A peer-led and sport team-centered program can help in reducing eating disordered behavior and body-shaping drug use in female high school athletes, according to an article in issue of The Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

The article revealed that about half of high school students (male and female) participate in school sports and the pressure to win often influence young women to come in close proximity to disordered eating behaviors, drug use (tobacco, diet pills, diuretics, laxatives, amphetamines, and anabolic steroids).

From News-Medical.Net:

The researchers found that athletes participating in the ATHENA program reported significantly less ongoing and new use of diet pills, and less use of amphetamines, anabolic steroids, and sport supplements. These athletes also reported more seatbelt use and less new sexual activity. The ATHENA athletes also had positive changes in healthy eating behaviors, and reductions in intent to use diet pills in the future, vomiting to lose weight and tobacco use.

“The ATHENA curriculum succeeded in most of its prevention and health promotion goals,” the authors write. “Following their sport season, intervention students reported less ongoing and new diet pill use and less new use of athletic-enhancing, body-shaping substances (amphetamines, anabolic steroids, and muscle-building supplements). Experimental participants understood more about the presented topics, had improved self-reported dietary habits, and indicated greater self-efficacy for exercise training,” write the researchers.

The topics in the ATHENA program were gender specific and consisted of information on effective exercise training, drug use, depression prevention, media images of women, and healthy sport nutrition.