One of Singapore's most popular websites this year is that of a 20-year-old who flaunts his extraordinarily thin body and laments about needing to lose more weight. It has experts worried, especially as they see a dramatic increase in the number of people developing eating disorders.

Medical studies show anorexia has become an endemic problem in Asian countries, whether in industrial powerhouses such as Japan and South Korea or emerging economies like India. Singapore is no exception, with the Eating Disorders Programme [sic] of Singapore General Hospital reporting five new cases a month. (Source: Independent Online)

Psychiatrist Ken Ung notes that eating disorders are relatively new to Singapore, and curiosity about the disease may also fuel its rising popularity. Currently, 13.4 percent of Singapore’s population is between the ages of 15 and 24 -- the demographic most susceptible to eating disorders.

Labels: asia, eating disorders, internet

The death of a young mother in the United Kingdom has sparked conversations about the dangers of extreme dieting and eating disorders. According to the Daily Mirror,Helen Anderson, 26, died in April after losing more than 80 pounds in a matter of months:

Her body was so starved of sugar it began to eat into its own fat reserve, sparking a chemical reaction called ketoacidosis, which killed her. The condition is caused by toxic levels of the chemical ketone, produced by the body when it is forced to make its own energy.

While crash dieters may not necessarily be diagnosed with an eating disorder, the dangers are similar. Dramatic weight loss that is achieved by eating food that has little or no nutritional value and excessive exercise can have life-threatening physiological consequences.

Labels: dieting

A woman from Prince George, British Columbia, is embarking on a 450-mile journey to raise awareness about anorexia. Tara Levis is biking in memory of a friend who died recently after a long battle with the disease.

"My main goal, however, is to raise the public's awareness of this issue and to challenge the stigma around eating disorders and mental illness," Levis told the Prince George Citizen. "I hope my journey inspires those who are suffering in silence to realize that there is no shame in reaching out and asking for help before it is too late."

Tara will depart from Prince George Aug. 10 and plans to arrive in Maple Ridge Aug 23. All donations will benefit the Looking Glass Foundation, a summer camp for young people who are struggling with eating disorders.

Labels: anorexia, awareness

"Eating disorders" is a phrase with which most people are familiar. We know about anorexia and bulimia, and the dangers they pose. But a person's eating habits can put her at risk long before she develops an eating disorder:

• According to the National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA), disordered eating is a catchall phrase that describes a person who exhibits negative attitudes about body size, weight, and food that lead to obsessively rigid eating and exercise routines.
• The attitudes and behaviors are so practiced, the person’s health and well-being can be significantly compromised.
• A person who obsessively counts calories or weighs herself, regularly skips meals, abuses laxatives or diuretics, or feels guilty or ashamed after she eats may be developing disordered eating habits.

Habits that lead to disordered eating can be just as dangerous as a diagnosed eating disorder, and anyone who struggles with this problem should seek help right away.

Labels: causes of eating disorders, eating_habits

A woman who spent her life savings treating her anorexia has been awarded reimbursement from National Health Services in Wales. The patient, named only as Miss S, spent about $30,000 in private treatment, after NHS refused to pay.

"The report revealed that Miss S, who comes from South Wales, became ill while staying with a friend in Plymouth. She received outpatient and inpatient treatment for anorexia nervosa in the Westcountry." (Source: WalesOnline)

From there, as her condition worsened, she was referred to a unit that specialized in eating disorders. Health Commission Wales, which was supposed to fund the treatment, didn't.

The representatives who wrote the report referred to HCW's actions as "maladministration" and determined that HCW's failure to fund treatment had caused Miss S "injustice and hardship."

Labels: anorexia, finances, great britain, treatment

When Emily Schlehuber first starting purging after meals, she didn't think anything was wrong. She was struggling with low self-esteem, which got worse after she and her boyfriend broke up. She was complimented on her weight loss, and only realized there was a problem when she started vomiting up blood.

In a July 15 article on Coloradan.com, writer Hallie Woods described Schlehuber's journey from disordered eater to pageant winner:

After a year and a half living with the disorder, Schlehuber confided in her father, who helped her seek treatment with a therapist and a nutritionist. She enrolled in a leadership program at Fossell Ridge where she began to realize her self-worth ...

