The death of Ana Carolina Reston, 21, follows growing criticism of the use of underweight models in the fashion industry, after the death in August of Uruguayan model Luisel Ramos who died of heart failure during a fashion show in Montevideo.
Reston died on Tuesday in a Sao Paulo hospital from a generalized infection caused by anorexia, an eating disorder in which sufferers obsessively deprive themselves of food in pursuit of an ultra-slim look.
Reston weighed only 88 pounds (40 kg) and was about 5 feet 8 inches tall — a weight considered normal for a 12-year-old girl about 5 feet tall.