In the same way that anorexia nervosa is not primarily about food, alcoholism is not primarily about alcohol.

BBC: 'Alcoholism is not all about drink'

Yolanda Reid-Chassiakos, director of the student health center at California State University, Northridge, once saw a college student whose parents suspected she was suffering from anorexia nervosa.

WSJ: When Patients Lie to the Doctor

Dr Jones told BBC News Online that while most of the problematic behaviours uncovered in the study were not severe enough to be diagnosed as a clinical eating disorder they were still quite significant and placed the girls at risk for the development of conditions such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa.

BBC: Eating disorders 'rife in girls'

"We also know that anorexia and bulimia nervosa and related illnesses affect the lives of almost every one of us, either directly or indirectly, " she said.

BBC: Eating disorders 'on the increase'