Showing posts with label eating disorders in the news. Show all posts
Showing posts with label eating disorders in the news. Show all posts

Eating Disorders News and Views: June 22, 2012


















Sober Days: Anorexia, alcoholism linked?
my desert

Question: I have been in recovery with A.A. for 3½ years; I am also anorexic. Is there a connection between alcoholism and anorexia/bulimia?

answer: There is evidence of a relationship between eating disorders and alcohol abuse in women.

A study of two populations of adult women — those presenting for alcoholism treatment and those
Read Sober Days in full


Why women who starve themselves MUST be force-fed: Liz Jones backs the judge who ruled an anorexic girl must be kept alive against her will
the daily mail

Sitting at my kitchen table with a piece of toast in front of me, I feel stressed, tired and unhappy, so I don’t want to eat it.

I have to eat it, because if I don’t, I’ll be ill. I put it in my mouth. I want to gag, but I chew. I swallow hard. It’s a tiny square of wholemeal bread. I give the crust to my dog.

I force-feed myself — not every day, but often, when life becomes too much to bear. It’s hard, but it saves my life.

A debate is raging about whether Mr Justice Peter Jackson was right to order an anorexic 32-year-old woman in Wales to be force-fed to keep her alive — against not just her wishes, but those of her parents.
Read Starve in full


Should Anorexics Be Force-Fed?
the huffington post

Should Anorexics be force fed? The latest legal ruling could kill the patient - but doing nothing might also condemn her to death.

The Daily Telegraph has reported that a leading judge who sits in the Court of Protection, Mr Justice Peter Jackson, has ruled that a former medical student suffering from severe anorexia nervosa, and who is at a life-threatening low weight, should be force-fed against her wishes by doctors.
Read Force Fed in full


Coroner blames fashion industry for bulimic schoolgirl's death
itv news

The fashion industry was squarely blamed by a coroner today for the death of a schoolgirl who was found hanged after suffering from an eating disorder.

Michael Rose, the West Somerset Coroner, called on magazines and catwalks to stop using thin models after Fiona Geraghty was found dead at her home, near Taunton, last year.

The 14-year-old schoolgirl, who had been suffering from bulimia, hanged herself in her bedroom in July last year. She had confided in health staff that she had been taunted by other girls at her public school because of her weight.
Read Blames in full


Eating Disorders in Women Over 50
Survey Shows Women in Their 50s Binge, Purge, and Diet Nearly as Often as Adolescents
Web MD

Eating disorders don't just strike teens. A new survey shows that middle-aged women binge, purge, and engage in extreme exercise and dieting about as often as adolescents do.

"Strikingly, things are as bad in this age group as they are in the younger age groups. I was sort of gobsmacked that 8% reported purging in the last five years," says researcher Cynthia M. Bulik, PhD, director of the University of North Carolina Eating Disorders Program, in Chapel Hill.
Read Women in their 50s in full


New Research Strategy for Binge Eating
psych central

Researchers have discovered that blocking the Sigma-1 receptor, a cellular protein, reduced binge eating and caused binge eaters to eat more slowly.

Binge eating disorder affects 15 million Americans and is believed to be the eating disorder that most closely resembles substance abuse and dependency.

Binge eaters typically gorge on junk foods excessively and compulsively despite knowing the adverse consequences, which are physical, emotional and social in nature.
Read New Strategy in full



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Eating Disorders News and Views: May 18, 2012















  Eating Disorders in Men: An Interview With Dr. Roberto Olivardia
Huff Post Healthy Living

Dr. Roberto Olivardia is a clinical instructor of psychology at Harvard Medical School and assistant psychologist at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Mass. He maintains a private psychotherapy practice in Arlington, Mass., where he specializes in the treatment of body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and compulsive skin-picking. He also specializes in the treatment of eating disorders in boys and men. Dr. Olivardia is a co-author of The Adonis Complex, a book which details the various manifestations of body image problems in men, including eating disorders, BDD, steroid use, and cosmetic surgery.

What inspired you to specialize in eating disorders in men?
Read EDs In Men in full.


Brain Reward Systems Of Obese Women Different From Those Of Women With Anorexia: Study
Huffington Post

The brain reward systems of women with anorexia may work differently from those of women who are obese, a new study suggests.

Researchers from the University of Colorado School of Medicine found that women who are anorexic have sensitized brain reward circuits, while women who are obese have desensitized brain reward circuits.
Read Brain Reward System in full.


Tyra Banks applauds Vogue decision to nix too-thin models; Mag to ban models under 16 who appear to have eating disorders
Daily News

The model turned talk-show host is praising Vogue magazine for its recent pledge to stop using too skinny models or girls who appear to suffering from an eating disorder.

The fashion tome will reportedly no longer feature models under the age of 16.

Banks called Vogue’s decision “the beginning of something huge."

In an open letter to The Daily Beast, Banks talked about her own struggles to keep her weight down to a size 4 and the unhealthy things women did to keep thin.
Read Tyra Banks in full.


Is your daughter or son trying to hide anorexia?
The Mirror

When a child or teenager feels they’re being controlled by the people around them, they use anorexia to seize control back.

I was deeply saddened recently to read that anorexia had claimed the life of Charlotte Seddon, a lovely girl of 17 and a star student who had everything to live for.

Yes, it’s a salutary story. She first stopped eating when she was 12.

Like many anorexics, she was bright and devious enough to fool her parents that she was eating (despite profound weight loss).

Anorexics cleverly cover their tracks spreading crumbs, leaving buttery knives on the table, false traces of toast uneaten and consigned to the bin when no one is looking.
Read Hiding in full.


Dukan Diet guru struck off medical register after saying children who lose weight should be given extra marks at school
Daily Mail

A diet guru whose fans include the Duchess of Cambridge's mother has been struck off the medical register in France after being accused of misadvising teenagers.

Pierre Dukan, 70, asked to be removed from the doctors’ list at his own request because he was facing disciplinary action.

The nutritionist had used a book to propose ideal weights for 17 and 18 year-old school pupils, giving them extra exam marks if they kept to them.
Read Diet Guru in full.


Bournemouth charity I*Eat bridges anorexia divide
BBC News Dorset

There are more than 200 new cases of anorexia and bulimia in Dorset every year. The youngest patient in the county is just 10 years old.

But this could be just the tip of the iceberg.

Health professionals estimate there could be as many as 1,500 people with eating disorders in the county, many of whom do not come forward for fear of becoming stigmatised.

I*Eat in Bournemouth is a charity that aims to bridge the gap and help vulnerable people get their lives back on track - people like Vicky Field.
Read I*Eat in full. 
Find I*Eat Org here. 


Birmingham TB victim Alina Sarag 'given bulimia warning'
BBC News Birmingham & Black Country

A 15-year-old girl died of tuberculosis (TB) after being told she may have bulimia during appointments with health professionals, an inquest has heard.

A GP allegedly advised Alina Sarag, who attended Birmingham's Golden Hillock School, that her physical deterioration was due to mental health problems.

