Nutritional intake of female dancers: A reflection of eating problems

Abstract

A 24 hour nutritional survey was conducted on 79 professional female ballet dancers in order to examine the relationship between nutritional intake and eating and anorectic behaviors, measured weight, and menstrual irregularity. Dancers who exhibited anorectic behaviors and had high restrained and bulimic eating scores consumed significantly less protein and fat. Heavier dancers (from −4 to −10% below ideal weight) were found to be consuming fewer calories, exhibiting more dieting behavior, and reporting more menstrual irregularity than thinner dancers (from −11 to −21% below ideal weight). When the dancers with menstrual irregularities were examined as a group, they were found to ingest less protein, iron, and niacin and report more anorectic and dieting behaviors than dancers without menstrual irregularities. These data suggest that concerns about weight are manifested in the nutritional habits of professional ballet dancers and that dancers nearer to ideal weight are more actively engaged in dieting behavior than those who are thinner.

Attitudes toward eating and body weight in different groups of female adolescent athletes

“…Finally and most importantly, the dancers and skaters were exhibiting more restraint eating and binge/purge eating than were the swimmers. The negative eating attitudes of the skaters and dancers were comparable to these reported for adult dancers (Garner & Garfinkel, 1980;Hamilton et al, 1985Hamilton et al, , 1986. However, they were not indicative of a high incidence of self-reported eating disorders (based on cut-off scores using Garner and Garfinkel's criteria, only 5% of the dancers and none of the other athletes had very high EAT scores).…”

Attitudes toward eating and body weight in different groups of female adolescent athletes

“…Finally and most importantly, the dancers and skaters were exhibiting more restraint eating and binge/purge eating than were the swimmers. The negative eating attitudes of the skaters and dancers were comparable to these reported for adult dancers (Garner & Garfinkel, 1980;Hamilton et al, 1985Hamilton et al, , 1986. However, they were not indicative of a high incidence of self-reported eating disorders (based on cut-off scores using Garner and Garfinkel's criteria, only 5% of the dancers and none of the other athletes had very high EAT scores).…”

Eating disordered behaviours in Portuguese athletes: The influence of personal, sport, and psychological variables

“…We selected the latter and did not find any differences between groups on their eating disordered behaviours. However, this propensity should be explored in future research, as there are indications that elite athletes may be at particular risk for eating disorders (Hamilton, Brooks‐Gunn, & Warren, 1986; Szmukler, Eisler, Gilles, & Hayward, 1985; Weight and Noakes, 1987).…”

A Critical Review of the Prevalence of Secondary Amenorrhea in Ballet Dancers

“…These researchers concluded that "Dancers who have survived a stringent process of early selection may be more naturally suited to the thin body image demanded by ballet and so less at risk for development of eating problems." 37 It seems reasonable to suggest that ballet dancers that do not have a genetic predisposition to a thin body can control their body shape by suffering a negative energy balance, 18 but that by doing so they may predispose themselves to secondary amenorrhea and the other components of the Triad (disordered eating and osteoporosis).…”

“…Other times menstrual data were recorded by either the nutritionist who verified caloric logs or the nurse practitioner who recorded medical information. 8,12,[14][15][16]18,20,27 Ten studies explicitly stated that the researchers obtained the dancers' consent 7,[15][16][17][21][22][23][24][25]28 and 9 reported that they obtained consent from a Review board or ethics committee to proceed with the study. [14][15][16][17][20][21][22]24,25 Only one of the 22 reports in Table 1 elucidated specifically who was allowed access to the study data.…”

Attitudes toward eating and body weight in different groups of female adolescent athletes

“…Finally and most importantly, the dancers and skaters were exhibiting more restraint eating and binge/purge eating than were the swimmers. The negative eating attitudes of the skaters and dancers were comparable to these reported for adult dancers (Garner & Garfinkel, 1980;Hamilton et al, 1985Hamilton et al, , 1986. However, they were not indicative of a high incidence of self-reported eating disorders (based on cut-off scores using Garner and Garfinkel's criteria, only 5% of the dancers and none of the other athletes had very high EAT scores).…”

Eating disordered behaviours in Portuguese athletes: The influence of personal, sport, and psychological variables

“…We selected the latter and did not find any differences between groups on their eating disordered behaviours. However, this propensity should be explored in future research, as there are indications that elite athletes may be at particular risk for eating disorders (Hamilton, Brooks‐Gunn, & Warren, 1986; Szmukler, Eisler, Gilles, & Hayward, 1985; Weight and Noakes, 1987).…”

A Critical Review of the Prevalence of Secondary Amenorrhea in Ballet Dancers

“…These researchers concluded that "Dancers who have survived a stringent process of early selection may be more naturally suited to the thin body image demanded by ballet and so less at risk for development of eating problems." 37 It seems reasonable to suggest that ballet dancers that do not have a genetic predisposition to a thin body can control their body shape by suffering a negative energy balance, 18 but that by doing so they may predispose themselves to secondary amenorrhea and the other components of the Triad (disordered eating and osteoporosis).…”

“…Other times menstrual data were recorded by either the nutritionist who verified caloric logs or the nurse practitioner who recorded medical information. 8,12,[14][15][16]18,20,27 Ten studies explicitly stated that the researchers obtained the dancers' consent 7,[15][16][17][21][22][23][24][25]28 and 9 reported that they obtained consent from a Review board or ethics committee to proceed with the study. [14][15][16][17][20][21][22]24,25 Only one of the 22 reports in Table 1 elucidated specifically who was allowed access to the study data.…”

Attitudes toward eating and body weight in different groups of female adolescent athletes

“…Finally and most importantly, the dancers and skaters were exhibiting more restraint eating and binge/purge eating than were the swimmers. The negative eating attitudes of the skaters and dancers were comparable to these reported for adult dancers (Garner & Garfinkel, 1980;Hamilton et al, 1985Hamilton et al, , 1986. However, they were not indicative of a high incidence of self-reported eating disorders (based on cut-off scores using Garner and Garfinkel's criteria, only 5% of the dancers and none of the other athletes had very high EAT scores).…”

Eating disordered behaviours in Portuguese athletes: The influence of personal, sport, and psychological variables

“…We selected the latter and did not find any differences between groups on their eating disordered behaviours. However, this propensity should be explored in future research, as there are indications that elite athletes may be at particular risk for eating disorders (Hamilton, Brooks‐Gunn, & Warren, 1986; Szmukler, Eisler, Gilles, & Hayward, 1985; Weight and Noakes, 1987).…”

A Critical Review of the Prevalence of Secondary Amenorrhea in Ballet Dancers

“…These researchers concluded that "Dancers who have survived a stringent process of early selection may be more naturally suited to the thin body image demanded by ballet and so less at risk for development of eating problems." 37 It seems reasonable to suggest that ballet dancers that do not have a genetic predisposition to a thin body can control their body shape by suffering a negative energy balance, 18 but that by doing so they may predispose themselves to secondary amenorrhea and the other components of the Triad (disordered eating and osteoporosis).…”

“…Other times menstrual data were recorded by either the nutritionist who verified caloric logs or the nurse practitioner who recorded medical information. 8,12,[14][15][16]18,20,27 Ten studies explicitly stated that the researchers obtained the dancers' consent 7,[15][16][17][21][22][23][24][25]28 and 9 reported that they obtained consent from a Review board or ethics committee to proceed with the study. [14][15][16][17][20][21][22]24,25 Only one of the 22 reports in Table 1 elucidated specifically who was allowed access to the study data.…”