Models aged under 16 will be banned from London Fashion Week catwalks under new rules proposed today.

A panel of experts set up to investigate health problems among models also called for greater protection for 17 and 18 year-olds, including chaperoning at shows.

But the independent Model Health Inquiry, set up after an outcry over the rise of the size zero model, ruled out weighing all models because it had been ineffective in other countries.

In the inquiry's interim report today, panel members called instead for a rigorous scientific study into the prevalence of eating disorders among fashion models. They had heard evidence that around 40 per cent of models could have anorexia, bulimia or other food-related problems.

Baroness Kingsmill, the panel chairwoman, said that the inquiry heard from many models who described the fear of not being selected for work because they were not thin enough.

“We have been given startling medical evidence about the prevalence and impact of eating disorders in certain high-risk industries," said Baroness Kingsmill.

The inquiry said it wanted more information on whether a minimum body mass index (BMI) requirement of 18.5 should be introduced for London Fashion Week models. This approach has already been adopted by Madrid fashion week.

The College of Psychiatrists told the panel that models with a BMI of below 18.5 - which means they are underweight - should be banned from the catwalk. But other respondents warned that simply recording a model's BMI did not help to identify the eating disorder bulimia nervosa, whose sufferers alternately binge and vomit to control their mood.

The panel called on the British Fashion Council, which owns and runs London Fashion Week, to develop new best-practice standards for model agencies.

Agencies should arrange medical checks, including screening for eating disorders, when they first put a model on their books. This should be followed by annual check-ups, the panel said.

It called for a detailed investigation into models' working conditions, and outlined a positive case for setting up a union for the modelling profession.

It warned that models under 16 were particularly vulnerable in a profession that might ask them to model revealing clothes in sexualised poses. There was a risk of children being sexually exploited when they were made to represent adult women, the report said.

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