Alina was treated for TB after being diagnosed with the disease in 2009, Birmingham Coroner's Court heard.

She appeared to recover from the condition, but died in January 2011.
Read TB Victim in full.


Healthbeat Report: Uncontrollable Overeating
ABC News

When healthcare professionals diagnose mental illness, they usually turn to the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders or DSM. This so-called bible of psychiatry is undergoing a major and somewhat controversial overhaul. Already under the category of eating disorders are anorexia and bulimia. Now something called binge eating disorder may join the list as its own diagnosis.

So when is eating too much a true illness? Experts say there are telling signs.

The stories of binge eating patients are similar. Embarrassed, ashamed, they would eat at times till it hurt.
Read Uncontrollable Overeating in full.


Mirror, mirror: Palo Alto JCC event looks at media’s role in negative body image

J.Weekly

Sydney Calander is so accustomed to hearing her women friends tear down their own appearances that she hardly notices it anymore.

“Honestly? It’s been like that ever since I can remember,” says Calander, 20, a junior at Pitzer College in Southern California. “Around the time I turned 12 or so, I became aware of all my friends getting really critical about their bodies, the way they looked — how they felt they had to look in order to be loved, or to attract a partner.”

As a student at San Francisco’s Jewish Community High School of the Bay, Calander made sure not to let her own similar thoughts spiral into negative behavior.
Read Negative Body Image in full. 


Could airbrushing ban curb desire to be thin?
Express and Star

We have a love-hate relationship with food – and both extremes of consumption come with a massive health warning.

A young woman who almost died in a four-year battle with anorexia that plunged her weight to four and a half stone has now launched a campaign to ban airbrushed images showing super-slim celebrities in glossy magazines.

Rachael Johnston, who is now aged 20 and a “healthy” size eight, wants children to be protected from the kind of images she says led to her eating disorder.

On the one hand, we want to stop the obesity epidemic that is making many of us – and our children – so unhealthy.

But on the other we don’t want to drive youngsters to extreme dieting.
Read Airbrushing in full. 


Diagnosing a public health problem: Photoshop
Philly.com

Why is it that the fatter America gets, the more unrealistically thin our ideal of what people should look like becomes? It's not just a perplexing paradox. It poses a threat to the public’s health: our nation’s obesity crisis may eventually be coupled with anorexia and bulimia crises as well.

As noted in my post last week, America is in the midst of an obesity era. Thirty-seven percent of adults and 17 percent of kids are obese, and no one is particularly happy about it. All the while, Americans are bombarded with digitally manipulated (a.k.a. “photoshopped”) images of models that are impossibly thin and blemish free.

As highlighted by recent stories by the New York Times and BBC, young women in the U.S. and abroad have began to protest the photoshopped female form and the notion that they should strive for a body that — by virtue of skeletal constraints — is literally unobtainable.
Read Photoshop in full.


Eating disorders increase risk of dying prematurely, large study shows
Examiner

A disease of vanity? Think again. Although this stereotype of eating disorders continues among the public and even some mental health professionals, new research confirms that eating disorders are serious —and lethal. Jaana T. Suokas, MD., presented findings from a new, large scale study at the prestigious American Psychiatric Association Conference held in Philadelphia yesterday.
Read Increased Risk in full.


Research Study for Moms of Anorexic Boys

Laura's Soap Box

Are you the Mother of a Son who has received inpatient treatment for Anorexia Nervosa?

If so, please consider participating in this important study, which seeks to explore and document the psychological and social caregiving experiences of these mothers.
To date, there have not been any published research studies that have focused exclusively on parents of sons with anorexia.
Read Research Study in full.


all sources linked above

Eating Disorders News and Views: April 24, 2012


















The following News and Views presented do not necessarily reflect the opinion or beliefs of Weighing The Facts.
Warning: Some articles may be triggering.

Internet Crackdown on Pro-anorexia Sites

Two years ago, when Madeleine Bowman began treatment for anorexia, she stopped looking at a pro-anorexia website that for years had served as her community and her source for ideas to nurture her secret illness.

But on Tuesday she was curious and decided to take a look. Fortunately, her login had expired.

Bowman 26, of New York, is in recovery from a decade-long battle with anorexia, she said.

She'd stumbled upon the website in eighth grade, after googling "eating disorders." Bowman had been skipping meals to lose weight and she wanted to find out if she was anorexic. She then visited the site often to find new ways to hide her condition from friends and family.

Given the many social aggregators that spread information to wider and wider audiences, Bowman says that today it would be even easier for someone to find their way to a pro-anorexia site.

That might not be the case for much longer.
Read Internet Crackdown in full.


Self-Harm Banned by Instagram

Instagram, the popular online photo-sharing service that was recently bought by Facebook for US$1 billion, is banning images and accounts that condone "self-harm" behavior such as eating disorders, cutting oneself, or committing suicide.

In a blog post Friday, the company said the following:

Going forward, we won't allow accounts, images, or hashtags dedicated to glorifying, promoting, or encouraging self-harm. Should users come across content of that nature, we recommend flagging the photo or flagging the user as a "Terms of Service" violation for our Support team to review.

It is important to note that this guideline does not extend to accounts created to constructively discuss, or document personal experiences that show any form of self-harm where the intention is recovery or open discussion. While we strongly encourage people to seek help for themselves or loved ones who are suffering, we understand the importance of communication as a form of support, in order to create awareness and to assist in recovery.
Read Banned in full.


Family of Padiham victim (17) warn other families of signs of anorexia

THE family of a talented and caring Padiham teenager who died battling anorexia have called for more to be done to raise awareness and help youngsters with the disease.

Charlotte Rose Seddon (17), a straight A student, died suddenly at home in Balliol Close 12 days after leaving the Priory, Altrincham, following four months of treatment. She weighed just 6st.

An inquest into her death at Burnley Coroner’s Court heard Charlotte’s heart failed after becoming small due to a lack of nutrients.

Pathologist Dr Jane Edwards, who carried out the post-mortem examination, said there would have been no symptoms or warning, despite Charlotte having regular health checks.
Read Warn Other Families in full.


K 06 Other Specified Feeding or Eating Disorder

Feeding and Eating Conditions Not Elsewhere Classified

These Conditions should be considered only if the individual has a feeding or eating disturbance judged to be of clinical significance that does not meet the criteria for any of the Feeding and Eating Disorders described above. The Conditions are described briefly; detailed criteria are not provided pending additional research. Although a diagnostic hierarchy (“trumping”) is not explicitly described, only a single condition should be assigned to an individual reflecting the description that best fits the individual's symptoms.

Sufficient data are not available at present to justify designating these Conditions’ as Disorders. However, these Conditions may be associated with levels of distress and/or impairment similar to those associated with the recognized Feeding and Eating Disorders, and may require intensive clinical intervention.
Read Other Specified in full.


Study: 16 Percent Increase in Men with Eating Disorders

New data from the NHS shows a shocking rise in the number of men with eating disorders (ED’s). Over the last year, there has been a 16% increase in the number of men and boys admitted to the hospital for eating disorders. While this is a huge jump, it may only hint at the true number of men suffering from an ED.

