Eating Disorders Newsbytes

Menstuff® is actively compiling information, books and resources on the issue of men and eating disorders. Eating disorders are very complex emotional issues. Though they may seem to be nothing but a dangerously obsessive dietary concern on the surface, for most men and women suffering with an eating disorder there are deeper emotional conflicts to be resolved

Websites can Perpetuate Eating Disorders


Young sufferers of anorexia and bulimia who try to hide their eating problems from parents and doctors are turning to a growing number of Internet chat rooms dedicated to perpetuating their illness. A pilot study of 76 patients (ages 10 to 22) and 105 parents finds that up to one-third of patients say they learned new weight loss or purging methods from websites that promote eating disorders by enabling users to share tips, such as what drugs induce vomiting and what Internet sites sell them. The study in in December's Pediatrics.
Source: USA Today

Experts Define Traits Driving Eating Disorders


The researchers note that individuals with a mother or sister affected by an eating disorder are 12 times more likely to develop a similar disorder themselves, compared to individuals with no such history.
Drawing on statistical analyses and expert opinion, the team define the six core traits as:

Source: www.healthcentral.com/newsdetail/408/528080.html

Experts Urge Care Dealing With Anorexics


They became fast friends in college, sharing rides home and going to parties. Then, month by month, year by year, Lisa Roy noticed her friend getting thinner, alarmingly so.
Source: www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/EMIHC270/333/21291/403741.html?d=dmtICNNews

Approaching Someone With An Eating Disorder


Some tips for talking to friends about eating disorders, from the National Eating Disorders Association:
Source: www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/EMIHC270/333/8014/403750.html?d=dmtICNNews
 

Eating Disorders Not Always Obvious


Parents should learn to recognize early warning signs.
Source: www.healthcentral.com/news/NewsFullText.cfm?id=511451

Kids and Teens With Anorexia Eat Fewer Calories Before the Onset of Illness


Kids and teens with anorexia nervosa tend to eat at irregular times, eat more slowly, eat highly restrictive diets, eat mostly low-calorie foods, and eat fewer calories. Researchers supported by several government health organizations examined whether girls who were diagnosed with anorexia nervosa reduced their food intake months and years before being diagnosed with the disorder.
Source: www.kidshealth.org/research/anorexia_early.html

Understanding Anemia


Anemia is common in teens because they undergo rapid growth spurts, when the body has a greater need for nutrients like iron. Read this article to understand more about anemia, including how to lower your risk of getting it and how it is treated.
Source: www.kidshealth.org/teen/diseases_conditions/blood/anemia.html

Worsening Bulimia May Deplete Hormone That Regulates Appetite


Previous studies have noted that some bulimia nervosa patients have low levels of a hormone called leptin in their blood, while others have normal levels. Researchers from Italy suspect this hormone disparity may relate to the severity of the disease.
Source: Center for the Advancement of Health, www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/EMIHC000/333/8015/358462.html

Dopamine May Play Role In Cue-Induced Craving Distinct From Its Role Regulating Reward Effects


NIDA-supported researchers from Brookhaven National Laboratory and the State University of New York at Stony Brook have found evidence in humans that dopamine plays a role in the conditioned cue response to food. Cues-seeing, smelling, and tasting something enjoyable-increase the desire for the reward without necessarily enhancing the pleasure of the reward itself.
Source: www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/WSIHW000/333/8014/350572.html

Eating Disorders In Men


A surprising number of men in the United States struggle with anorexia, bulimia and body dysmorphic disorder. Their experience is similar in some ways to that of women, but there are important differences that you should know. Source: www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/WSIHW000/9105/29709.html

Obesity in Young Boys is on the Rise and So Are Eating Disorders. Who's is at Fault? By Amy Dickinson


Women my age know whom to blame for our own self-loathing, eating disorders and distorted body image: Barbie. So we're raising our vulnerable, body-conscious girls to beware the perpetually pointy-toed goddess with the impossible body and perfect face.

Now it's time to take a good look at our sons and their plastic influences. Studies show that boys increasingly suffer from eating disorders, and if that fact is surprising, the root cause is not--after you take a good look at G.I. Joe.

G.I. Joe, for those of you who haven't raised an eight-year-old boy lately, has evolved from a normally proportioned grunt into a buff, ripped, mega muscular warrior who, if he were a real man, would have 27-inch biceps and other proportions achievable only through years of bench presses, protein diets and the liberal use of steroids.

A recent study shows that 36% of third-grade boys had tried to lose weight. In the past 10 years, more than a million males have been found to have eating disorders. In addition to suffering from anorexia and bulimia at increasing rates, boys are falling victim to a newly named disorder: muscle dysmorphia (also called bigorexia)--the conviction that one is too small. This syndrome is marked by an obsession with the size and shape of your body, constant working out and weight lifting (even if you aren't involved in sports) and the use of supplements to "bulk up."

Parents might tell themselves their kids' spending hours in a gym working on "six-pack abs" is better than hanging out on the corner

and drinking six-packs, but a true case of bigorexia can be just as ruinous to a boy's health and future.

