire to be more like the Western girls that they see on TV and in magazines. Under these conditions, we might predict an increase in the number of cases of eating disorders over the next few years."

The study also showed that one in five of the British students were underweight and 22 per cent had disordered eating attitudes and behaviours. Also, whilst the Zulu girls had a relatively realistic view of themselves, the British girls were found to have a very distorted self-image, with almost all of them claiming to be a lot bigger than they actually were.

Staff from Northumbria University now hope to put together an intervention programme for students at the University of Zululand to educate them about the dangers of faddy dieting, laxative abuse and diet pills.

Miss Seed added: "Since the abolition of apartheid, there has been a steady change in attitude towards weight. Although there is a certain, new-found pride in being African, women are also being bombarded with western ideals about how they should look. These girls are vulnerable but we feel we may have an opportunity to intervene and nip this trend in the bud before it is too late.''

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Northumbria University