By its very nature, disordered eating is a secretive and guilty practice. Sufferers develop an unhealthy relationship with food over time and often go to great lengths to hide the symptoms of their condition. In particular, men have a difficult time admitting they have a problem because of the stigma that still surrounds eating disorders. Conditions such as anorexia and bulimia are often seen as a women’s disease and may be labeled “unmanly”.
Read 16% Increase in full. 


Image is everything: Unfortunately, that's the case in our society

Half the girls in this country between the ages of 11 and 13 believe they are fat.

That startling statistic comes from The Renfrew Center Foundation for Eating Disorders in Philadelphia and echoes what others say about the way girls think about food and their bodies.

Some young women go on fad diets or exercise binges at a time in their lives when they should be enjoying childhood and succeeding in school. Instead, they are overly preoccupied with their appearance — or better said, what they think they should look like.
Read Half The Girls in full.


Instagram, Pinterest latest to ban 'thinspo,' other 'self-harm' content

Many online communities have seen issues with "thispo" or "thinspiration" content, promotion anorexia or bulemia, and Instagram, Pintarest, and Tumblr are among services which have responded by banning "self-harm content," with Instagram the latest.

Blogging service Tumblr made its move in February, saying that while it is ”deeply committed to supporting and defending our users’ freedom of speech, [but] we do draw some limits.”
Read Latest to Ban in full


Binge Eating Disorder Continues to Rise Among Men

About 8 million men and women suffer from Binge Eating Disorder (BED), which is nearly three times the amount of those affected by Anorexia and Bulimia. With as many men affected by BED as women, The Eating Disorder Center of Denver (EDCD) aims to offer a treatment program that is accommodating and effective for both genders.

A newly recognized condition, those suffering from BED eat more than normal meal portions, feel a loss of control when eating and do not purge after binging.

Men are traditionally underrepresented in clinical trials for BED that gauge the effectiveness of treatments and are often overlooked when developing treatment programs, according to Dr. Tamara Pryor, EDCD clinical director.
Read BED Continues to Rise in full.


Demi Lovato: Bullies Sparked Bulimia

Demi Lovato's bulimia was sparked by school bullies who branded her 'fat'.

The 20-year-old former Disney star - who was admitted to rehab in 2010 for help with an eating disorder, self-harm and depression - believes her problems started at the tender age of 12.

Talking about her tormentors, she said: 'They called me a whore and told me I was fat and ugly. I shouldn't have listened, but I took it to heart and it hurt. I thought maybe I didn't have friends because I was too fat.'
Read Demi Lovato Bullies in full.


Anorexia May Be Caused By Brain Abnormality

London, April 22 (ANI): A new study has suggested that anorexia may be triggered by a defect in the brain, offering new hope that the potentially deadly eating disorder can be treated.

The pioneering research, carried out on anorexics as young as eight and using powerful new brain-imaging techniques, could lead to different treatments.

Anorexia is defined as a body weight at least 15 per cent below that expected, the Daily Express reported.

"We believe subtle problems in early brain development make patients susceptible to anorexia. We need to re-examine other mental health problems," said Psychologist Dr Ian Frampton of Exeter University, one of two researchers leading the study.
Read Anorexia Brain in full.


Pro-Anorexia 'Thinspiration' Photos Shouldn't Be Banned from Social Media


First, they came for the thinspiration pictures.

Internet censors are always agitating to ban one thing or another, and it's rarely the same thing twice. Instead, there's a revolving carousel of images that are deemed in succession to be beyond even the online pale. Each one seems to present a plausible occasion for, this once, curtailing free speech. The king wearing a pig snout. A swastika. Naked children.

Right now it's semi-naked women that the distressed classes want to cover up -- the very images on which the entirety of Western visual culture is founded.

This time, the anxiety about graven images has nothing to do with how they might arouse desire in men. We're afraid of what's known as " thinspiration," it seems, because glamorous photos of very skinny women, together with admiring captions, might arouse self-loathing in women, and thereby inspire self-mortification, and in particular anorexia.
Read Shouldn't Be Banned in full.


Scots man reveals his battle with anorexia as number of sufferers rise 

JONATHAN Hill has a year to start eating or he could die.
That is the stark warning he was given by doctors trying to help him overcome anorexia.
And he is an example of a worrying trend, with a rising number of males fighting the disorder which is usually associated with young women.
Jonathan, 29, has battled an eating disorder since he was 12.
His weight is currently six and a half stone – he used to be as low as four and a half – and hopes he is doing enough to see his fourth decade.
“I’ve accepted I’ll always have this illness. I won’t get better,” said Jonathan.
Read Scots Man in full.

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Eating Disorders News and Views: March 3, 2012


















Senate Recognizes National Eating Disorders Awareness Week
Surfky

FRANKFORT, KY (3/1/12) – The Kentucky State Senate has recognized that February 26 through March 3, 2012, as National Eating Disorders Week and honored the National Eating Disorders Association on the floor of the Kentucky State Senate.

“Eating disorders are a continually growing problem in Kentucky,” said Jerry P. Rhoads, D-Madisonville. “It is important to raise awareness about this issue so that our citizens will achieve a healthier lifestyle.”
Read Recognizes in full.


Anorexia on the Rise Among Kids and Anti-Obesity Campaigns Blamed
MedicalNet

According to Dr Jane Morris, chairwoman of the Scottish Eating Disorder Interest Group, healthy eating drives are causing anorexia in children. She said children were obsessing about their diet because of drives to combat obesity.

Last week reports of children as young as six were being treated for anorexia emerged, and figures showed medical treatments were on the rise. Dr Morris, a consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist at the Royal Edinburgh hospital, said it was a ‘huge concern.’
Read On The Rise in full.


Anorexia Research Finds Government Intervention Justified
The Guardian

Governments are justified in using the law to prevent modelling agencies from using very skinny women on catwalks and stop magazines from printing adverts and photographs that suggest extreme thinness is attractive, according to research from the LSE.
The first-ever economic analysis of anorexia, studying nearly 3,000 young women in the UK and the rest of Europe, found that the social and cultural environment influences decisions by young women to starve themselves in search of what they perceive to be an ideal body shape.
Young women, who make up 90% of anorexia nervosa cases, are influenced by the size and weight of their peer group.
Anorexia, say the researchers, is a socially transmitted disease and appears to be more common in countries such as France, where women are thinner than the European average. It mostly affects girls and women between the ages of 15 and 34, they found, who were willing to trade off their health against self-image.
Read Justified in full.


Peer Pressure Drives Spread of Anorexia: Study
HealthNews

LONDON (Reuters) - Anorexia is a socially transmitted disorder and appears to be more prevalent in countries such as France where women are thinner than average, according to new research from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).
The "economic analysis" of anorexia, using a sample of nearly 3,000 young women across Europe, concluded that peer group pressure is one of the most significant influences on self-image and the development of anorexia and appeared just as the autumn/winter season is winding up with Paris Fashion Week.
The research by LSE economist Dr Joan Costa-Font and Professor Mireia Jofre-Bonet of City University, showed that it is becoming increasingly apparent that standards of physical appearance are important and powerful motivators of human behavior, especially regarding health and food.
Read Peer Pressure in full.


