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Article Index
The Facts About Eating Disorders
What Causes Eating Disorders?
Other Eating Disorders
What are the treatments for eating disorders?
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Eating disorders are real illnesses that can affect how we eat and how we feel about food. They can be treated to help people who have them have healthy and full lives. From time to time, we all change our eating habits. Sometimes we reduce the amount of food we eat or go on a diet to shed some pounds, or we eat more to gain weight. These can be healthy ways to control or reach our ideal body weight. But, people who have eating disorders have unhealthy ways, or patterns, of eating. They may eat too much and become overweight, or way too little and become very thin. Sometimes a person can eat so little, or nothing at all, they actually begin to starve (called anorexia nervosa). A person can also eat an extreme amount of food all at once and then do things like vomit to rid the body of food (called bulimia nervosa). And, a person may not be able to control the need to overeat, often keeping it a secret (called binge eating disorder). People can also have wrong ideas, or misperceptions, of their body weight. People with eating disorders can feel certain they weigh too much, even though they may be well under the ideal body weight for a person their size.

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Eating disorders affect people of all ages, race, and income levels. But, these disorders affect women much more than they do men. Women make up more than 90 percent of people with these disorders. Without treatment, an eating disorder can take over a person's life and cause serious illness and death. These disorders can increase risk for osteoporosis (thinning of the bones) and heart problems. People who have eating disorders can also have depression and anxiety, and may turn to alcohol and drugs for relief.

Who is at risk for eating disorders?

In the United States and other Western countries, women are more at risk for eating disorders than are men. These disorders affect 8 to 10 times more women than men. In the U.S., it was thought that eating disorders affected mostly white women. But, recent research has shown that black women are affected as well. One study found that black women were more likely than white women to have repeated episodes of binge eating disorder. This may put black women more at risk for obesity (being overweight).

Women may be more at risk for eating disorders because of a need to have the "ideal" figure often shown in the media (TV, magazines, movies). The "thin is best" view can affect girls and young women in particular. They often go on strict diets to look like the girls and women they see in the media. Pressure from friends to be thin and to diet can also happen. For women, body image, or how you feel about how you look, can affect feelings about body weight. Not liking how much you weigh, feeling fat, and wanting to be thin can make you worry more about how you look than other things, such as your own ideas or what you want to do in your life. Sometimes, young women who are at a normal weight, or even underweight, may feel that they are too fat. A woman may also feel that how she looks or how much she weighs makes up a major part of her self-esteem. While young women may be most at risk for eating disorders, these disorders are affecting older women in growing numbers.

Disorders - Eating Disorders