Now 17 and still recovering from the disorder, Schlehuber is reaching out to others who suffer or are at risk of suffering from the same devastating effects of the disease.

In March, Emily was crowned "Miss Teen Colorado" for her work on eating disorder awareness. She not only speaks in junior high health classes but also serves in a consultation role with doctors at a local eating disorder recovery center.

Labels: bulimia, overcoming bulimia, teenagers

A June 23 article in the Ilford Recorder has warned parents to be on the lookout for symptoms of eating disorders among their children. The problem, the paper reported, is affecting children as young as eight, and is threatening to overwhelm the area's new effort to provide treatment for disordered eaters:

The Community Eating Disorder service at North East London Foundation Trust was officially established in March and bosses have told the Recorder of the high demand already being placed on the service.

Figures show the team, which is not yet fully staffed, had 50 referrals in that time -- 28 for anorexia, 13 for binge eating, eight for bulimia and one overweight person being assessed before having a gastric band fitted.

Ages range from 16 to 51.

Stuart Marks, who manages the Community Eating Disorder service, advised parents to be aware of any changes in their children's diets or attitudes toward eating -- even if those changes appear to be for the better.

"Normally a parent would be delighted to hear their child is developing an interest in healthy eating and taking part in more physical exercise," Mr. Marks told the Reporter."But coupled together with reducing food portions and perhaps skipping lunch, this could develop into an eating disorder."

Labels: eating disorders, prevention

In an effort to highlight how the degree to which some people with eating disorders have skewed views of their own bodies, the British news website MailOnline invited four women to describe how they see themselves.

The results, which were posted June 26, are stunning. The following is the account of Racheal Baughan, a 27-year-old author and entrepreneur who runs her own modeling agency:

In the same way someone who wants a sex change doesn't feel like they're in the right body, I don't either. But unlike them, I don't know what body I should be in.

I see my eyes as bulging, yet somehow also sunken with purple bags underneath. I hate my nose, and I also think the right-hand side of my face is different to the left. It makes me uncomfortable if friends even walk on that side of me - I have to switch places.

I see my lips as flat, and the top one doesn't match the lower lip. My neck is too long and makes me feel like a duck, my eyebrows are too high and in my mind's eye my skin is always covered with acne.

I think that body-image problems have been with me all my life. Even when I was four years old I was so shy. I remember being at a party when I was that age and looking around, thinking how I was different from the other children.

Baughan and the others who were featured in the MailOnline article show symptoms of body dysmorphic disorder, a preoccupation with a minor or nonexistent body flaw. Many men and women who suffer from eating disorders are also afflicted with an unrealistic image of their own bodies.

Labels: body image, self-esteem, self-image_issues

A growing number of experts believe that parental involvement improves a teenager's ability to recover from an eating disorder. This philosophy represents a dramatic change from previous prevailing attitudes about teens and eating disorders.

The thinking about the causes of eating disorders and their treatment has come full circle, [Dr. Ovidio] Bermudez said. Many years ago, experts blamed eating disorders on controlling mothers and distant fathers, among other theories. But today they generally concur that the disorders are not due to those factors. (Source: KTVN News, Nevada)

A recent study involving 80 teens with bulimia found that recovery rates were twice as high among those who had family support. Other studies have found recovery rates as high as 75 in teenagers whose family supported them through their struggle with anorexia.

Labels: parents, support, teens

In a July 5 article on the website True/Slant, former world junior ice staking champion Jennifer Kirk revealed the degree to which she and others within the skating community were affected by eating disorders and unhealthy weight control measures:

Looking back on it now, I am able to understand that a lack of control over various aspects of my life manifested itself in what I ate.

At the time, the pain in my hip and the struggles I was having on my jumps, coupled with the anxiety of living alone for the first time and the pressure I was putting on myself to never "mess up" both on and off the ice, was too much for me to handle.

I felt that by controlling the number on the scale, I would be in control of all the things in my life that I felt were completely out of my control: the judges, whether or not I would skate well on a particular day, my mom not being around, pleasing my coach, etc.

However by doing this, I was entering into some very deep waters, which would take many years to learn to swim away from.

"Now that I'm on the other side of this disease, I worry when I see skaters who I know are struggling with what I worked so hard to get rid of," Kirk wrote. "It makes me angry that there is no one speaking out against what is so common in figure skating."