Research Fail: New Anorexia Study Focuses On Weight, Not Behavior
Blisstree

Anorexia is widely seen as a disease of isolation and loneliness–but according to a new study, it could be a “socially transmitted disease,” passed from one skinny woman to another. Researchers in London have found that body image and weight are greatly impacted by the behaviors, attitudes, and even weights our peers, which is all well and good. Unfortunately, the study has one gigantic flaw that makes it difficult to take seriously: the definition for who is “anorexic” seems to be based solely on weight, not behavior. Which may be how they do it in the DSM, but that doesn’t mean it’s accurate.

Reuters reports that the researchers used a sampling of 2,871 women ranging in age from 15 to 34. The participants reported their age, gender (even though they were all female), marital status, weight, eating habits, political attitudes, education level, and body image perception.
 Read Research Fail in full.


Binge Eating is Common Yet Misunderstood
NewsWorks

It's the most common eating disorder, but it often goes undiagnosed or is misdiagnosed. Participants in this week's Binge Eating Disorder conference in Philadelphia want to change that.

Binge eating disorder can easily look like obesity since people who have it tend to be overweight. But it goes far beyond food choices and exercise. Binge eating is triggered by deep psychological distress and eating offers relief -- albeit short-lived.

Chevese Turner said she felt extremely depressed and upset after an eating binge, yet felt unable to stop this behavior which started early on in her life.

Turner was an overweight child experiencing trauma at home and at school, and food became a momentary escape. She said she was able to break the vicious cycle and get better once she understood what she was dealing with, and found a therapist specializing in this disorder
Read Misunderstood in full.


Eating Disorders Quietly Plague Black Communities
The Grio

Although white women were once thought to be the sole group battling eating disorders, over the past few years, reports of eating disorders among minorities -- particularly African-Americans -- have increased.

Stephanie Covington Armstrong, an African-American woman, shares her struggles with bulimia with theGrio.

Raised in Brooklyn, NY, Covington said she grew up poor and dealt with a series of issues that impacted her childhood, including poor eating habits, low self-esteem, and rape. She believes these traumas led to her eating disorder.

"I started thinking that something was wrong with me... that I wasn't lovable... and that I was damaged," she said. "So the way that I was able to kind of calm those fears was with food. My eating would push down all of those fears, and my eating disorder pushed over the edge."

Covington emphasized that the eating disorder gradually took over her entire life.
Read Quietly Plague in full


Weight History May Be Vital to Bulimia Treatment
PsychCentral

In a new study, researchers discovered a majority of women with bulimia nervosa reach their highest-ever body weight after developing their eating disorder — even though bulimia is characterized overall by significant weight loss.

The study concludes that exploring a woman’s weight history and the course of the eating disorder will improve productive discussion of weight and weight history, and thus improve treatments.
Read May Be Vital in full.


Anorexia Loved Me: Victim of Officer's Sex Abuse
smh.com.au

"Anorexia became my friend, it loved me"
"I could not come to terms with what he did to me"
"I have learnt that no one is above the law"
"I now have the power and no one can take that away from me"

A young woman has spoken of her battle with anorexia and depression, which left her "an inch away from death" following the sexual abuse inflicted upon her as a child by a NSW police officer.

The woman fought back tears as she delivered an extended victim impact statement in the sentencing of former Senior Constable Gregory Ernest Urch, 61, who sexually assaulted her and another minor during the mid-1990s.
Read Loved Me in full.


Is Anorexia A Female Disease? Think Again
FairfieldMirror

What do Nicole Richie, Lindsay Lohan, Billy Bob Thorton and Elvis Presley have in common? They have all suffered from eating disorders.

While eating disorders in females are often identified, male celebrities are not publicized as much but they too have fallen victim to the same disease.

In 2008, a student was diagnosed with an eating disorder after witnessing many female schoolmates obsessing over how “fat” they were. Currently receiving treatment four years later at age 14, Avi Sinai is one of many males who have suffered from anorexia nervosa.

According to the National Eating Disorders Association, anorexia nervosa is a “life-threatening eating disorder”, but sex or gender is not mentioned.

Compared to women, men tend to be more secretive about anorexia due to cultural and social expectations within their own society. Thinness amongst women is advertised within the media, allowing them to battle with weight issues without it being socially unacceptable.
Read Think Again in full. 


Binge Eating: Patients Struggle to Break Free When Food Takes Control
USA Today

Peterson had been struggling with binge-eating disorder since the mid-'90s, from the time she was just 11. By late 2009, she carried more than 200 pounds on her 5-foot-2-inch frame.

"I was feeling miserable," said Peterson, who works in retail. "I couldn't walk across the parking lot, couldn't run, my back hurt. I felt like my customers thought I was stupid and were judging me."

But her vision kicked her into action, inspiring her to seek help to control her binges and lose weight.

"I lost it, because if I didn't, the binge-eating disorder would have killed me," said Peterson, 29, and more than 70 pounds lighter.
Read Struggle in full.


Anorexia Sees No Age, Color, or Gender
DailyRx

Many people believe that anorexia and bulimia are disorders most apparent amongst white teenage girls, yet a recent report demonstrates that they’re increasingly affecting minorities, children, and boys.

David Rosen, M.D, M.P.H. professor of pediatrics at University of Michigan Medical School, is the author of a new clinical report entitled "Identification and Management of Eating Disorders in Children and Adolescents".

He explains, “the epidemiology of eating disorders has gradually changed.”

He calls upon his fellow pediatricians to “be familiar with early detection and appropriate management of these disorders.”
Read Anorexia Sees No in full.



Eating Disorders Consume the Lives of the Affected
Iowa State Daily

Most people are familiar with the two main types of eating disorders: anorexia and bulimia. Anorexia involves limiting the amount of food one eats while bulimia involves ridding oneself of the eaten food through purging or excessive exercise.

With this week being National Eating Disorder Awareness Week, it is the perfect time for people to become educated about what eating disorders are, who they affect and where to get help.

Eunice Bassler, senior lecturer of food science and human nutrition, explained a common misconception about eating disorders. “Eating disorders are disordered eating patterns with a psychological component.”

Bassler most often deals with disordered eating patterns, which are simply irregular eating patterns. These do not get classified as eating disorders until a psychological condition, such as a distorted view of the body or a fear of gaining weight, is identified along with the disordered eating pattern.
Read Consume in full.


Five Warning Signs of Eating Disorders in Your Teen
TimesUnion

To help attract attention to National Eating Disorders Week (February 26-March 3, 2012), eating disorders and food addictions expert Tennie McCarty offers tips to parents on how to spot eating disorders in their teen children.

“Over the years, most of the talk about eating disorders in teens has focused on anorexia and bulimia, typically blamed on unrealistic body images portrayed in the media. Increasingly however, the discussion has turned to the opposite end of the spectrum - compulsive overeating and food addiction. As the obesity rates in American children continue to skyrocket, teen overeating and addiction to food are becoming serious concerns to many parents,” said McCarty.
Read 5 Warning Signs in full.


