The notion that clothing could be bad for your health is not new. Victorian women, and their predecessors through the ages, suffered in the interest of maintaining the perfect figure. Corsets were known to cause a deformity of the rib cage, for example.

I am reliably informed that corsets are making a fashion come-back. In addition, the advent of Lycra as an essential element in modern fashion means that "tummy toning" tights have become a popular item among the female population. The extra elasticity helps to "shape" and "control" tummies, while more long-term toning strategies take effect.

The difficulty, from a medical point of view, is that these fashion decisions are not without consequences for women's health. Wearing tight-fitting clothes around the tummy is one of the causative factors in a condition called "undigestion". Most of us are familiar with indigestion - the main symptom of which is a feeling of discomfort in the lower chest or upper abdomen. Undigestion gives rise to a feeling of being bloated, as food sits uncomfortably in the stomach. There is often associated nausea. Some people will feel full after eating relatively little.

While a person can experience undigestion without any obvious external cause, there is a link between its symptoms and the wearing of tight clothing around the area of the midriff. From a purely mechanical point of view, it makes sense. How can food proceed rapidly through the gastrointestinal tract if it is subjected to pressure from tightfitting clothing?

Most of us will have experienced some of the symptoms of undigestion at Christmas time or after a particularly heavy meal. For some people, however, it is a regular part of life, regardless of how much they eat.

One young woman with the condition describes feeling bloated after eating as little as a piece of fruit. Substantial meals cause her stomach to bloat until she looks about seven months pregnant. She feels nauseated after meals, with excessive belching and flatulence. Her wardrobe is full of loose-fitting clothes. Baggy jumpers and drawstring trousers are the order of the day. Any temptation to follow fashion beyond these parameters has to be firmly resisted. Normally, the contents of our stomachs are propelled by a series of rhythmic contractions of the gut wall called peristalsis. If this does not happen, then the stagnating food produces the classical undigestion symptoms of bloating, nausea and belching.

Undigestion is estimated to affect about 20 per cent of the population. It appears to be on the increase. Apart from tight clothing, other likely causative factors include bad eating habits and higher levels of stress.

Lifestyle changes are the key to relieving the problem. A drug called domperidone brings relief to some people. It acts on the receptors in the smooth muscles of the the stomach and small intestine. By stimulating these receptors, the drug increases peristaltic action and the stagnating food literally gets pushed out of the stomach.

Reports from Japan points to a more recent health risk associated with fashion. Platform shoes are all the rage among young Japanese women. The soles on these shoes stretch to 25cm (10 inches). Apart from the obvious ankle sprains and sore feet, wearers are suffering even more serious health effects. At a particular women's college, statistics show that one in four students has fallen from their skyscraper soles. Fifty per cent of falls resulted in a fracture or serious sprain. There has even been a fatality. A 25-year-old nursery worker fractured her skull when she fell from five-inch sandles.

These thick-heeled boots have also caught the eye of Japanese police, who have measured the risk of driving with platform shoes. Compared to people wearing trainers, the reaction times of platform-shod drivers is significantly slower. As a result, there are plans ) to ban people driving with skyscraper soles. The traditional high-heeled shoe has left many older women with a legacy of foot problems. A condition called hallux valgus, in which the joint between the foot and the big toe becomes deformed, leads to pain, walking difficulties and ultimately surgical correction for some.

If readers have come across any other examples of clothing causing ill-health, I would be interested to hear from them.

mhouston@irish-times.ie