A team from the University of Pittsburgh has published a study which found a link between altered brain chemistry and the eating disorder anorexia nervosa. Brain scans in women with anorexia showed lower levels of serotonin than were found in women who never had the disorder.

The researchers say their work suggests that persistent disruption of serotonin levels may lead to increased anxiety, which may trigger anorexia. … "These data offer the promise of a new understanding of the pathogenesis of anorexia nervosa and new drug and psychological treatment targets," [said lead researcher Dr. Ursula Bailer.]" (Source: BBC)

The team plans to study genetic factors that may increase a woman's risk of developing anorexia, the BBC reported.

Source: BBC

Labels: brain_chemistry, causes of eating disorders

A new bill submitted to the Knesset in Israel suggests that the use of underweight models and digitally altered images in advertising should be against the law.

In a Dec. 22 article on haaretz.com, writers Jonathan Lis and Shira Ben-Simon reported on the effort:

According to the bill, drafted by MK Rachel Adatto (Kadima) and MK Danny Danon (Likud), the chairman of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, advertising agencies would be banned from hiring underweight female and male models ...

The bill also stipulates that advertising agencies should not be able to use digital imaging software, such as the widely-used Photoshop software, to narrow the waists of models in advertising campaigns.

"Eating disorders, including anorexia, have been on the rise in Israeli society, especially among young girls," the introduction to the bill stated.

Labels: advertising, causes of eating disorders

The Association for Size Diversity and Health (ASDH) recently joined with national and international eating disorder organizations in urging people to focus on overall health, rather than their weight.

A PRWeb release provided the following information about the ASDH effort:

Last week the Academy for Eating Disorders, Binge Eating Disorder Association, Eating Disorders Coalition, International Association for Eating Disorders Professionals and National Eating Disorders Association issued an unprecedented joint press release expressing concern that strategies in the global "war on obesity" fuel weight prejudice and contribute to negative self-esteem, body dissatisfaction and eating-disordered behavior.

The ASDH echoes the concerns of these organizations and aims to educate people on the multi-dimensionality of health and well-being.

Labels: awareness, health

Some psychiatrists now recognize an eating disorder called "orthorexia nervosa."

Unlike bulimia and anorexia nervosa, people with orthorexia nervosa are worried about staying healthy rather than staying thin. They make up an elaborate set of rules around eating and often end up limiting themselves to a few food choices that they do not consider harmful to their bodies or to the environment.

"While orthorexia begins with a desire to achieve better health, it's very connected to an underlying fear of food," said Dr. Ellen Astrachan-Fletcher, director of the eating disorders clinic at the University of Illinois in Chicago. "If I believe the food will make me sick, I become afraid of it, and I avoid it and, bit by bit, continue to avoid more and more food types." Such behavior can lead to becoming underweight and malnourished.

Victims of orthorexia nervosa often have trouble eating in public. In extreme cases, their main interest in life becomes their obsession with following their various food rules.

Dr. Astrachan-Fletcher and others believe that orthorexia nervosa should be treated through psychotherapy in the same way psychiatrists treat other eating disorders.

An estimated 11 million Americans suffer from eating disorders.

Labels: orthorexia

Girls whose parents and grandparents are highly educated may be at increased risk for developing eating disorders. A Swedish study of more than 13,000 girls found that, as parents' or grandparents’ education increased, so did the girls’ risk of being hospitalized for an eating disorder.

"It's possible, the researchers write, that these girls feel more pressure from family to succeed – which for some could translate into an obsession with controlling their eating and body weight. In addition, higher-achieving girls may be more likely to have certain personality traits, such as perfectionism, that make them relatively more vulnerable to eating disorders." (Source: Reuters, Sept. 18, 2009)

Overall, girls whose parents were college-educated were twice as likely to be treated for an eating disorder, Reuters reported, and the risk was six times as high for girls who maternal grandmother was also college-educated.

Labels: causes of eating disorders, education, risks

In response to controversial ads in which already thin models were Photoshopped to ridiculous (many would say offensive) levels, documentary filmmaker Darryl Roberts has called for a boycott of products manufactured and sold by Ralph Lauren.

Writer Greg Archer reported on the boycott proposal in a Dec. 7 Huffington Post article:

Not long after the brouhaha over Hamilton's image, Roberts was emailed another RL ad being used in Australia, which also featured a very thin looking woman. When a similar, third image, popped up, Roberts received an onslaught of emails from individuals fuming over the ads--they felt Lauren's apology didn't "mean anything" because he was still running ads similar to Hamilton's. ...

"They were telling me 'we're never buying anything Ralph Lauren,'" Roberts says of the people sending the emails. "It was so overwhelming, that I thought it--the boycott--was the right thing to do on the behalf of all these women that he is disrespecting by carrying on with that kind of advertising."

Roberts included all three images in his newsletter, which also included an open letter to Lauren, and sent it out to the more than 100,000 people on his email list.

Many experts have linked unrealistic media images with increases in poor body image, lower self esteem and eating disorders among girls and young women.

Labels: media_influences, self-image_issues

Discussions about eating disorders typically revolve around anorexia and bulimia. News stories tell of girls who starve themselves - sometimes literally - to death.

