IMAGE-conscious children as young as eight are risking their lives as they strive to look like top fashion catwalk models. Bolton primary school girls and boys are dieting, and experts fear the youngsters risk osteoporosis as well as the life-threatening anorexia and bulimia. Fears are reaching such a pitch that experts are aiming to go into Bolton schools in a bid to promote the dangers of eating disorders. GAYLE EVANS reports . . . A SELF-help group for people who suffer eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia has been launched in Bolton.

Food and You (FAY) say there is a definite need for the fashion industry to change its outlook and drop the "skin-and-bone" girls posing as unattainable role models for younger children.

Mum-of-four Joan Sykes, a trained counsellor at FAY and former anorexic, said: "There is definitely an increase in children suffering from eating disorders.

"Young people seem to be more aware of their image than they used to be and are starting dieting at a very young age between eight and 10 years old.

"We want to go into schools and educate the teachers and pupils about food,"

Joan, aged 47, from Horwich, started dieting when she was 15 after being a victim of sexual abuse.

This "trigger" caused her to use food as a method of control and over the next 12 years she became anorexic.

Her weight plummeted to a drastic five stones seven pounds which is when she decided to seek medical help.

Joan, who is a tall five foot seven inches, said: "I used to stand on the scales nearly every day and if I put on a single pound I would suffer from very low self-esteem."

Joan claims some doctors, even in today's open climate, tell sufferers to "go away and put on some weight".

"It's still an illness that isn't really understood. An eating disorder is when a person uses food to cope with other problems in their lives.

"Children are constantly growing up with pressure from peers and the fashion industry and the media doesn't help.

"It is this combined with a person's pre-disposition to use food as a method of coping that can lead to an eating disorder."

Joan, who was cured using hypnotherapy and now weighs a slim seven stone 10lb, believes recent research into the illness has opened up possibilities that anorexia is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain and is something a sufferer is born with.

If you ask most people what they associate with food, you will probably get positive answers such as pleasure, socialising, nourishment and cooking.

But ask someone with an eating disorder and you'll get greed, guilt, power, isolation, failure and fear.

FAY say eating disorders start as a means of coping with and controlling your life - but then become your life.

And they say an anorexic's perception of their shape becomes distorted as the illness progresses.

Joan said: "There are a rising number of children and teenagers who have anorexia and the signs for parents are very hard to detect.

"The biggest sign is your child being secretive about food. Not eating with the rest of the family and avoiding food.

"Parents feel very guilty and ashamed but eating disorders in their children are not their fault.

"They take it very personally and the anorexics are very proud of their illness. They get to a stage where there is a chemical imbalance in the brain and they start thinking that they are very special.

"They adopt anorexia or an eating disorder as a way of life."

But the message to parents is that children and teenagers can overcome anorexia and bulimia, if caught early enough.

But Joan said: "Unfortunately, most people who realise that they have a problem have become very, very ill and need urgent medical attention."

FAY, set up at premises on St George's Road, Bolton, in March, now attracts sufferers from school age to middle age. "If we can catch it early enough and stop children using food as a method of control, then it can only be a good thing," Joan said.

Joan's advice to parents is: "Never make an issue over food. Don't force children to eat what they don't like because this promotes the use of food as a method of control and as a power tool.

"Forget about dieting. Teach children about health issues and only encourage sensible eating. Don't force them to do anything they do not want to do.

"Tell them that sweets will rot their teeth - not make them fat.

"Unless anyone has a health problem and needs to watch their weight for health reasons, then people should throw away the scales.

FAY meet every second and fourth Monday of the month from 7pm to 8.30pm at 68 St George's Road, Bolton, and anyone wanting to speak with qualified counsellors should telephone Marie or Vicky on Bolton 521673.

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