David Liu and editing by Denise Reynolds

Isabelle Caro, a French actress and model who had suffered an eating disorder known as anorexia nervosa since age 13, has reportedly died. She was 28.

The cause of Isabelle Caro's death remains unknown. But Caro's longtime acting instructor, Daniele Dubreuil-Prevot was cited as saying Caro had been sick for a long time.

Caro received the world's attention "after appearing in a controversial ad campaign called ‘No Anorexia’ which showed Caro with vertebrae and facial bones in a picture by Oliviero Toscani," according to Wikipedia.

Caro attributed her eating disorder to a "troubled childhood".  At the worst time, her weight was as low as 25 kg or 55 lb, which is extremely low considering her height was 1.65 meters or 5 ft 5 in.  

Caro died on Nov 17, 2010 in Tokyo, according to Wikipedia, two weeks after being admitted to hospital with acute respiratory disease.  But her death was only released to the media on Dec 29, 2010.

Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder in which patients are thin, but they don't think they are thin or thin enough . The illness can lead to dangerous or lethal complications if it remains untreated. 

Anorexia can be caused by biological, psychological, emotional and societal problems or influence. 

Risk factors include being female (more teenage girls than boys suffer anorexia), age (girls and boys more likely to suffer than adult women and men); family history (family members may be overly critical); emotional disorders (depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder), dieting; transition (moving, job, college, relationship breakup), and sports, work and artistic activities (athletes, actors, television personalities, dancers and models at higher risk of eating disorders).

Anorexia, along with other types of eating disorders, may result in complications including death, heart disease, depression, suicidal thoughts or behavior, absence of menstruation, bone loss, stunted growth, seizures, digestive disorders, bowel irregularities, kidney damage, severe tooth decay, high or low blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and gallbladder disease.

According to a document released on nih.gov, as many as 0.9 percent of women and 0.3 percent of men in the United States reported between Feb 2001 and Dec 2003 that they had had anorexia at some time in their lives.