Why You Should Care That New Eating Disorders Might Make The DSM-V
BlissTree

When most people hear ‘eating disorder,’ they think anorexia or bulimia. But there are lots of different types of disordered eating—binge eating, compulsive night eating, obsessively health-conscious eating—and psychiatrists may officially recognize several ‘new’ eating disorders in the upcoming Diagnostic and Statistic manual. The DSM guides the way psychiatrists diagnose and treat mental health patients, how insurance companies cover treatment, what researchers get grants for studying and the drugs pharmaceutical companies develop. I asked Dr. Janet Taylor, a clinical psychiatry instructor at Columbia University’s Harlem Hospital, about the DSM, new eating disorders and what these mean for mental health care.
What is the DSM-V?
Read Why You Should Care in full.


May Institute: What Women Over 40 Should Know About Eating Disorders
Wicked Local

It’s not just teenage girls who are willing to starve themselves or “binge and purge” in order to become as thin as the movie stars and fashion models they admire. Today, more and more women in their 40s, 50s, and 60s are seeking help for eating disorders they have developed as they battle slowing metabolisms and thickening waistlines.

"A growing number of older women are developing eating disorders or have hidden them for years," confirms Lauren Solotar, Ph.D., ABPP, May Institute’s Chief Executive Officer and a clinical psychologist who has specialized in the treatment of eating and anxiety disorders.
Read Women Over 40 in full.


Drawing on Experience to Tell Their Eating Disorder Stories
Derby Telegraph

The idea was developed through users of the charity who found it difficult to express how they felt with words.
Lauren Hind, 20, has been using the First Steps programme for the past four years and now volunteers with the organisation.
Her creation involves a picture of her face and words, such as "fat" and "worthless", describing how she has felt.
She said: "When we first had the workshops, I got really angry because I couldn't draw.
"But then the teacher told me that art didn't have to be drawings, it could be words too. Then I came up with my piece. It doesn't have a name. It's all my thoughts and feelings that I've ever had but couldn't say."
Lauren, who lives in Sinfin, used to binge-eat and said she had avoided getting help sooner because she was afraid of being turned away.
Read Drawing On Experience in full.



Healthy Eating Campaigns ‘Causing Anorexia’
Deadline News

A SCOTS expert has said government healthy eating drives are causing anorexia in children.

Dr Jane Morris, chairwoman of the Scottish Eating Disorder Interest Group, said children were obsessing about their diet because of drives to combat obesity.
Last week reports of children as young as six were being treated for anorexia emerged, and figures showed medical treatments were on the rise.
Dr Morris, a consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist at the Royal Edinburgh hospital, said it was a ‘huge concern.’
Read Causing Anorexia in full.


Anorexia and Aging: Is There a Silent Crisis of Eating Disorders in Older Women?

Family Goes Strong

Expert: "Eating disorders are the deadliest mental illnesses and premature death is very common."

It's National Eating Disorders Awareness Week from Feb. 26 – March 3. There is a lot of helpful information available on how younger and younger kids are struggling with eating disorders, how 5-year-old girls are complaining they are "fat," and how boys are now struggling in significant numbers with one of the deadliest mental illnesses there is.
Read Anorexia and Aging in full.

Eating Disorders In The News



Trying To Define Binge Eating Disorder


Los Angeles Times
Binge eating was long seen by psychiatrists as an unusual symptom of major depression or an anxiety disorder. After all, it seemed sometimes to lessen or yield to antidepressants and psychotherapy -- both aimed primarily at treating depression or anxiety.

But as anorexia and bulimia gained public recognition and as eating disorder clinics began to fill in the 1980s, the field began to see a growing group of patients who had clearly dysfunctional eating patterns yet fit the description of neither anorexia nor bulimia.

By 1994, when the American Psychiatric Assn. published the most recent edition of its diagnostic manual, binge eating was put on a watch list of conditions that might in the future be considered distinct. Since then, researchers estimate that roughly half of eating-disorder patients are identified as not fully fitting the diagnostic criteria for anorexia and bulimia. They are consigned to the diagnostic gray area called "eating disorder, not otherwise specified," or EDNOS. A large proportion of people with the diagnosis are believed to be binge eaters who do not then purge.

Read in full: Trying To Define Binge Eating Disorder

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Thinspiration: Do Web Sites Encourage Anorexia?

Fox News
Recently there has been increased concern over hundreds of "pro-eating disorder" Web sites that provide "thinspiration" to legions of young women who want to become stick-thin.

These sites provide an online community to swap tips on how to fast, disguise disordered eating, and generally "encourage" anorexia (though people don't really need to look far for information on dieting tips or how not to eat).

Following public complaints and concerns, many such "pro-ana" sites have been shut down. In 2001, for example, the search engine Yahoo purged over 100 pro-anorexia sites. French officials have recently threatened to criminalize groups they believe encourage eating disorders, arrest their members, and shut down Web sites hosted in France. People posting images of thin women or sharing dieting tips could face up to three years in prison and more than $70,000 in fines.

The concern is surely well-meaning, but is it misplaced?

For as much concern and furor as these "pro-ana" sites have generated, there is very little evidence of harm. As Kenyon College psychology professor Michael Levine told the International Herald Tribune, "You're going to be hard pressed to demonstrate in a very clear way that these sites have a direct negative affect."

Read in full Thinspiration: Do We Sites Encourage Anorexia?

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Get Off The Binge Eating Rollercoaster

The Australian
CAROL was just 15 when she went on her first diet.

It would be the start of a 15-year binge-eating and binge-dieting roller-coaster, one that would leave her suicidal and locked into a vicious cycle of depression, followed by yet more comfort eating and bingeing.

Now in her 40s, Carol has finally won her battle with binge eating disorder thanks to a long journey of self-discovery involving therapy and support groups where others with BED shared their experiences with her.

Anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are well-known eating disorders, but there's less awareness of BED. And that's surprising as it's more common than anorexia and bulimia combined.

Read in full Get Off The Binge Eating Rollercoaster

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Holiday Meals Especially Difficult For Binge Eaters

Chicago Sun-Times
Most people feel tempted to overeat during the holidays, when calorie-laden comfort food is in endless supply from Thanksgiving until New Year's.

But the food-focused holiday season holds special dangers for those suffering from binge eating disorder -- a condition in which people eat excessive amounts of food while feeling unable to control their behavior.

Especially on Thanksgiving and Christmas, "you have this license to really go out of control, and it's acceptable behavior," said Christ, a recovering binge eater from the North Side who requested that his full name not be used. "Nobody notices that you're eating 12 pieces of pie, because you're just trying each one there."

The stress of family gatherings also can trigger unhealthy eating.

Read in full Holiday Meals Especially Difficult For Binge Eaters

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British Politician Attacks Kate Moss For Encouraging Anorexia

The Independent

After Moss publicly declared in an interview that "nothing tastes as good as skinny feels," Lembit Opik -- a member of the British Parliament -- has lashed out at the topmodel, telling UK paper The Sun this statement was "everything that is wrong with the fashion world."

