health

1. Definition .
   
2. What Are Eating Disorders?
3. Who Develops Eating Disorders?
4. What Causes Eating Disorders?
5. What Medical Complications Are Caused By Eating Disorders?
6. How Do Doctors Diagnose Eating Disorders?
7. How Are Eating Disorders Treated?
   

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Eating disorders are habits or patterns of eating that are out of balance
and may involve major health and emotional problems.

Eating disorders are not merely unhealthy eating habits; they involve
patterns of eating too little or too much, and they may cause a variety of
physical and emotional problems. Eating disorders usually develop during
adolescence and usually affect girls, although boys can also be affected. Eating
disorders include anorexia (an-o-REK-see-a), bulimia (bull-EE-me-a), binge
eating disorder, and obesity (o-BEE-si-tee).

Anorexia Anorexia (also called anorexia nervosa) is an eating disorder
that involves the fear of becoming or being fat, intensive dieting or exercise,
and a distorted body image. People with anorexia see themselves as fat
even though they may be dangerously underweight. They severely restrict
their food intake and/or exercise to extremes in order to lose weight.
People may be diagnosed with anorexia if they refuse to eat enough food to
maintain a healthy weight and have lost more than 15 to 20 percent of their
healthy weight. For example, a girl with anorexia whose healthy weight is
125 pounds might weigh 105 pounds. She might eat as little as 500 calories
per day (most healthy teenagers eat 2,000 or more calories per day).

Bulimia Sometimes referred to as the binge-purge disorder, bulimia
(or bulimia nervosa) involves repeated episodes of binge eating (consuming
large quantities of food while feeling little control over the behavior)
followed by purging (trying to rid the body of the food by vomiting or
by using laxatives or enemas). Some people with bulimia also exercise
excessively. In bulimia, self-image is overly tied to body shape and weight,
and people with this disorder are dissatisfied with these aspects of their
body. However, unlike those with anorexia, people with bulimia usually
stay at a fairly healthy weight.

Binge eating disorder Binge eating disorder involves out-of-control
overeating but lacks the purging that is seen with bulimia. Binge eaters
often are obese or constantly dieting, and they often feels guilty after a
binge. Painful emotions or stress may trigger binges.

Obesity Obesity is an excess of body fat. People are considered overweight
if extra body fat causes them to weigh 20 percent more than the
healthy weight for their height and obese if they if they weigh more than
30 percent above what is healthy for their height.

Most teenagers are concerned about how they look. After all, their appearance
changes very quickly. Girls develop breasts and their hips become
round and fuller. Boys’ voices deepen and body hair increases. Most
teenagers have an ideal image of what they should look like, and images
of film stars on television and in the movies reinforce the goal of thinness
as perfection.
Many young people, particularly girls, go on diets to control their
body weight. Dieting has been reported to start as early as elementary
school. Dieting without guidance by a medical doctor can cause problems
with growth and development for children and teens. Sometimes an
earnest but misguided effort to control weight can evolve into an eating
disorder.
Diane, a 13-year-old seventh grader, began dieting. She thought she
was 10 to 15 pounds overweight and switched her lunch from a sandwich
and cookies to a salad. She lost a few pounds. She liked feeling thinner
and got a lot of compliments. Soon she reduced the salad at lunch to a
carrot and a piece of cheese. Diane trimmed her dinner as well, telling
her parents that she had eaten a big lunch and was not hungry. Before
long, Diane had lost 20 pounds. But Diane was surprised that she did not
feel happy; instead, she was obsessed with food and her weight (she still
felt fat) and was embarrassed whenever anyone commented on her body.
Diane continued dieting and also began to exercise two times per day to
try to lose more weight.
Diane is not alone. Experts say that more than five million American
women and girls and one million men and boys suffer from eating disorders.
About 1 in 100 girls between 12 and 18 years old has an eating
disorder. As many as 1 in 10 college females has anorexia or bulimia.
More than 1,000 young women die each year from the serious medical
problems that develop due to eating disorders.
Young people who participate in sports that prize thinness are at
particularly high risk of developing eating disorders. Female dancers, ice
skaters, and gymnasts are three times more likely to develop an eating
disorder than girls not involved in such activities. Boys who participate
in similar sports or in wrestling are also at higher risk. Girls who enter
puberty early and girls who are overweight may also be more likely to
develop eating disorders.

There is no clear-cut, single cause for any eating disorder. Many factors
seem to contribute, including social influences (such as the glorification
of thinness by the mass media), emotional issues (such as a teenager’s
striving for perfection, exposure to intensely stressful situations, and fears
of maturity, puberty, or sexuality), family factors (such as overly controlling
parents, serious emotional conflicts, or problems expressing feelings),
or poor childhood feeding and eating patterns. People who have an eating
disorder usually do not set out deliberately to have this problem. Generally,
eating disorders develop slowly, as do the signs and symptoms.

Eating disorders are serious problems and can cause a variety of medical
complications. In anorexia, rapid weight loss can lead to blood chemical
imbalances, failure to menstruate*, slow pulse, low blood pressure, and
heart problems. In some cases, damage to vital organs is so serious that it
can result in death. The frequent vomiting associated with bulimia can
cause throat tears or sores, damaged tooth enamel, broken blood vessels
in the eyes, and puffy cheeks from swollen salivary glands. With both
anorexia and bulimia, bowel and intestinal problems can occur and serious
vitamin and mineral deficiencies can cause serious and long-lasting
problems. Binge eating often results in obesity, which in turn can lead to
other health problems. People who are obese are at greater risk of developing
diabetes*, heart disease*, high blood pressure*, osteoarthritis*, and
other ailments.

Teenagers with anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating disorder often try
to hide the problem, so formal diagnosis can be delayed or difficult.
Even when caring friends or family members ask about the weight loss
or other symptoms, most teenagers with eating disorders are ashamed
or embarrassed, especially by the purging that accompanies bulimia.
Because of distorted body image, those with anorexia may not be able to
recognize the seriousness of their extreme weight loss. Unbearable fear
of being fat may cause people with anorexia to resist attempts to help
them gain weight. A concerned health professional might ask questions
about eating, body image, and exercise. Blood or other laboratory tests
can help determine if a person’s nutrition is adequate and if general
body chemistry is balanced. A careful interview and health history may
reveal concerns about body image or distorted opinions about body
appearance.
A doctor can generally determine if adults are obese by measuring their
body weight and height. Obesity in children can be similarly determined
but these measurements should be considered more carefully because the
child is still growing. Through the late 1990s and early 2000s, there was a
significant rise in obesity in children in the United States, in part a result
of people eating more frequently in fast food restaurants, watching a lot
of television, working or playing games on computers, and engaging in
other activities that promote overeating and a sedentary (sitting too much
with little exercise) lifestyle.

Overcoming eating disorders may take a long time and lots of commitment
and hard work. Most teenagers with eating disorders need the assistance of
mental health and other healthcare professionals to manage the problem.
Anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating disorder are treated most successfully
with a combination of therapies. Behavior change programs, monitoring
of diet and eating patterns, individual or group psychotherapy*, support
groups, nutritional counseling, family counseling, and sometimes medication
may all be part of treatment.
People with obesity can be helped by doctor-recommended weightloss
programs that teach healthy habits. To lose weight, people must take
in fewer calories* than they use, and the best way to control weight is
through exercising and eating a balanced diet. In some cases, doctors may
also treat severe obesity by prescribing very low-calorie diets or medications.
In rare cases, doctors may advise a surgical procedure that either
limits the amount of food the stomach can hold or causes food to bypass
the stomach or part of the intestines.