'Social media made me want to be the best anorexic'

A woman has criticised social media companies and search engines that recommended eating disorder-related content to her whilst she was battling anorexia.

Louisa Abbott, from Titchfield, Hampshire, said she first began to struggle with the condition after running a marathon in 2020.

"I didn't even realise I was spiralling in that direction," she told the BBC.

She said "very dangerous" health and wellbeing content on social media was harmful to her as "the anorexic part of my head wanted me to be the best at being anorexic".

Following the 2020 London Marathon, which participants completed virtually in across their home towns and cities due to Covid-19 restrictions imposed at the time, Ms Abbott said she remembered her relationship with food changing.

"I remember after the marathon we met up for a meal with people who'd supported us, and not really eating, but thinking it was because I'd done the marathon, I wasn't hungry," she said.

The former clinical nurse said as she got "so lightweight and unwell", all she could do was sit and read.

"On social media, you can look up anything you want to look up and, being in an anorexic state, I would look up celebrities who'd had anorexia, what they would eat in a day, how heavy they were and compete to eat less and be lighter than they were."

"If you can't reach the goal you want to reach your self worth becomes less, and then you find other routes."

She said the "more you look, the more you find" of the "easily accessible" nutrition and health content on platforms.

"Once you've clicked on them once, they keep giving you adverts again and again - all, from my case at that time, unhealthy because I'd been looking up low calories and anorexic traits and they just kept coming through."

By May 2021, Ms Abbott had lost a third of her body weight and was "practically given four weeks to live".

She said: "That's when I decided I had to seek help, to make sure I made an improvement to find out why and be open and talk to people."

Ms Abbott said her recovery had been a "slow process" - "you go backwards a bit, but you go forwards more" - but added she was now in "a good place".

She also called on social media companies to fact-check accounts that post health and nutrition advice to ensure they are "actually legitimate to provide that information".

If you or anyone you know have been affected by any of the themes raised in this article, help and support is available on BBC Action Line.

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