(Relaxnews) -After Moss publicly declared in an interview that "nothing tastes as good as skinny feels," Lembit Opik - a member of the British Parliament - has lashed out at the topmodel, telling UK paper The Sun this statement was "everything that is wrong with the fashion world."

The model's quote from a recent interview with Women's Wear Daily had been posted as credo on several pro-anorexia sites, causing concern among help organizations such as Beat.

Read in full British Politician Attacks Kate Moss For Encouraging Anorexia

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The Most Common Eating Disorder You've Ever Heard Of

North by Northwestern

Sara always blots her pizza with a tissue to save calories. Carrie never eats the crust. Margaret professes to love deep dish pizza, but peels off all of the cheese. Mark rarely eats pizza because he doesn’t deserve it unless he runs ten miles first.

Which of these behaviors is normal? Which might be signs of an eating disorder? Sometimes it’s hard to make a distinction.

While perhaps none of these fictional characters would be diagnosed with anorexia, bulimia or a binge eating disorder –- the most commonly referenced eating disorders -– they may each have their own varying levels of undefinable psychological food struggles.

According to the National Eating Disorders Association, signs of an eating disorder include a preoccupation with body image and weight, fluctuation in weight unrelated to a medical condition and secretive or strange behavior during mealtimes.

EDNOS, or Eating Disorders Not Otherwise Specified, is the most common diagnosis for those with eating disorders. A study published in the International Journal of Eating Disorders found that over 77 percent of eating disorders were classified as EDNOS. Yet despite its prevalence, EDNOS is often neglected in the study of eating disorders, with most research focusing on anorexia and bulimia.

Read in full The Most Common Eating Disorder You've Ever Heard Of


sources linked above

Eating Disorders: In The News




'Normal' Educates and Entertains

Normal" is a musical that tackles the weighty and relevant subject of eating disorders and how one young girl's struggle affects her entire family.

Artistic Director Chase Kniffen writes in his program notes that "Normal" not only deserves a place in Stage 1's inaugural season, but that it was, in fact, the reason he wanted to create a new theatrical venue in central Virginia dedicated to new and recent works by American playwrights - especially musicals.

"Normal" fits the bill. The play, written by Yvonne Adrian with lyrics by Cheryl Stern, opened off Broadway in 2005 and has apparently not been professionally produced elsewhere since.

Anorexia is not a common topic for a play, much less a musical, but Kniffen and the cast of seven provide an open, in-depth and intimate view of the subject as well as the dynamics of the Freeman family as mother, father, daughter and son struggle to come to terms with the layers of dissonance that would drive a young girl to starve herself to be pretty "to the bone."

With strong voices and solid acting by veterans Ford Flannagan (the dad, Robert) and Julie Fulcher (the mom, Gayla), Dave Amadee's authentically touching portrayal of the concerned brother, Zachary, and Ali Thibodeau's debut in the heart-wrenching role of Polly, the show has a lot to offer. Angela Shipley, Debra Wagoner and Terri Moore round out the cast as a sort of Greek chorus in white, filling in the many roles of doctor, nurse, therapist, flight attendants and the like.

Read in full here.
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Hospital Funding Dispute Depriving Malnourished Children In South

A dispute between the Health Ministry and Soroka Medical Center in Be'er Sheva is delaying the establishment of a clinic to treat eating disorders among children. The patients, who are under-weight, under-nourished, and require intensive medical treatment, have been forced to travel to the center of the country for treatment.

Following the publication of a report in Haaretz a year and a half ago highlighting the lack of these services in the north and south of the country, the Labor, Welfare and Health Committee of the Knesset convened and directed the Health Ministry to develop a plan to provide hospital and out-patient facilities for the outlying population.

The Health Ministry's chief psychiatrist, Yaakov Polkovich, developed a plan to provide hospital facilities for these children in Haifa and Safed in the north, as well as in the south. But no budget has been allocated to make the facilities available in the south.

Polkovich told Haaretz that eight hospital beds for children with eating disorders were planned for Soroka Medical Center, in addition to out-patient facilities for another eight children. He said the Be'er Sheva hospital opposed the plan because it was seeking Health Ministry funding of about NIS 6 million instead for a separate building at the hospital at which these services would be provided. Polkovich said the dispute is ultimately over funding the project.

According to Health Ministry statistics, there are about 70,000 young Israelis, including many adolescents, who are malnourished due to anorexia and bulimia. In recent years, eating disorders have also been noted among young Bedouin residents of the south, who also have to seek treatment in the country's center. The Health Ministry has generally refused to fund travel expenses for these patients and their parents.

The Clalit health maintenance organization, which operates Soroka, indicated it is looking to the Health Ministry for funds. A spokesman for Soroka added "in order to provide comprehensive treatment to children with eating disorders, we are prepared to build a special unit with ten hospital beds and eight out-patient beds. We therefore need full funding for construction, equipment and ongoing operation of the facility. The Health Ministry has proposed providing partial funding which would not provide for the ongoing operation of the building."

Read in full here.
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KU Conducts New Research On Anorexia Nervosa

Researchers at the University of Karachi (KU) Department of Biochemistry have discovered that the appetite of patients suffering from anorexia nervosa could be increased by administering an amino acid called Triptophan into the body.

Anorexia nervosa is a disorder that decreases appetite and the will to eat. Dr Darkhshan J. Haleem, senior professor at the department, along with her PhD student Tafheem Malik, found out that starvation for long periods decreases the production of serotonin in the brain. The administration of the amino acid Triptophan alleviates the levels of serotonin, thus inducing hunger in the patient.

Both Malik and Dr Haleem will travel to Chicago to attend the 24th International Symposium on Cerebral Blood Flow, Metabolism and Function being held from June 29 to July 3.

“Anorexia nervosa is a psychiatric illness that describes an eating disorder characterised by extremely low body weight and body image distortion, with an obsessive fear of gaining weight,” explained Dr Naeem Siddiqui, a psychiatrist working with the Aga Khan University and the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplant.

According to him, individuals who have anorexia are known to control body weight by voluntary starvation, purging, excessive exercise or other weight control measures such as diet pills or diuretic drugs. The disorder is a complex condition involving neurobiological, psychological, and sociological components, and can ultimately lead to death. While the condition primarily affects adolescent females, approximately 10 per cent of people diagnosed with it are male.

While the diagnosis of anorexia can be aided through biological tests, the diagnosis is based on a combination of behaviour, physical characteristics, reported beliefs and experiences of the patient. Anorexia is typically diagnosed by a clinical psychologist, psychiatrist or other suitably qualified clinician. Notably, diagnostic criteria are intended to assist clinicians, and are not representative of what an individual sufferer feels or experiences while living with the illness.

Read in full here.
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Was I Born Anorexic?

