A recent study found that one in ten girls have taken diet pills at least once in their lifetime, Good Morning America reported.
The study was conducted by the School of Public and Preventive Health at Monash University in Melbourne and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
Researchers conducted more than 90 studies involving more than 600,000 participants under the age of 18 from around the world. Participants were mostly from North America, the United Kingdom, Europe, the Caribbean and Asia.
The study found that girls were more likely to take diet pills, and their use was most common in North America, followed by Asia and Europe.
“Use of non-prescription weight loss products in childhood has been associated with low self-esteem, depression, poor nutritional intake, and substance use,” according to the journal.
According to the study, diet pills were the most commonly used weight loss product by teenagers, followed by laxatives and diuretics.
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Previous research has shown that the use of diet pills is highly correlated with the development of eating disorders.
According to a study by the American Public Health Association, the use of diet pills and laxatives is associated with a higher risk of an eating disorder within one to three years compared to non-users in the US.
A study conducted last year by the JAMA Eating Disorders Network estimated that 22% of children and adolescents had an eating disorder. 63,000 participants from 16 countries took part in the study.
The director of external affairs for eating disorder charity Beat, Tom Quinn, said: “There should be stronger laws to ensure that weight loss products are never sold to people with an eating disorder or at risk of having one.”
