"The skinny" on Anorexia Nervosa

A brief overview of the eating disorder known as Anorexia...

What is Anorexia Nervosa?

Anorexia nervosa, commonly referred to simply as anorexia, is one type of eating disorder. More importantly, it is also a psychological disorder. Anorexia is a condition that goes beyond out-of-control dieting. A person with anorexia often initially begins dieting to lose weight. Persons with this disorder may have an intense fear of weight gain, even when they are underweight. Not eating enough food or exercising too much results in severe weight loss. Over time, the weight loss becomes a sign of mastery and control. Anorexia ultimately results in starvation and an inability to stay at the minimum body weight considered healthy for the person's age and height.

This outrageous eating disorder starts out with the drive to become thinner, and is actually secondary to concerns about control and/or fears relating to one's body. The individual continues the endless cycle of restrictive eating, often accompanied by other behaviors such as excessive exercising or the overuse of diet pills, diuretics, laxatives, and/or enemas in order to reduce body weight. This cycle becomes an obsession and, in this way, is similar to any type of addiction.

Symptoms

-People with anorexia may severely limit the amount of food they eat, or eat and then make themselves throw up. They may also use water pills (diuretics) and laxatives to lose weight.

-Most individuals with anorexia nervosa do not recognize that they have an eating disorder.

Behaviors that may be noticed in a person with anorexia include:

• Cutting food into small pieces
• Exercising compulsively
• Going to the bathroom right after meals
• Quickly eating large amounts of food
• Restricting the amount of food eaten
• Using laxatives, enemas, or diuretics inappropriately in an effort to lose weight

Symptoms may include:

• Blotchy or yellow skin
• Confused or slow thinking
• Dental cavities due to self-induced vomiting
• Depression
• Dry mouth
• Extreme sensitivity to cold (wearing several layers of clothing to stay warm)
• Fine hair
• Low blood pressure
• No menstruation
• Poor memory or poor judgement
• Significant weight loss (15% or greater below normal weight)
• Wasting away of muscle and loss of body fat

Who is at risk for anorexia?

* Approximately 95% of those affected by anorexia are female, but males can develop the disorder as well. While anorexia typically begins to manifest itself during early adolescence, it is also seen in young children and adults. In the U.S. and other countries with high economic status, it is estimated that about one out of every 100 adolescent girls has the disorder. Caucasians are more often affected than people of other racial backgrounds, and anorexia is more common in middle and upper socioeconomic groups. According to the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), an estimated 0.5%-3.7% of women will suffer from this disorder at some point in their lives.

* Conservative estimates suggest that one-half to one percent of females in the U.S. develop anorexia nervosa. Because more than 90 percent of all those who are affected are adolescent and young women, the disorder has been characterized as primarily a woman's illness. It should be noted, however, that males and children as young as seven years old have been diagnosed; and women 50, 60, 70, and even 80 years of age have fit the diagnosis. Some of these individuals will have struggled with eating, shape or weight in the past but new onset cases can also occur.

Berkman ND, Bulik CM, Brownley KA, Lohr KN, Sedway JA, Rooks A, Gartlehner G.
Management of eating disorders.
Evid Rep Technol Assess (Full Rep). 2006 Apr;(135):1-166. Review.
PMID: 17628126 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]