The transition from high school to college can be a scary and intimidating experience - new friends, challenging academic expectations and for some, the unplanned acquisition of an eating disorder or distorted body image.

"The University of Arizona is considered a beautiful body school," says Lynne Smiley, nutrition and wellness coordinator. This means that people are highly concerned with physical appearance, due largely to the warm Arizona climate that enables barer, more exposed bodies to be visible throughout most of the year.

Campus Health Center took part in Eating Disorders Awareness week Feb. 5 to 11. Students met with health professionals for free eating disorder screenings, following an educational presentation.

Despite the focus of last week's screenings, eating disorders are a year-round concern for college health professionals.

Smiley says 90 percent of the people she helps are women, mostly perfectionists and high achievers, who use food as a crutch to cope with problems such as low self-esteem, bad grades and break-ups. The women Smiley sees most are involved with sororities or live in the residence halls. Men comprise the remaining 10 percent.

About 80 percent of campus women are food-obsessed and body-obsessed. This means they think about food a lot, feel that they do not eat well enough and often compare their bodies to others.

According to a "Eating Issues and Body Image Continuum" chart used by Campus Health, these people lie in the middle, between what is considered healthy and disordered.

People with disordered eating issues are afraid to eat in front of others, and when they do eat, follow it with exercise, diet pills or vomiting. These people often hate their bodies and don't believe people who tell them they look good.

An important influence that affects eating patterns and self-image is the peer group, says Lisa King, a counselor at UA Campus Health.

"The peer group is very important on campus," she says.

Because most students are leaving home to come to an unfamiliar campus environment, they become scared and start to turn to food or a diet for comfort, King says. Students will also hear from new friends about ways to lose weight, such as laxatives, diet pills and vomiting.

"(Instead of developing) personal relationships, careers and creativity - the things that people come to college for - the focus switches to the numbers on the scale," King says.

She says students begin to ask themselves, "What do I look like?" instead of "Who am I?"

"They are using up their time trying to achieve something unachievable," King says.

And genetics play a big role when it comes to wanting to look like Linda Evangelista or Naomi Campbell, she says.

"Only 5 percent of the (United States) population has the long, lean body type that we see in ads," King says. "(People) compare their bodies to these ads and think that this is the norm."

An additional factor that influences body image perception is the breast implants that some models add to their bodies to create a more shapelier look.

"It's almost like an adolescent male with two breasts stuck on there," King says. "This is unrealistic because model-type bodies don't have large breasts."

Some people have the unrealistic notion that fat on the body is the "enemy," she says.

It's important that men and women realize the body needs a certain amount of fat daily, about 40 to 60 grams, depending upon individual size, King says. Without the proper amount, the body assumes that it is starving.

Most people who attempt a diet do not plan to develop an eating disorder, but if it happens it can be overcome with guidance from UA counselors, private therapists and local and national support groups.

"Be aware, be educated and stop being so stressed about how many fat grams (you eat)," King says. "We're trying to get the message out that fat is not bad."