Children who are teased about their weight may try to shed pounds in any number of unhealthy ways, a recent study published showed.

The study, which followed a group of U.S. middle school and high school students for five years, found that those who'd been teased about their weight were more likely to try fasting, skipping meals, vomiting, or using diet pills or laxatives.

They were also at greater risk of binge eating -- a problem that is linked to depression, which may explain its connection to teasing in this study, the researchers speculate.

The findings are published in the February issue of the journal Pediatrics.

"People need to be aware of the consequences of weight teasing," said study co-author Dr. Dianne Neumark-Sztainer of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.

Though such teasing is often intended as a harmless joke, she noted in an interview, "people should recognize that 'maybe what I'm saying is hurtful."'

The study included more than 2,500 middle school and high school students who were surveyed twice, five years apart, about issues surrounding diet and weight. At the initial survey, 23 percent of girls and 21 percent of boys said they'd been teased about their weight "at least a few times a year."

Among girls, those who were teased were 80 percent more likely to report frequent dieting five years later -- even with factors like age, race and actual weight considered.

When the researchers looked specifically at unhealthy methods of weight loss, however, the relationship to teasing was strong only among boys.

Though on the surface that finding may seem surprising, Neumark-Sztainer pointed out, girls are confronted with many influences that affect how they feel about their bodies -- like media images of impossibly thin women.

So it's possible, she said, that a single factor, like teasing from other kids, does not have as great an impact on girls as it does on boys.

Teasing did appear to affect the risk of binge eating among both male and female students, though the relationship was again stronger for boys.

"The bottom line," Neumark-Sztainer said, "is that weight teasing predicts negative outcomes."

If more kids and adults alike become aware of the harm such words can cause, she said, they may think twice before they speak. And kids who don't tease but would normally stand silently by might be moved to stick up for their peers.

For their part, Neumark-Sztainer said, schools could also establish "explicit policies" against teasing about weight, similar to rules some have against racial slurs and bullying.

But along with trying to stop the teasers, she added, adults can do more to help children deal with being teased. Often, she noted, the targets of the joke will laugh or brush it off even if they feel hurt, when instead they could be truthful about how the remark made them feel.

SOURCE: Pediatrics, February 2006.