from: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2685668/Schoolgirls-ask-parents-healthy-meals-hiding-eating-disorder-leading-headmistress-claims.html
Teenage girls who ask parents for a 'healthy diet' could be showing early signs of eating disorder, leading headteacher warns
- Jayne Triffitt said pupils asking for a healthy diet may have eating disorders
- Head of £10,000-a-term boarding school said teens feel pressured to be thin
- Added exam pressure and heavy work loads can lead to mental illnesses
- Those with history of depression more likely to develop eating disorder
- Study found teen girls are prone to mental health issues due to hormones
Schoolgirls who ask their parents for healthy meals may be showing early signs of an eating disorder, a leading headmistress has warned.
Jayne Triffitt, who is head of the Catholic girls boarding school Woldingham in Surrey, was speaking at an end of term assembly about mental health and eating disorders among teens.
She said, due to social pressure, young girls feel they must look a certain way - and so may reduce their food intake in a bid to be thin.
Warning: Jayne Triffitt, head of Woldingham School in Surrey, has warned that schoolgirls who ask their parents for healthy meals may be showing early signs of an eating disorder
The head of the £10,000-a-term institution warned parents to be wary of their daughters asking to follow a 'healthy diet' - as the request could be a 'euphemism' for eating very little.
Mrs Triffit said: 'The biggest pressure is to be thin.
'But, of course, the catch is that if they reduce their food intake they will not have the energy to cope with a packed life here at school.
'All too quickly they could head for some type of eating disorder.'
Pressure: Mrs Triffit said exam stress and heavy workloads - particularly in female pupils aged between 14 and 18 - can trigger mental illness, which in turn may lead to an eating disorder (library image)
According to The Times, she added: 'Just a hint to parents, do not be caught out by your daughter's wish to eat a 'healthy' diet. This is often a euphemism for eating very little indeed.'
Later in her speech, Mrs Triffit said exam stress and heavy workloads - particularly in female pupils aged between 14 and 18 - can trigger mental illness, which in turn may lead to an eating disorder.
Mrs Triffit said pupils in this age range are under particular pressure as Universities demand 'ridiculously high grades' from applicants.
Worry: The head said young girls feel pressured to look a certain way - so drop their food intake in a bid to be thin
The headmistress said: 'Some will become over-anxious and display particular mental health issues connected with this.'
Mrs Triffit's warning comes as research indicates teenage girls could be more prone to depression and anxiety as they experience greater blood flow to the brain.
Hormone oestrogen drives more blood to the heads of young women compared to men - and that could explain disparities in psychiatric disorders, scientists at the University of Pennsylvania claim.
Blood flow is known to be higher in adult women than men, but the study now shows it is markedly different during adolescence when teenagers are going through puberty.
According to the NHS Choices website, eating disorders are most commonly blamed on social pressures to be thin.
However, those with a family history of depression are also more likely to develop the three main types of eating disorder - anorexia nervosa, bulimia or a binge eating.
Eating disorders can affect people of any age - but often develop in teenagers.
According to the NHS, around one in 250 women will experience anorexia at some point - with the condition usually developing around the age of 16 or 17.
One in 2,000 men will also experience such disorder.
Bulimia is around five times more common than anorexia, research shows, and 90 per cent of people with bulimia are female.
The condition usually develops around the age of 18 or 19.
Binge eating usually affects males and females equally and often appears later in life - between the ages of 30 and 40.
Research conducted last year by Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) suggested that one in ten individuals admitted to hospital with an eating disorder were female and aged 15.
Warning: Jayne Triffitt, head of Woldingham School in Surrey, has warned that schoolgirls who ask their parents for healthy meals may be showing early signs of an eating disorder
Pressure: Mrs Triffit said exam stress and heavy workloads - particularly in female pupils aged between 14 and 18 - can trigger mental illness, which in turn may lead to an eating disorder (library image)
Worry: The head said young girls feel pressured to look a certain way - so drop their food intake in a bid to be thin
