Study: Men Using Excessive Amount Of Supplements Could Lead To Eating Disorders

LOS ANGELES (CBS Sacramento) -- A new study finds that men using an excessive amount of supplements to replace meals could be considered an eating disorder.

CBS News reports that researchers surveyed 195 men between the ages of 18 and 65 who said they use fitness supplements for working out. The legal supplements include whey protein, creatine and L-cartinine, which despite being legal, are included in the class of appearance and performance enhancing drugs.

Researchers asked the men about their eating habits, their current training methods and their own views about their bodies.

Of those surveyed, 29 percent said they were concerned about their use of APEDs, while 22 percent said they used supplements to replace meals, according to CBS News. More than 40 percent increased their supplement use over time.

What researchers found worrisome is that 8 percent were told by their doctor to cut back and 3 percent had been hospitalized for kidney or liver problems from over-using supplements.

"Body-conscious men who are driven by psychological factors to attain a level of physical or masculine 'perfection' are evidenced to use these supplements and drugs in a manner that is excessive and which was demonstrated in this study to be a variant of disordered eating," Dr. Richard Achiro, of the California School of Professional Psychology at Alliant International University, Los Angeles, and team leader, said in the study, according to CBS News.

Dr. NiCole Buchanan, an associate professor of psychology at Michigan State University, tells CBS News that self-esteem is playing a big part in men who take excessive amounts of supplements.

"You see their self-esteem being directly linked to achieving a certain body size, a muscle mass, maybe achieving a low body fat number, instead of creating and achieving healthy self-esteem that's based on who they are as a human being overall," she told CBS News.

Buchanan added that more teens are showing an increase in eating disorders.

"As younger and younger boys engage in these behaviors, we're going to see more damaging effects across the life course," she explained to CBS News. "So it's really important that we begin to look at the way we objectify men and women's bodies and create unreasonable standards that impact their sense of self, their overall well-being and their health behaviors."

The findings were presented at the American Psychological Association meeting in Toronto.