From the National Eating Disorders Association
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www.nationaleatingdisorders.org
Some basic statistics with regards to athletes, both men and women with much of the data for NCAA and high school elite level athletes (and all of this information has the associated journal articles and research sited with each stat)
- In a study of Division 1 NCAA athletes, over one-third of female athletes reported attitudes and symptoms placing them at risk for anorexia nervosa.
- Though most athletes with eating disorders are female, male athletes are also at risk—especially those competing in sports that tend to emphasize diet, appearance, size and weight. In weight-class sports (wrestling, rowing, horseracing) and aesthetic sports (bodybuilding, gymnastics, swimming, diving) about 33% of male athletes are affected. In female athletes in weight class and aesthetic sports, disordered eating occurs at estimates of up to 62%. (Draw your own conclusion on those numbers in figure skating)
- Among female high school athletes in aesthetic sports, 41.5% reported disordered eating. They were eight times more likely to incur an injury than athletes in aesthetic sports who did not report disordered eating.
- One study found that 35% of female and 10% of male college athletes were at risk for anorexia nervosa and 58% of female and 38% of male college athletes were at risk for bulimia nervosa.
- The prevalence of eating disorders in college athletes is higher among dancers and the most elite college athletes, particularly those involved with sports that emphasize a lean physique or weight restriction (e.g., figure skating, wrestling, rowing).
- Among female college athletes surveyed, 25.5% had subclinical eating disorder symptoms.
- In a survey of athletic trainers working with female collegiate athletes, only 27% felt confident identifying an athlete with an eating disorder. Despite this, 91% of athletic trainers reported dealing with an athlete with an eating disorder. 93% of trainers felt that increased attention needs to be paid to preventing eating disorders among collegiate female athletes. 25% worked at an institution without a policy on managing eating disorders.
- A study of female Division II college athletes found that 25% had disordered eating, 26% reported menstrual dysfunction, 10% had low bone mineral density, and 2.6% had all three symptoms.
- Female high school athletes reporting disordered eating were twice as likely to incur a musculoskeletal injury as athletes who did not report disordered eating.
Now, take the training load into consideration for figure skaters...you can only imagine that with disordered eating habits and its associated physiological repercussions due to loss of muscle and bone mass, in addition to electrolyte imbalance, ie sodium, potassium, calcium, chloride, magnesium, etc... and the associated organ and cellular membrane dysfunctions that can occur...and the list is pretty long....cardiac arrhythmia, kidney dysfunction, blood pressure irregularities, cell to cell signaling (central nervous system dysfunction)...the list goes on...and this is just on top of decreased skeletal strength and potential broken bones, tears in musculature, and the general fact that the body can NOT recover sufficiently after a training day because of the lack of metabolic resources.....and this occurs over a period of years with poor nutrition, overloading training by coaches and subsequent chronic injury cycle because the body does not have time to recover.
So, yes, eating disorders affect both men and women in sport, and esp in figure skating. And it is not just your "typical" eating disorder like anorexia or bulimia but it also includes ARFID (avoidant/restricted food intake disorder), binge eating, bullying/body/weight shaming, co-occuring disorders (many times obsessive/compulsive orders, depression, etc are co-diagnosed with EDs); compulsive exercise, diabulimia (EDs combined with insulin restriction); the list goes on......
A troubling note was that many trainers felt uncomfortable or insufficiently educated to help talk to an athlete about eating disorders. And, with the coaches essentially "running the show", one can only imagine that at the elite athlete level, open conversations about the overall health and well being of the athlete is not always the priority of the coach..bc of course they want the athlete to return to action if they are injured.
Many coaches only see the "obvious" injuries...a torn ACL, broken bones, bruises, severe concussions....it is the hidden aspect of disordered eating which contributes to a greater extent to athlete injuries, especially chronic injuries in conjunction with training loads, that the metabolic component contributes to every system within the human body and sadly, leads to long term damage of the body.
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