But, as the website MediLexicon indicates, anorexia and bulimia are not the only types of eating disorders affecting adults and young people today:

Binge eating disorder typically includes periods of excessive overeating. However, a person with a binge eating disorder does not subsequently induce purging (vomiting), as is the case with bulimia. ... A person with binge eating disorder feels compelled to eat too much. Individuals will consume enormous quantities of food, even when they are not hungry.

Individuals who are suffering from binge eating disorder often feel like they have no control over their eating, even though – after binging – they often feel disgusted and guilty. Binge eating can cause hypertension, diabetes, and heart disease. Though it doesn’t get as much attention as other eating disorders, it can be just as deadly.

Labels: awareness, binge eating

A Dec. 3 post by Jennifer Austin of EmpowHER.com discusses the under-reported but very real existence of eating disorders among older women:

In a recent study in the International Journal of Eating Disorders, researchers confirmed that the very same eating disorders that affect young teens and waify supermodels also exist well into adulthood.

The difference between the generation gap is that older women appear to present with significantly higher rates of depression and other psychiatric disorders. …

Anorexia surrounding menopause can be particularly troublesome. Estrogen, already lowered by the menopause itself, takes an even greater dive when fat cells (suppliers of estrogen) disappear. This double whammy puts women at greater risk for osteoporosis and bone fractures among other issues.

Labels: adults, anorexia, eating disorders, osteoporosis, women

Peter Rae, whose 18-year-old daughter died earlier this year of anorexia-related health complications, has expressed anger over the care his daughter received in days leading up to her death. Alice was admitted to a hospital Dec. 29, 2008, but was discharged just 20 hours later.

The matter was addressed in a Dec. 3 article on the Hampshire Chronicle website:

[Christine Rae] was admitted to Winchester's Royal Hampshire County Hospital on December 29 last year. She was sent to hospital after telling a doctor she had spent the Christmas period sleeping all but four hours of each day.

"We had very grave concerns [about her discharge] with very good basis," said Mr Rae, a company director. "We had been told on admission she would be in for a number of days.

"We were very surprised she was discharged after 20 hours with no instructions other than to resume the treatment programme that was not working."

Winchester Coroner's Court heard that Miss Rae had become so weak she was unable to walk more than 50 yards and doctors at RHCH had discussed fitting her with a heart pacemaker. ...

Isabel Lewzey, who treated Miss Rae at an eating disorders clinic in Eastleigh, said her client had been angry about the treatment she was receiving.

"She felt that we were not taking her condition seriously enough and that she needed more than outpatient individual therapy."

Labels: anorexia, daughters, death, great britain

Members of the American Psychiatric Association are now considering whether to include "binge eating disorder" in the next edition of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V, which is due to be published in May 2012)

Some psychiatrists believe that binge eating disorder is similar to anorexia and bulimia, in that it is a full- fledged, definable eating disorder with a set of unique symptoms and a pattern of progression that responds predictably to treatment.

According to one study from Harvard University, about 3.5 percent of women and 2 percent of men are binge eaters or among those who eat large quantities of food in one sitting and then feel shame and regret afterward. Some psychologists, such as Dr. Terry Wilson of Rutgers University, say they believe that the description of the disorder should also include a preoccupation with size and weight.

Psychotherapy can help patients explore childhood traumas or unseen motives that cause the disorder, and teach them to recognize situations and feelings that trigger binges. The aim of such therapy would not necessarily be to achieve weight loss but to help the person stop binge eating.

Labels: binge eating, dsm-v

For students who are struggling with behaviors disorder, eating disorders, substance abuse problems, depression and related challenges, leaving home and heading to college can be a particularly daunting experience.

Over the past ten years, demand for student counseling services has increased dramatically at college campuses across the United States. A 2007 survey at Penn State found that 10 percent of its students were currently, or at one time had been, on some type of psychiatric medication.

"In response to demand, mental health professionals say they’ve expanded their services and do extensive outreach on campus to reach more students," Pennsylvania newspaper The Evening Sun reported. "They also train faculty, staff and resident assistants to be on the lookout for students in crisis."

Campus mental health counselors are also beginning to specialize in topics such as depression and eating disorders. Counselors are available to talk not only to kids who need help, but also to those who are concerned that a student they know may be in trouble.

Labels: college_students, counseling, support

Kaylin Ohler says the news that her friend Hilary Pyle died from anorexia took her breath away. Kaylin, 20, and Hilary, 19, had become friends while in the same eating disorder treatment program.

According to a Nov. 25 article on the website of Omaha-based ABC affiliate KETV, Ohler hopes to use her story – and that of her lost friend – to raise awareness about anorexia and help others who are also struggling with eating disorders:

Ohler said she and Pile formed a special bond after meeting in an anorexia treatment program. She said her personal battle started in fifth grade when she started studying food labels instead of doing her homework.

"I always just kind of had a low self-esteem and it was a way for me to feel better about myself and gain some control," she said.

She said she still struggles with the disease."As far as telling somebody to just stop, just eat, I wish it was that simple, but it's not," Ohler said.

Between studies at [the University of Nebraska at Omaha], Ohler said she plans to start support groups and help build more awareness about anorexia. In the meantime, she said she wears a bracelet everyday that was a gift from her old friend.

Labels: awareness, support