Just the other morning, my therapist and I agreed that pretty much everything wrong with me can be traced, in one way or another, back to my parents. This revelation, which has cost my insurance company thousands of dollars, is hardly groundbreaking. Long before the first neurotic was chained to an asylum’s basement wall, we have known that our parents ruin our lives. It has taken the miracle of modern genetic science, however, to discover that this is not totally their fault.

As a small child, I remember telling my mother that when I grew up I wanted to weigh 110 pounds.

According to a new and seemingly conclusive neuropsychological study, anorexia is the latest on the list of the various genetic maladies we can inherit from our parents. The researchers conducted neuropsychological testing on over 200 girls and young women being treated in hospitals for anorexia in the U.S., the U.K., and Norway. The results showed that 70 percent of the patients had suffered damage to their neurotransmitters, had undergone subtle changes in the structures of their brains, or both. They also found that these conditions occurred in the womb and were not due to external or environmental factors.

This news is of special interest to me. For a period of roughly three years, between the ages of 18 and 21, I suffered from a relatively serious case of anorexia. I know this revelation may be difficult to believe if you’ve ever seen me in a buffet situation (or if you have eyes), but I assure you the period is well documented in my medical and psychiatric records.

Read in full here.


sources linked above.

News Articles: Eating Disorders




Milkshakes Medicine For Anorexic Teens

NEW YORK, April 4 (UPI) -- Parents are called on to feed their children high-calorie meals like milkshakes and macaroni and cheese in a therapy for anorexia nervosa, U.S. researchers say.

The therapy, known as behavioral family therapy, or the Maudsley Approach, calls on parents to supervise the eating habits of their anorexic child. The approach is being compared with a more established treatment known as Family Systems Therapy as part of an ongoing treatment study at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Westchester Division and five other centers nationally.

Both are outpatient therapies for adolescents ages 12-18.

"Anorexia is a life-threatening condition. Treating it early is very important since it is during the teenage years that this disorder usually takes hold," Dr. Katherine Halmi, founder of the Eating Disorders Program at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Westchester Division and professor of psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College, said in a statement.

Read in full here.
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Vegetarianism Linked To Eating Disorder

(ABC) - Young people may prefer a vegetarian diet that's rich in fruits and vegetables. But a new study shows it could also put them at a higher risk for eating disorders including binge eating, taking diet pills or using laxatives to lose weight.

An estimated one in 200 American children is now a vegetarian, according to the latest government statistics.

Vegetarian diets are often quite healthy for kids, exposing them to a wider variety of beans, fruits and vegetables and cutting out the fat.

But a new study finds that some young people may be turning to
vegetarianism as a weight loss strategy and in rare cases, their dieting behavior can be dangerous.

Researchers from the University of Minnesota surveyed more than 2,500 adolescents about their eating habits.

Results showed that both current and former vegetarians were more likely to practice binge eating and to try risky dieting tactics such as vomiting after meals, and taking diet pills or laxatives.

Read in full here.

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Eating Disorders Sending More American's To Hospital

The number of men and women hospitalised due to eating disorders that caused anemia, kidney failure, erratic heart rhythms or other problems rose 18 percent between 1999 and 2006, according to the latest News and Numbers from the Agency for Health care Research and Quality.

The federal agency's analysis also found that between 1999 and 2006:

- Hospitalizations for eating disorders rose most sharply for children under 12 years of age - 119 percent. The second steepest rise was for patients ages 45 to 64 - 48 percent.

- Hospitalisations for men also increased sharply - by 37 percent - but women continued to dominate hospitalizations for eating disorders (89 percent in 2006).

Admissions for anorexia, the most common eating disorder, remained relatively stable. People with anorexia typically lose extreme amounts of weight by not eating enough food, over-exercising, self-inducing vomiting, or using laxatives.

In contrast, hospitalisations for bulimia declined 7 percent. Bulimia - binge eating followed by purging by vomiting or use of laxatives - can lead to severe dehydration or stomach and intestinal problems.

Hospitalizations for less common eating disorders increased 38 percent. Those disorders include pica, an obsession with eating non-edible substances such as clay or plaster, and psychogenic vomiting, which is vomiting caused by anxiety and stress.

Read in full here.

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Miss Georgia USA Discusses Bout With Anorexia

Kimberly Gittings is hoping that come April 19 in Las Vegas, she’ll be able to add her name to the list of kids from Lilburn who’ve done well (behind, most recently, fellow Parkview High grad Jeff Francoeur).

That’s when the Air Force brat, UGA student and Miss Georgia USA titleholder will compete for the Miss USA crown. We talked with Gittings about Iraq, her ancestral home of Korea and Michelle Obama’s arms.

Q: No disrespect, but how does a girl who battled anorexia wind up in the pageant circuit? It seems like the pressure to perform and conform to a certain body type would actually exacerbate the disorder.

A: I suffered with anorexia when I was in middle school and high school. I’m 5 feet 10 inches and I weighed 97 pounds. So my parents were on the verge of hospitalizing me. I had heart palpitations, my liver was having issues, my hair was falling out, my nails kept breaking off, my period stopped. What I did to my body when I was younger will [negatively] affect my chances when I’m older if I ever want to conceive kids. But actually, pageants were something of a healing process. They allowed me to talk about what I was going through. [In pageants] you pick a platform that you’re passionate about and you talk about these issues across your state. For me, that’s what I picked. It gives me drive.

Q: Do you feel you’ve conquered it, or are there moments when you think, “I want to win and I need to be as thin as possible so I won’t eat today?” Do you still have it or another eating disorder?

A: I do not. I know how to live healthy now. I do not ever want to be back in that place again. It took a lot of time, money, effort and tears to get over it. Now I love to eat.

Read in full here.

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Eating Disorders On The Rise, Big Spike Among Children

A new report from the government Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality finds that the number of Americans hospitalized for eating disorders increased 18 per cent between 1999 and 2006.

Among children under age 12, the number more than doubled, but even middle-aged men and women are increasingly affected.

Many types of complications can land patients with eating disorders in the hospital, including kidney problems, anemia, and heart-rhythm disturbances.

In rare cases, patients even suffered life-threatening conditions such as total kidney or liver failure.

Anorexia and bulimia together accounted for more than half of the diagnoses, but they are not behind the rise in hospitalizations.

Read in full here.


sources linked above.

Eating Disorders News: Feb 21st, 2009


EATING DISORDERS INCREASING IN MEN, CHILDREN, AND ELDERLY

wcsh6.com

At time eating disorders were considered primarily as a women's disease. But recent studies show a growing number of men, young children and the elderly are suffering from anorexia or bulimia.

Eating disorder experts here in Maine say more people are getting help thanks to heightened awareness about the disorders.

Aleah Starr is a 19 year old sophomore at Colby College. She hopes to one day teach middle school English. At one time in her life, she suffered from anorexia, but her parents spotted the signs early on.

"They were able to get me help and I was very fortunate to have help when I needed, where I needed it, very rapidly," said Starr.

But the face of the disease is changing. The New England Eating Disorder program at Mercy Hospital is the state's only comprehensive eating disorders clinic. The clinic used to primarily treat women 14 to 22 years of age, now they have patients as young as 7 and as old as 70 -- and more men are seeking help.

