Weight Watchers slammed for targeting teens – but you can help beat eating disorders

Hope Primus | 12th February 2018

Weight Watchers have been slammed for targeting teenagers before Eating Disorders Awareness Week 26 February – 4 March 2018.

The company has announced plans to introduce FREE memberships for young people aged between the ages of 13 and 17 in an attempt to ” help the development of healthy habits at a critical life stage”.

On their website, their director  Oprah Winfrey says: “Weight Watchers is not a diet. It’s a way of living.”

The campaign has caused concern as the number of people suffering from eating disorders has soared. According to NHS Digital, the number of UK hospital admissions due to eating disorders have nearly doubled in six years.

There were 13,885 admissions to UK hospitals in the year to April 2017, up from 7,260 six years earlier in 2010-11. This includes a surge in the number of teenage girls and women in their early 20s.

Hospital admissions for those aged under 19 for anorexia went from 1,050 to 2,025 during that time.

The death of Cambridge student Averil Hart (see video below) was described as an “avoidable tragedy” by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) in their report in December 2017.

Eating disorder charity, Beat, who are spearheading Eating Disorder Week 26 February – 4 March 2018, said they believe approximately 1.25 million people in the UK have an eating disorder.

The UK Government has launched Transforming Children and Young People’s Mental Health Provision: a Green Paper – aimed at improving mental health support for children and young people in England.

In the green paper the government outlines how it wants to change the law to “put schools and colleges at the heart of our efforts to intervene early and prevent problems escalating”.

This includes promoting group-based intervention engaging participants in critiquing the ‘thin ideal’, which can be effective in reducing eating disorder symptoms and body image concerns, when targeted toward high-risk teenagers.

An additional £30 million of investment is proposed to improve services for eating disorders, including 70 new or enhanced Community Eating Disorder Teams.

Anyone can share their views on the proposals by completing the government’s online consultation. The consultation is open until Friday 2 March 2018.

Many people took to Twitter to address Weight Watchers directly in the United States and UK

Weight Watchers has defended their strategy of providing a summer weight loss programme for teens stating:

“Our decision to open our program to teens, with the consent or a parent or guardian, is driven by a family-based approach. This is not about encouraging dieting.”

We contacted our local branch of Weight Watchers in Manchester but are still waiting for a response.

For more details of Eating Disorders Awareness Week 26 February – 4 March visit beateatingdisorders.org.uk. You can help fundraise by visiting beateatingdisorders.org.uk/difference

For NHS advice on overcoming eating disorders visit: www.nhs.uk/Livewell/eatingdisorders

To find out more about Averil Hart and her family’s campaign for an investigation into the events leading to her death visit: averilhart.com