The investigation established a link between eating behaviours and 'self-rated health' - saying deviant eating behaviours are more likely to occur in women who perceived themselves to be in poor health.

Lise Gauvin, a professor at the Universite de Montreal Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, said: "Our results are disquieting.

"Women are exposed to many contradictory messages. They are encouraged to lose weight yet also encouraged to eat for the simple pleasure of it."

Dr Gauvin said the study sheds new light on binge eating and bulimia - which are characterized in part by excessive eating accompanied by feelings of having lost control.

She went on: "About 13.7 percent of women interviewed for this study reported binge eating one to five days or one to seven times per month."

It was also discovered that 2.5% of women reported forcing themselves to vomit, use laxatives, or use diuretics to maintain their weight or shape.

Over 1,500 women took part in the phone survey on eating disorders and disordered eating. Not one participant had been classified as anorexic before the study.

The average age of these urban-dwelling participants was 31, and the majority were non-smokers and university graduates.

Another finding of the study was that 28 percent of women complete intense exercise twice a month with the sole objective of losing weight or influencing.

Dr Gauvin said: "We practice a sport for the pleasure it provides, to feel good, but when the activity is done to gain control over one's weight and figure, it is indicative of someone who could be excessively concerned about their weight.

"Our data suggests that a proportion of the female population displays maladaptive eating patterns."

The new study from the Universite de Montreal and the Douglas Mental Health University Institute has been published in the International Journal of Eating Disorders.