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# Doctors want more people to be diagosed with eating disorders
- URL: https://www.foodconsumer.org/doctors_diagosed_with_eating_disorders_1304100549/
- Published: 2010-04-12T23:35:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-15T12:46:50.000Z
- Description: Doctors at Stanford and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital argue in Pediatrics that the diagnostic cutoffs for anorexia and bulimia are too strict, leaving out many severely ill people, and should be widened so more patients can be diagnosed.
- Author: Food Consumer
- Tags: Disease, Health News, #vivvo-import

Doctors at the Stanford University School of Medicine and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital said in a report published in pediatrics that the current definitions for eating disorders, namely anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa need to be expanded to have more people diagnosed with eating disorders

"Anorexia nervosa is characterized by emaciation, a relentless pursuit of thinness and unwilling to maintain a normal or healthy weight, a distortion of body image and intense fear of gaining weight," The National Institute of Mental Health states in a document.

Symptoms accompanying this eating disorder include depression, anxiety, obsessive behavior, substance abuse, cardiovascular and neurological complications and impaired physical development. 

They may also include thinning of the bones, brittle hair and nails, dry and yellow skin, growth of fine hair, mild anemia, and muscle weakness and loss, sever constipation, low blood pressure, slowed breathing and pulse, and low body temperature.

"Bulimia nervosa is characterized by recurrent and frequent episodes of eating unusually large amounts of food (e.g., binge-eating), and feeling a lack of control over the eating. This binge-eating is followed by a type of behavior that compensates for the binge, such as purging (e.g., vomiting, excessive use of laxatives or diuretics), fasting and/or excessive exercise," the NIMH states.

Symptoms associated with bulimia include psychological illnesses such as depression, anxiety and or substance abuse problems, and physical conditions like electrolyte imbalances, gastrointestinal problems and oral and tooth-related problems.

The researchers said the diagnostic cutoffs for anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa may be too strict and many people who suffer severe conditions, but can't be diagnosed with any eating disorder by the current definitions.

Rebecka Peebles, MD and colleagues suggest the group of people who are diagnosed with "eating disorder not otherwise specified" or EDNOS by the current definition should be treated like they suffer anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa as their conditions are severe enough to be treated as patients suffering bulimia and anorexia.

Peebles' team studied 1,310 female patients treated for eating disorders at Packard Children's between Janunary 1997 and April 2008 and two-thirds of the patients had EDNOS. They found many patients with EDNOS were qualified for treatments indicated for anorexia and bulimia patients.

JD