Recent News and Articles on the Keywords: health + fears + 58,200  Related to the article below (Last Update: 8/5/2008)

There are fears for the health of Victoria Beckham after it emerged that she has slimmed her waist measurement to just 23 inches.

Incredibly, the tiny measurement gives her the same waist size as a seven-year-old - the age of her son Brooklyn.

The 32-year-old former Spice Girl is so slim that she now has to have her clothes specially altered to stop them from swamping her tiny frame.

Fashion designer David Britton has revealed that he now commissions jeans for his A-list clients in a one-off 23-inch waist. His company's previous smallest size, a 24, can apparently prove too big. A tiny size 4 - a "0" in America where she does much of her retail shopping - Mrs Beckham's waist is 11 inches smaller than that of the average British woman.

To put that in perspective, her waist measures about the same size as an old fashioned vinyl single or a football.

Last night Deanne Jade, founder of the National Centre for Eating Disorders in Surrey, said: "When people like Victoria lose so much weight the problem becomes that they don't necessarily want to be pretty or beautiful - they just want to be talked about and the attention that comes with being thin. "It is basic human psychology - the more she is photographed and lauded, the more attention she gets and craves. But often people who are very thin have issues generally - low self-esteem and real fragility.

"Very few women can get to that weight without doing something very drastic although no-one knows quite how she manages to control her hunger in the way that she does. "As much as she may claim to eat like a horse and have an incredibly fast metabolism, I would argue that she is defying all laws of biology and physiology."

This is by no means the first time that mother-of-three Mrs Beckham's ever decreasing weight has sparked concerns.

On internet websites for anorexics she has been cited as a "thinspiration", with women of all ages praising her 'beautiful, sticking out bones' and "thin arms". The singer-turned-fashion designer has, however, previously admitted to suffering from an eating disorder.

And following a public outcry about her weight after her first son Brooklyn was born seven years ago, she admitted that she was too thin.

But in the same interview, Mrs Beckham - who weighs around seven stones - claimed that she ate like a pig. She said: "I should be about eight and a half or nine stone.

"But you know, who is entirely pleased with their body? I told the doctors that I was eating, but there's not a lot you can do about it. I eat more than three meals a day. I'm a complete pig.

"I eat a big bowl of cereal for breakfast, eat a full lunch, a full dinner and I snack too. I always go for the healthy option, not because it's healthy, just because I prefer it. But I also eat lots of crisps, lots of Chinese and Indian takeaways."

Don't put suncream on pupils, teachers warned

Teachers have been advised not to put sunscreen on pupils for fear of opening themselves up to allegations of child abuse.

After the recent heatwave, which sparked warnings from health officials, the NASUWT teachers' union said children should be kept indoors during hot weather.

Chris Keates, the union's general secretary, said staff who are asked to apply suncream to children in school should tell headteachers it was not part of their job.

She told the Times Educational Supplement (TES): "Clearly, children have to be protected but we are extremely concerned about teachers taking responsibility for applying sunscreen to children in the present climate of false allegations.

"I am not saying that teachers should not care, but it is safer for teachers to question whether children need to spend time in the sun.

"It seems a very simple thing but it's one that could get teachers into enormous difficulties."

Nurseries and primary schools have been advised to obtain permission from parents for teachers to apply sun cream to their children, the TES reported.

But the union said such permission would not protect teachers from allegations of abuse.