Supporting someone who has a disease has never been unusual. However, several Web sites and studies have turned their attention to pro-eating disorder sites that are supporting people with eating disorders by encouraging them to continue the habits, even giving tips on how to do so.

Lynn Grefe, chief executive officer of the National Eating Disorders Association, defined pro-anorexia sites as sites that support and encourage people to restrict their food and continue their anorexic tendencies.

"It's a support system," she said. "We consider it a severely negative and dangerous, almost cult-like Web site for people who are suffering from anorexia."

According to a recent study from the Stanford University School of Medicine and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, eating disorder patients that had visited pro-eating disorder Web sites tended to have the condition longer and learned new methods to lose weight and purge.

Grefe said the Web sites are dangerous because people with eating disorders go to them for help to work through their problems.

"They're harmful because they're keeping people out of treatments, and their whole attitude is saying that it's OK - that anorexia is a lifestyle choice and that you have a right to be anorexic," she said. "It's not a lifestyle choice. It's in fact a mental illness that is treatable, and we hope people will recover."

According to a poll conducted by the National Eating Disorders Association in Sept. 2006, 20 percent of college students on campuses across the nation said they believed they suffered from an eating disorder at some point. Of that 20 percent, 75 percent said they did not receive treatment.

Dianna Schalles, nutritionist and health promoter at Lafene Health Center, said she personally has seen an increase in the number of students coming in for eating disorder consults.

Schalles said a good indicator of a pro-anorexia Web site is that eating disorders are glamorized and portrayed as a lifestyle choice and a diet, instead of a disease.

The sites describe people with eating disorders as having will power and self-control, she said.

"It's not real difficult to see that they're attempting to perpetuate eating disorders," Schalles said.

Grefe said she doesn't know who creates the Web sites, but she said it could be people with eating disorders who are looking for company.

"It's painful to think that there are people out there and Web sites to encourage people to stay sick and possibly die," she said.

Schalles said groups like the National Eating Disorders Association have lobbied large Internet servers, such as Yahoo and MSN, to remove pro-eating disorder sites.

Other Web sites like We Bite Back are against the pro-eating disorder sites and provide support without encouraging eating disorder patterns.

The Lafene Health Center Web site offers a free self-screening tool for students that suspect they have an eating disorder, Schalles said.

She said the free screening is a step-by-step process with a series of questions that can direct them if they need help.

"Regardless of whether or not students do the self-screening, we recommend that they consult a physician, counselor or dietitian," she said. "It doesn't matter which one they pursue; the important factor is that they choose one person to get them started on the road to recovery."

Dorinda Lambert, associate director for Counseling Services, said when a student visits the center, a counselor will assess the level of the severity of problem.

She said the consultations involve helping identify the steps that could reasonably help the person. However, if the eating disorder is not well-managed and progress hasn't been made, the office can help the person find resources so they consistently could meet with a specialist.

She said the office works closely with the Office of Student Life to see if it the student could stay in school while trying to change their behaviors.

"Sometimes the situation is deteriorated so much that we try to help them get connected with resources in the community," she said.