Read in full here.

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EATING DISORDERS AFFECT MORE THAN HEALTH

the tech talk org

Sunday afternoons were reserved for "Maw Maw's" dining room table in Ashley Matthews' household.

The junior photography major's childhood was documented by these large weekly gatherings of extended family, which included her cousin of the same age.

But in the latter years of high school, Matthews noticed a change around the table. Her cousin would no longer eat in front of the family.

When obsessive exercise and minimal eating made her cousin's struggle with an eating disorder obvious, Matthews said she was still in disbelief.

"My aunts and uncles were telling me, 'Ashley, you need to talk to her; you need to talk to her' because I was close to her," she said. "I was in complete denial because I thought she didn't have the willpower to do something that dramatic to her body."

Read in full here.

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RISE IN ANOREXIC GIRLS ADMITTED TO HOSPITAL

MarieClaire UK

The number of anorexic girls who end up in hospital has risen by 80% over the past decade.

The new figures showed that children as young as nine are being rushed to hospital after becoming seriously ill by starving themselves almost to death.

Susan Ringwood, chief executive of the UK eating disorder charity, beat, said the rise in admissions could be due to delayed treatment for anorexia.

She said: ‘We can’t tell if there’s more people actually suffering from an eating disorder or whether it’s just that more are getting admitted to hospital.’

Read in full here.
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WOMEN'S CENTERS SHOWCASES SIGNS, SYMPTOMS OF EATING DISORDERS

Murray State News

Susan Lawhead said she hopes when students walk through the Women’s Center’s “Room With a View,” they realize they could walk through the room of their sister, roommate, family member or friend. And if not, the junior from Glen Carbon, Ill., said she hopes the project raises awareness on the warning signs attributed with eating disorders.

Jane Etheridge, director of the Women’s Center, said “Room With a View” gives viewers the opportunity to walk into the life of a woman with an eating disorder.

The exhibit is from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday in Old Clark College.
Five unoccupied bedrooms are decorated to describe a female student’s first year as a Murray State student with an eating disorder.

“There are journals, pictures, decorations, mirrors, everything that would be a part of this girl’s life,” Etheridge said. “The first room is in September and the following months are similar, but you can see the transitions she is taking.”

The exhibit ends in with the month of May, right before the student leaves school for the summer. Without giving any secrets away, Etheridge said the fourth is the darkest, with light at the end of the tunnel in May.

The final room features display boards with information and other resources on eating disorders. “There will be some information on prevention, others on the media’s effect, advice on how to eat healthy, body image issues and so on,” Etheridge said.

Monday night, clinical psychology graduate students are available to evaluate attendees’ attitudes toward eating and their body.

"The grad students will be able to determine if they have a healthy body image or view of themselves,” Etheridge said. “It is called the Eating Attitudes Test 26. It takes about 10 minutes and the grad students will give people their results and advice if they think they need it.”

Both Susan Lawhead and Etheridge agree the purpose of “Room With a View” is to raise awareness about eating disorders as more than just dieting.

“We want to develop a greater sensitivity and understanding of the vast complexity of eating disorders,” Etheridge said. “The woman portrayed is striving to be thin, but there are a lot of other things going on in her life that are challenging and stressful.”

Read in full here.
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IS THIN STILL "IN" IN THE FASHION WORLD?

NECN .com

On the catwalks of New York Fashion Week, "skinny" is still beautiful. But, a million miles away in Ashkelon, in southern Israel, a competition to find new Israeli models is trying to change all that.

"They want to be pretty, she wants to be good looking, and how can I be good looking? I have to be skinny, skinny, and skinny and skinny," says fashion photographer Adi Barkan.

For the past seven years, fashion photographer Adi Barkan has been battling the fashion industry's obsession with super- skinny models. He wants the world's designers and advertisers to use bigger, healthier girls.

Successful girls here will have to have a body mass index more than 19.5 - many of today's stars are only 14 or 15.

It was at competitions like this one that Adi Barkan first understood the enormous pressures young girls were under to lose weight - anyone he sees today that's too thin will be told to go home and put on weight.

Adi has seen the tragic consequences of this obsession with weight loss - Hilla Elmalich - a friend and model, for years fought a desperate battle against anorexia. Two years ago, she died. It only made Adi more determined.

Read in full here.
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BE AWARE OF ANOREXIA WARNING SIGNS

Warrington Guardian

MORE than one million people in the UK are victims of an eating disorder, with as many as one in 20 women having eating habits which are of concern.

Now campaigners are hoping to quash those statistics by raising the awareness of the condition during Eating Disorders Awareness Week, which starts on Monday.

A Warrington mum whose teenage daughter suffered from anorexia – she does not wish to be named – warned parents and friends to look out for the following tell-tale signs common in sufferers: - Becoming withdrawn - Fussy eating - Lack of communication or saying they have already eaten - Wearing baggy clothes - Disappearing to the bathroom or for walks immediately after eating to be sick in private l Isolating themselves from their peers and lunch time.

In 2006 the Liberal Democrats reported an increase in children under the age of 10 receiving hospital treatment for such conditions.

Figures revealed there were 58 children under 10 and 35 of those were boys.

With increased coverage of size zero models, the same year saw more girls aged 18 or younger being treated in hospitals – a statistic higher than any other year from the past decade.

Read in full here.
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ANOREXIA AFFECTING MORE TEENAGE GIRLS

The medguru

A recent survey by National Health Services (NHS) revealed the number of young girls hospitalized with an eating disorder called anorexia has nearly doubled in a decade.

Anorexia is an
eating disorder characterized by unrealistic fear of weight gain, self-starvation, and conspicuous distortion of body image.

According to the latest official figures, the number of girls aged 16 and under admitted to hospital due to anorexia has increased sharply, jumping by 80 percent over the past 10 years.

More precisely, the number of admissions among girls aged 16 and under jumped from 256 in 1996/97 to 462 in 2006/07 in last ten years.

The latest NHS figures show girls aged 15 were admitted 141 times to hospitals in England in 2006/07 compared to just 75 admissions in 1996/97. The same was true among 16-year-olds, jumping from 55 admissions in 1996/97 to 108 in 2006/07.

Shockingly, there were 93 admissions in 2006/07 among 14-year-olds as compared to 58 admissions in 1996/97.

Similarly, among 13-year-old girls, there was a 38 percent rise, from 34 admissions to 47, while among 12-year-old girls there was a 207 percent rise, from 13 admissions to 40.

Read in full here.
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80% RISE IN ANOREXIA ADMISSIONS

Health Care Republic

The number of young girls being admitted to hospital suffering from anorexia has jumped by 80% in the last decade, according to the Liberal Democrats.
Figures revealed in a parliamentary answer show that the number of admissions had risen from 256 in 1996/97 to 462 in 2006/7.

MP Mark Hunter (Lib Dem, Cheadle) said: ‘These shocking figures show just how little the government has done to tackle the problem of eating disorders like anorexia.

Read in full here.

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