THE majority of Irish teenage girls experience "fear of fatness" and dieting could lead to poor health in later life, according to research by a Dublin based scientist.

Dr Mary Flynn of the department of biological sciences in the Dublin Institute of Technology surveyed 700 15 year old girls in nine schools in the city.

In one group of 201 teenage girls - 60 per cent said they "wanted to be lighter" although more than a quarter of them thought they were of normal weight or underweight.

Speaking at a press conference on teenage dieting organised by the National Dairy Council, Dr Flynn said "fatness phobia" and extreme diets could be more damaging to long term health than obesity.

"Although dieting is much more common in the overweight, self imposed dieting, which is often nutritionally inadequate, has been reported in normal weight and even underweight girls and by children as young as nine years old."

Dr Flynn is still collating the data from the schools, but initial figures indicate that "in common, with American and British girls the Irish girls tend to perceive themselves as being much heavier than they actually were.

She said 14 per cent of a group of 201 were underweight, while only 9 per cent perceived themselves as such.

Less than 25 per cent were overweight but 45 per cent thought of themselves as overweight.

"Only 53 per cent were actually satisfied with their weight."

Dr Flynn said one of the more serious health risks was osteoporosis or brittle bone disease.

"The low calcium intake among young Irish teenage dieters, who mistakenly consider milk a fattening food, is a cause for concern.

"Among the girls not happy with their weight or those dieting, calcium levels were very low."

A girl develops 15 per cent of the average woman's height in her adolescence, Dr Flynn said, "so a lack of calcium through dieting can lead to short stature."

Ms Nuala Shanley, chief nutritionist with the NDC, said boys were more likely to drink milk because they see it as a "power giving energy drink".

Ms Shanley said a class discussion in one group of 15 teenage girls found that only two of the 15 had not dieted.

"By the time girls have reached the teenage years their calcium in takes are in decline. This is occurring at a time when calcium needs are at their greatest," she added.