A psychologist at the University of Chicago Eating Disorders Program says her research indicates that about one in ten people with eating disorders are males, and they tend to be athletes.

Dr. Angela Doyle says athletes often need to attain a target weight or body image, and this leads them into disordered eating patterns. Sometimes these disorders begin as harmless experiments, such as cutting out trans fats or corn syrup, and gradually turn into full-fledged eating disorders, including anorexia or bulimia.

Dr. Doyle says that symptoms may include working out excessively, depression, refusing to go out to eat or to go anywhere where the person cannot control the food supply, and obsession with "an ideal body image very similar to an Abercrombie and Fitch model."

Labels: men, athletes

Posted By: Aspen Education Group