The wedding and diet industries working together may seem like a match made in heaven - for all the wrong reasons. A new word is making its way into an already substantial vocabulary connected to obsessive weight loss and eating disorders: brideorexia. Its name says it all. In addition to all its other demons, the modern world is now dealing with an unprecedented number of severe anorexia cases in brides-to-be who cave under the pressure of looking "perfect" on their big day and almost starve themselves to death.

A recent study conducted by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in the United States has come up with extremely worrisome results and has shown that, in order to look good on their wedding days, a lot of women will risk their health by starving themselves, taking unprescribed weight loss pills, abusing laxatives and even causing themselves to vomit after eating in order to cut weight fast. "People take their bodies on as projects, and one of the times you want that project to be the most successful is on your wedding day", explained Jeffrey Sobal, professor of nutrition and co-author of the study in question.

"With the current high prevalence of anorexia nervosa and bulimia, the pressure of a wedding is one thing that may trigger this kind of behavior", Sobal explained. Another common tactic some future brides decide to go for is ordering a dress that is a few sizes too small in order to set themselves a weight loss goal. On the whole, out of the total number of women monitored in the study, researchers found that a whopping 70% wanted to lose in excess of 20 pounds in the six months leading up to their wedding day and another 20% kept a rigorous watch on their weight to make sure they did not gain an extra ounce.

"Getting married is one of the most stressful events in a woman's life and it is possible that some respond to that pressure by taking control of their life through their eating. We all know about the pressures on young women to look beautiful and some will push themselves to extremes to wear that wedding dress and look their best", said Emma Healey, who leads an eating disorder charity in the UK. "Brideorexia" can turn a beautiful wedding day into a nightmare - that's why it's essential for young women everywhere to understand its dangers and if they still feel they need to lose weight, go for a balanced, healthy eating plan with lots of physical activity and achieve a similar result. Don't overdo it - it may cost you your health and ultimately your marriage.