[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 3]
[House]
[Page 3744]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            EATING DISORDERS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, last week people across the Nation and 
in 51 other countries around the world came together to raise awareness 
about eating disorders. It was National Eating Disorders Awareness 
Week, a time not only to learn the facts but also to give people the 
knowledge and the resources to treat and prevent eating disorders.
  Most people know that eating disorders are common in our country. 
They may even know about them through experience, whether through a 
friend, a family member, or perhaps they suffered or continue to 
struggle with one personally.
  What is actually not known is how prevalent they are, the reasons why 
they occur, and what we can do to prevent these tragic illnesses.
  According to the Eating Disorders Coalition, eating disorders impact 
at least 14 million Americans and are so common that 1 to 2 out of 
every 100 children in America have one. Although eating disorders 
affect both men and women, the young and the old, and all the races and 
economic classes, we know that they are seven times more likely to 
impact women. In fact, 1 in 200 American women suffers from anorexia, 
and 2 to 3 in 100 women suffer from bulimia, the two most common eating 
disorders.
  Distinguished by an obsession with thinness and fear of weight gain, 
anorexia usually results in extreme weight loss because of restricted 
eating habits.
  Bulimia is similar in that those suffering also have an obsession 
with weight and body image. However, while anorexics restrict their 
food consumption, bulimics instead purge their food after binge eating.
  Both anorexia and bulimia can cause heart problems, brain damage, 
osteoporosis, and even death. Anorexia has the highest mortality rate 
of any mental illness, and those suffering from it are 57 more times 
likely to die of suicide relative to their peers.
  Many people are also not aware that they can be genetically 
predisposed to an eating disorder. As reported by the Eating Disorders 
Coalition, 50 to 80 percent of the factors determining who develops an 
eating disorder is based on a person's genes. However, just possessing 
one of those genes does not automatically result in an eating disorder. 
Other factors like peer pressure and false advertising can be the 
ultimate contributors.
  More and more academic evidence, as well as a study by the American 
Medical Association, has linked eating disorders with unrealistic body 
images found in advertising. By the time our children reach 17 years of 
age, they will have been exposed to over 250,000 television commercials 
depicting unrealistic body sizes. Too often, this exposure, combined 
with other factors like predisposition, feelings of inadequacy, 
societal pressures, and competition, depression, or anxiety can lead to 
an eating disorder.
  The kinds of altered or photoshopped images found in our media today 
can cause unrealistic expectations of what the body is supposed to look 
like, causing emotional, mental, and physical health issues, and often 
resulting in an eating disorder.
  That is why I plan to offer legislation to look at how advertising 
can more closely resemble the true human form while making sure that 
artistic expression and the freedom of media outlets is not restricted. 
If enacted into law, this bill would have the Federal Trade Commission 
work with stakeholders like the Eating Disorders Coalition and other 
experts across our Nation to study the serious impact of advertising 
that promotes unrealistic body image expectations, and then report back 
to Congress on how to best stop the destructive impact of this 
practice.
  Together, Congress can have a positive impact on the tragic epidemic 
of eating disorders. I look forward to working with my colleagues to 
bring this important legislation to the floor soon.

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