More U.S. children, adolescents suffer eating disorders - report

A new review led by researchers of University of Michigan found eating disorder such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia are on the rise in U.S. children and adolescents.

David S. Rosen, MD, MPH, of the University of Michigan Health System reviewed about 200 studies and estimated that 0.5 percent of adolescent girls suffer anorexia nervosa and 1 to 2 percent have bulimia.

Eating disorders are particularly on the rise in boys who account for up to 10 percent of all cases of eating disorders.

An analysis reportedly by the Agency fro Healthcare  Research and Quality found eating disorders sent 119 percent more children under 12 to hospitals in 2006 than 1999.

The review published in the Nov 29, 2010 issue of the journal Pediatrics recommends pediatricians recognize signs of eating disorders, screen patients for eating disorders and get ready to intervene when necessary.

When a person has an eating disorder, he experiences severe disturbances in eating behavior such as extreme reduction of food intake or extreme overeating or feelings of extreme distress or concern about body weight or shape, according to a document released from the National institute of Mental Health.

Two types of eating disorders are more common than others, anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa.

Anorexia nervosa refers to a condition in which a person pursues thinness and is unwilling to maintain a normal or health weight, and has a distortion of body image and intense fear of gaining body weight.  Girls and women with this eating disorder may lack menstruation.  To prevent thinness, they may diet and exercise excessively or even induce vomiting or use other means to purge whatever they eat or drink.  These people have a body weight issue.

Bulimia nervosa is a condition in which an individual frequently practises binge-eating and purges what they eat by using laxatives or diuretics, fasting and or excessive exercise to compensate for the binge.  Often people with this eating disorder do not have a weight issue.

David Liu