New research from the London School of Economics says that if the U.K. government wanted to prevent fashion brands and talent agencies from using super-skinny models, it would be justified by the fact that imagery of too-thin women actually does appreciable psychological damage to women and young girls.

The Guardian reports that LSE’s study — the first known economic analysis of anorexia — found that reducing the number of images of skinny women on television and in magazines would “lift some of the social pressure women feel to be thin.” And because of that, the study suggests that new laws that put limits on how thin a model can be would be worth the effort.

“Government intervention to adjust individual biases in self-image would be justified to curb the spread of a potential epidemic of food disorders,” they write in their paper, to be published in the academic journal Economica later this year.

“The distorted self-perception of women with food disorders and the importance of the peer effects may prompt governments to take action to influence role models and compensate for social pressure on women driving the trade-off between ideal weight and health.”