PORTLAND, Ore., Nov. 1 (UPI) -- A peer-led, sport team-centered program has been found to reduce eating disordered behavior and body-shaping drug use in U.S. female high school athletes.
Dr. Diane Elliot of the Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, Ore., said for young women, pressures to be thin may be compounded by influences of their sport, resulting in more disordered eating behaviors and drug use including the use of tobacco, diet pills, diuretics, laxatives, amphetamines and anabolic steroids.
Elliot compared the eight-week Athletes Targeting Healthy Exercise and Nutrition Alternatives, known as ATHENA, with other easting disorder prevention programs. ATHENA is a school-based, team-centered regimen focusing on promoting healthy nutrition and effective exercise training.
The study, published in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, found female athletes participating in the ATHENA program reported significantly less ongoing and new use of diet pills, and less use of amphetamines, anabolic steroids, and sport supplements.
