Media Contacts:

Kathleen Shaffer

410.902.5053

kshaffer@mghus.com

MEDIA STATEMENT

The Center for Eating Disorders at Sheppard Pratt Warns of Potential Dangers Associated with Smartphone Weight-Monitoring Applications

BACKGROUND: Recently, Smartphone applications, or “apps”, designed to aid users in reaching weight loss goals have been developed and are easily available to consumers. The applications are marketed as useful tools for those serious about tracking their weight. However, this freedom to track minute details of one’s nutritional intake 24 hours a day can be detrimental to anyone with eating disorder patterns or those at-risk for developing an eating disorder.

This application proves dangerous because the monitoring feature creates the illusion that excessive monitoring of food intake and weight represents a normal, health-conscious lifestyle. It is imperative for people to be aware of the many risks associated with these popular Smartphone applications and the negative effects they can have on people prone to compulsive and dangerous behaviors.

STATEMENT: “We, at The Center for Eating Disorders at Sheppard Pratt, are extremely concerned about the ramifications of newly released Smartphone applications that encourage excessive monitoring of body weight. Handheld applications that promote around-the-clock tracking of weight loss and caloric intake do not encourage health and well-being but rather the exacerbation of disordered eating and an unbalanced, potentially harmful, relationship with food and exercise. We have already begun to observe the negative effects of such applications as they take our culture’s obsession with thinness to an extreme by literally supplying individuals with the technology to establish a rigid dieting and calorie-counting regimen. It’s estimated that 3 out of 4 American women already struggle with disordered eating. Widely accessible weight-monitoring applications in the hands of those already at-risk, could mean an increase in the number and severity of clinical eating disorder cases. Increased access to these weight loss applications by teens and younger individuals can also foster weight and body obsessions where, previously, there were none. We remain concerned about this overall trend and the life-threatening implications this new technology could have for those who are vulnerable to eating disorders and those who may become vulnerable as a result of them.” – Harry A. Brandt, M.D., director and Steven Crawford, M.D., associate director of the Center for Eating Disorders at Sheppard Pratt

NOTES TO EDITORS:

Representatives from The Center for Eating Disorders at Sheppard Pratt are available for further comment and interview. Please contact Kathleen Shaffer at 410.902.5053 or kshaffer@mghus.com

About the Center for Eating Disorders at Sheppard Pratt

The Center for Eating Disorders at Sheppard Pratt, located in Towson, Md., offers a comprehensive continuum of treatment services for the patient with complex eating disorders. The continuum includes inpatient, day hospital and intensive outpatient services, as well as ongoing outpatient treatment provided by the Center for Eating Disorders. The program is designed to respond to both the psychiatric and medical aspects of eating disorders, with a comprehensive array of mental health and consultative medical resources. For more information, visit: www.eatingdisorder.org

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