Dr. Harrison Pope, co-author of The Adonis Complex, a helpful book on male body obsession, says parents should look at the world through their sons' eyes. "Boys are fed a diet of 'ideal' male bodies, from Batman to the stars of the WWF," he says. "So parents need to tell their boys--starting when they are small--that they don't have to look like these characters."

Pope, himself an avid weight lifter, says parents should also educate themselves and their sons on the uses and dangers of supplements such as adrenal hormones. "Any kid can go into a store and buy 'andro' [formerly Mark McGwire's bulk-up drug, androstenedione] legally," he says, "but we still don't know what long-term use will do to a boy's health." Pope believes that up to 15% of high school boys use andro, often in dangerous megadoses. A large percentage will then move on to anabolic steroids.

Boys are hampered by their tendency to stay silent about their anxieties, but parents can help them open up by asking questions rather than making statements. The media are full of unattainable images, so an Abercrombie & Fitch or a Gap ad can spark a discussion about what the proper build for a boy is. Parents of kids involved in such weight-sensitive sports as wrestling should know that crash dieting can trigger health problems and eating disorders.

Danger signs include extreme mood changes, compulsive behavior and depression. Parents of very young boys can take a page from the Barbie playbook by asking their sons to compare muscle-bound action figures with real people they know, like Mom and Dad. When we did this in our house, it got a big laugh--maybe too big. But at least it's a start.

Girls' diets affect puberty, later disease risk


Young girls who consume diets rich in animal protein and fat may be eating their way to an early puberty and possibly increasing their risk for chronic disease later in life, researchers report.

Research has shown that girls who mature physically at a younger age may be at increased risk of breast and possibly ovarian cancer.

"The importance of the potential link between some of these adolescent factors and risk of adult diseases is that they may be modifiable...whereas other risk factors such as family history of a disease are not amenable to intervention," according to Dr. Catherine S. Berkey of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, and colleagues.

The findings, published in the September issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology, do not suggest that parents should modify their child's diet in order to lower the risk of disease, since young children need adequate protein and fat for normal growth and development, the authors note.

To investigate the link between diet, growth and maturity, investigators reviewed medical and dietary data on 67 white females born in the 1930s and 1940s.

Girls who consumed the most animal protein at 3 to 5 years of age had their first menstrual period (menarche) earlier than girls who consumed higher amounts of vegetable protein, the analysis reveals. Similarly, girls with higher dietary fat intakes at 1 to 2 years old and girls with higher animal protein intakes at 6 to 8 years old had earlier adolescent growth spurts.

"These findings may have implications regarding adult diseases whose risks are associated with adolescent growth and development factors," Berkey and colleagues write.

The authors note that earlier menarche is associated with increased risk of breast cancer, possibly due to greater exposure to the hormone estrogen over a lifetime. On the other hand, early menarche is also associated with a lower risk of the brittle bone disease osteoporosis and an increased bone mass.

"Current public health efforts designed to reduce intakes of saturated fat and red meat and excess calories and to increase fruit/vegetable intakes in children could potentially result in lower breast cancer rates, along with other health benefits; but the risk of osteoporosis, and perhaps of other diseases, might increase," the researchers conclude.

Source: www.healthcentral.com/News/NewsFullText.cfm?ID=40754&storytype=ReutersNews

Severe dieting often precedes bulimia nervosa


Many women who develop bulimia nervosa have failed in their previous attempts to lose weight, researchers report.

This finding can help to identify people at risk of the eating disorder, in which people binge on large amounts of food and then purge the calories by vomiting, using laxatives, and performing extreme exercise.

"These results confirm that, in fact, most bulimics do begin their illness after the onset of severe dieting, in this case in an attempt to lose at least 15 pounds," according to Dr. Timothy D. Brewerton and colleagues from Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston.

The authors explain that a severe restriction of calories leads to strong feelings of hunger that can cause people to binge on huge quantities of food.

In a study of 85 bulimic women, 46% of the women attempted to lose at least 15 pounds before they had their first binge. On average, the first binge occurred nearly 4 years after the first serious attempt to lose weight, the researchers report in an upcoming issue of the International Journal of Eating Disorders.

About 37% of women binged before they attempted to lose weight, however. Among these women, the binge preceded a serious attempt at dieting by about 7 years. In 17% of patients, binge eating and dieting occurred simultaneously.

The investigators also found that depression and alcohol abuse was more likely to occur among women who dieted before their first binge and among those who binged and dieted simultaneously. These women were also more likely to have a higher average body mass index--a measurement of weight in relation to height.

"This suggests that serious dieting may have promoted both depression as well as alcohol abuse and a rebound increase in weight, possibly due to decreased metabolic rate and bingeing," Brewerton and colleagues report.

There were no differences among groups in the percentage of women who had been raped, molested, or sexually or physically assaulted; body weight; or in use of diuretics or exercise to control weight.

Source: www.healthcentral.com/News/NewsFullText.cfm?ID=40769&storytype=ReutersNews

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It seems to me that our three basic needs, for food and security and love, are so mixed and mingled and entwined that we cannot straightly think of one without the others. - M. F. K. Fisher



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