The Internet is posing a whole new danger to those struggling with eating disorders, with a disturbing number of websites glamourizing the dangerously thin, new research finds.

Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health say they have studied more than 180 websites promoting anorexia and bulimia, sites sometimes called "pro-ana," "pro-mia" or "thinspiration."

They found that most of the sites feature images of painfully thin celebrities and models and are easily accessed by anyone, including children. Of the sites they looked at, 84 per cent offered pro-anorexia content, while 64 per cent provided pro-bulimia content.

About 83 per cent of the sites offered overt suggestions on how to become super-thin, with tips on:

  • several-day fasts
  • purging after meals
  • engaging in extreme exercise
  • how to hide weight loss from family and friends

Some sites also offer tools such as BMI calculators and calorie counters, while others encourage readers to send in tips, or upload photos or artwork. Only a handful offer anorexia recovery-oriented information or links.

The study appears in the American Journal of Public Health.

Dina L.G. Borzekowski, lead author of the study and associate professor in the Bloomberg School's Department of Health, Behavior and Society, said her study is the largest and most rigorous analysis of pro-eating-disorder websites and is a good way to track the messaging that vulnerable people are reading on the Web.

"We want to know the messages out there that are reaching youth, and especially vulnerable youth," she explained to CTV News.

"What we found was a consistently alarming message that is reaching users."

Toronto teacher Carrie Cox, who is recovering from anorexia, says she never visited pro-anorexia websites when she was ill, but can understand why many would.

She says her obsession with thinness took over her life and isolated her from everyone around her. "Pro-ana"websites would offer community with others who have the same mindset.

"They encourage a sense of community among people who have eating disorders and it is a false sense of community and it really helps you remain in that state instead of being able to seek out recovery," she says. "They definitely normalize anorexia and bulimia and binge eating."

"It definitely scares me because I do not wish what I went through on anybody else," she adds.

Merryl Bear, the director of the National Eating Disorder Information Centre in Toronto, says she's glad to see this kind of research.

"It is important to study the eating disorder sites because they will give us some idea of what motivates individuals to actually access them," she tells CTV.

"So studying these pro eating disorder sites actually allows health professionals to examine what it is that individuals with eating disorders or who are at risk for eating disorders get out of them."

As for what to about the sites themselves, Borzekowski says it's futile to try to shut them all down.

"I don't think it is realistic to ban these types of websites in an ever-changing media environment. You might be able to regulate them and shut down a particular site but they are going to come back up," she says. 

Bear says she agrees: "It would be wonderful if these pro–eating-disorder websites didn't exist, however it is unrealistic," she says.

"So what is more helpful is to understand what they provide to individuals with eating disorders and those who are at risk of eating disorders so health care professionals can actually provide the support and encouragement that those individuals need for recovery and for healthier choices."

With a report from CTV medical specialist Avis Favaro and producer Elizabeth St. Philip