Eating Disorder Cause Death to Brazilian Model

It was coincidental. On the same day of the movie debut of “Thin” about eating disorders, 21 year old Brazilian model Ana Carolina Reston died from an infection caused by renal issues related to anorexia. At the time of her death she was 1.72m tall and less than 40 kilos which is 5′7′ and 88 pounds. Ana Carolina was an attractive model for Ford, Elite, and L’Equipe. She began a modelling career at the age of 13 after winning a local beauty contest.

Her death generated much interest about her and her eating disorder. Even Wikipedia – the premier online encyclopedia – has a listing about her. She was said to have survive on eating only apples and tomatoes before her hospitalization in October.

Ana Carolina was the second anorexic model reported to have died this year (2006). Luisel Ramos, 22, had a heart attack some time in August after living on lettuce leaves and Diet Coke for three months.

Her death comes amid increasing concerns about designers who use size zero models suffering from anorexia. These designers have largely ignored the warnings that these models should not be used as they send the wrong signals about eating disorders to young women. The trend for size zero models had begun as a fad in Los Angeles but had quickly spread across the fashion world. Designers claim that clothes hang better on a model who is skinny.

For a long time, Ana Carolina did not believe that she was ill. She would eat very little at meal times but would go to the bathroom after the meal to throw up. This is typically the case of someone with anorexia symptoms. A reluctance to admit of an eating disorder problem usually means no treatment is sought until the condition turns serious or something dire happens.

The one who suffer the most heartache would probably be the parents. Ana Carolin’s mother made a national plea on state television to highlight the tragedy. Despite having asked her daugther to seek treatment several times, her pleas had fallen to deaf ears. She now hopes to spread the message that no money brought in a top modelling career is worth the life of a child.

More fashion locations, including London, are paying heed now. In September, Madrid banned all models with a body-mass-index (BMI) of less than 18. According to the World Health Organization, anyone with a BMI below 18.5 is considered as underweight. No doubt, the death of Ana Carolina would be used as a case to add mounting pressures to designers to quit using models who are too skinny.

The media, including fashion houses and all publishers of fashion magazines, newspapers, advertising agencies, should have a responsibility in promoting healthy ideas. Using models who clearly look anorexic sends the wrong signals to impressionable young girls. It is wrong to encourage the idea that it is alright to deprive oneself of adequate nutrition so as to achieve a size zero appearance. We want our young women of today and all future generations of women looking healthy and glowing. Not sickly and ghastly. Nor dying from the ill effects of an eating disorder.

You may view anorexia picture as well read on eating disorders here.