Labels: athletes, eating disorders, sports

Even after decades of study, eating disorders remain difficult to understand and hard to treat.

Writing in the June 1 edition of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Joannie Dobbs and Alan Titchenal of the University of Hawaii-Manoa described a Swedish effort to treat eating disorders based upon the belief that disordered eating causes (rather than results from) psychological problems.

To date, the most well-studied successful treatment approach was developed in Sweden. Dr. Per Soedersten at the Karolinska Institute claims that the psychological problems are a result of the anorexic condition, not the cause.

Based on about 500 patients treated in their clinics, 75 percent went into full remission and 90 percent of these have remained free from symptoms of an eating disorder for five years or longer. No other treatments have documented such excellent results.

The institute treats anorexia by normalizing nutrition rather than using psychological therapies. Patients are gradually trained to eat normally again.

To do this, Soedersten's group uses a device called a Mandometer. This device is a computerized plate scale that monitors how fast and how much the patient is consuming. As they eat, the Mandometer provides feedback to help the patients learn to eat at a normal pace and to become more sensitive to their satiety cues.

Labels: causes of eating disorders, psychology

In 1980s, researchers noticed that binge eating disorders often clustered within college sororities. A more recent study has found that fasting and diet pill use cluster within certain groups as well -- especially groups comprised of females.

According to Reuters Health, researchers writing in the International Journal of Eating Disorders noted that "these findings confirm the strong social influences on female adolescents in the U.S. to be thin, sometimes using unhealthy behaviors to achieve this goal."

The clustering occurred in varied settings, including rural, suburban, and urban areas. Though the causes for these clusters have yet to be determined, researchers assume that peer pressure and information sharing are both factors.

Labels: clusters, eating disorders

Increasingly, dentists are becoming aware of just how much information a person's mouth holds about her overall health. Dental problems are sometimes indicators of other, more serious, health issues -- such as eating disorders.

"Upper front teeth that are paper thin, with the enamel almost completely worn away, and teeth that hurt [are symptoms of bulimia]," Washington Post writer Michael Birnbaum reported in a June 23 article. "[These symptoms are] distinguishable from acid reflux because different teeth are affected."

A Feb. 19 article on the Medical News Today website also addressed the connection between dental health and eating disorders:

A parent may not recognize a child is anorexic or bulimic, however, through a routine dental checkup, a dentist may spot the oral signs of the disease," said Dr. Katina Morelli, D.D.S., dental director for Delta Dental of Illinois. ...

Bad breath, sensitive teeth and eroded tooth enamel are just a few of the signs that dentists use to determine whether a patient suffers from an eating disorder. Other signs include teeth that are worn and appear almost translucent, mouth sores, dry mouth, cracked lips, bleeding gums, and tender mouth, throat and salivary glands.

Dentists who find suspicious symptoms should have the patient come back in two weeks. If the gum or teeth conditions persist, the patient should be referred to a physician.

Labels: dentists

Mia St. John is a boxing champion, mixed martial arts competitor, model, author, and businesswomen. She is also a survivor of a teen eating disorder.

A June 23 article on the boxing website The Sweet Science addresses St. John's struggle with an eating disorder, a challenge that she describes in her new fitness book, The Knockout Workout:

She tells that she had a "love-hate relationship with food and with her body," brought on by the insecurity of living with an alcoholic father who was "an angry and oftentimes violent drunk."

"At age 13, I became obsessed with my weight," she writes. "For every pound I lost, I felt as if I had deposited one more dollar in the bank. The skinnier I became, the better I felt about myself. Weight was the only thing I could control. By simply focusing on my weight and the caloric content of every known food, I could escape everything that was a mess in my life.

"I had so many reasons to self-destruct: my father’s unpredictable and explosive behavior, kids hurling racial insults at me and worse, calling me fat. I started to blame and resent my mother for being Mexican. I drank every day, all day, and not surprisingly was flunking my classes. Then, as if to torture myself further, I began to binge and purge. I ate whatever food I desired and then purged it by taking laxatives, throwing up, or even overexercising."

St. John is also the founder of the El Saber Es Poder Foundation, which her website describes as an effort "to empower Latinos by providing schools with better supplies, equipment and development of programs to help further education."

Labels: binge eating, celebrities, purging